Written by Aidan Delaney, Head Technician (Arts & Media), University of Westminster
It is not every day that you get to spend time in a building as striking as the London College of Fashion’s new East Bank campus, and even rarer that the conversation inside is as compelling as the architecture outside. The second CHEAD X in-person event, held on 27 January 2026, delivered on both counts.
Arriving at East Bank
Registration was busy, and very well supported with an excellent spread of pastries and coffee helped things along while people arrived. There is something that happens in those first minutes of an event like this: conversations start easily, because everyone in the room already shares a professional language. Catching up with technical colleagues who had travelled from across the UK, comparing notes before the day had even formally begun, set exactly the right tone. That easy connection never really let up.
Opening: The Story of CHEAD X
Abid Qayum opened the day with a brief but energising account of how the CHEAD Technical Alliance came to be: built around addressing the absence of a dedicated community space for technicians working in art and design schools across the UK. Three years of building that community led to the Technical Alliance’s leadership programme, and ultimately to CHEAD X itself. Adam Davies, Chair of the CHEAD X Steering Group, then described how the group formed in 2024 with a specific focus on new and emerging technologies. He informed us that 50 people across 22 institutions attended the first in-person CHEAD X event at Nottingham Trent University in 2025, and that number has grown substantially for the second outing.
Industry Panel: The Highlight of the Day
If I am honest, the Industry Panel was where I felt most engaged. Chaired with real skill by Marcus Saunders, Associate Director for Technical Resource and Learning Environments at LCF, the panel brought together Lauren Paul, Head of Studio Services at 180 Studios, and David Levy, MD and CTO at Fivefold Studios. Both Lauren and David have deep roots in virtual production: Lauren at LUX during what she described as the golden era of VP, and David at ARRI during the same period. The conversation that followed was wide-ranging: virtual production workflows normalising across the pipeline; the role of AI in driving down production costs without sacrificing quality; art departments increasingly embedding technical artists for pre-visualisation; and the question of whether large LED volumes are still fit for purpose, or whether smaller, more targeted setups now make more sense. Marcus also shared an XGRIDS handheld laser scanner, a striking example of how accessible high-quality scanning technology has become. What struck me throughout was the balance: this was not hype, it was a grounded, sometimes cautionary, industry perspective. Marcus closed with a line that stayed with me — the craft does not change that much, but the toolset does.
Workshops: Technology in the Context of Practice
The morning workshops offered a real sense of the breadth of practice represented in the room. I attended two sessions from the Fashion Textiles and Technology Institute (FTTI). In the first, Marcus Saunders demonstrated LCF’s virtual production studio while Professor Jane Harris, a researcher and academic, walked through the research application behind ‘Made in Code,’ a project exploring real-time digital garment design. In the second workshop, Freddie O’Reilly, Senior R&D Fellow in XR Textiles and Dress, presented his work on colour science in digital fabrics, using platforms such as Clo3D. Both sessions showed how advanced technical knowledge is being applied with rigour and creativity in an arts education context and how closely research and technical practice can intertwine when the conditions are right.
Afternoon Open Discussion and Pecha Kucha
The afternoon began with an open discussion forum focused on AI in teaching: a genuinely live issue across the sector, and one that generated real energy in the room. Questions around how to introduce generative AI meaningfully, how to ensure students engage with it critically rather than uncritically, and how institutions are–or are not–keeping pace with student practice, were all unpacked. No easy answers, but exactly the kind of conversation that benefits from a room full of people working across different institutions.
The Pecha Kucha sessions that followed were well-pitched and varied. Adam Whitehouse and Matt Roberson from Nottingham Trent University gave a compelling account of balancing commercial needs against student learning in their virtual production studio. Marcus Saunders then spoke about the role of technicians in research and knowledge exchange, drawing on examples from across UAL and making a strong case for how technical careers can extend meaningfully into the research space. Franklin Mok closed with a fascinating look at laser cutting practice, specifically the Devôré effect applied to fabric, a beautifully precise piece of practice-based work.
Why Events Like This Matter
The day closed with networking drinks at Outpost: a fitting end to a full and genuinely stimulating day. Much of what I value most about CHEAD X is not any single session, but the accumulated effect of time spent with people who understand the work of technicians and share the same challenges and rewards. The conversations over coffee, over lunch, and at the end of the day are where a lot of the real thinking happens. That is not incidental to the event; it is the point of it!
LCF were exceptional hosts throughout, and the event was brilliantly organised by Abid and Adam, with outstanding work by Marcus in pulling it all together on the ground at LCF. If you work in technical roles in arts and design education and are not yet connected to this network, I encourage you to get involved. The value is real, and it compounds the more people bring themselves to it.
