Design is at its best when it is blending in seamlessly with our needs – so deliberate we don’t even notice it working – or shaking up our routines by promising answers to questions we hadn’t yet thought to ask.
It affects us as we sit at our desks and read in our beds, as we walk through public spaces and drive through mountain passes, as we reach for the faucet or pick up the phone. Design helps us not only integrate information into our lives but effortlessly adapt to it.
But what kind of conversation can include all that context, all those creators, and all those channels of energy? You’d need an entire week to cover it all. Or better yet, two.
Vancouver’s first Design Week runs now until Sept. 28, featuring 14 days of studio tours, high-profile speakers, and showcases with artists of architecture, interior design, graphic design, food, and fashion.
There are an estimated 80 design weeks globally. From established design hubs like New York and London to emerging creative centres like Reykjavik, Dublin, and Cape Town, these celebrations help advance the social, economic and cultural development in their respective cities through dialogue. Closer to home, Vancouver Design Week joins the recently established Seattle Design Festival (2011) and Design Week Portland (2012) to form a Pacific Northwest design fest trifecta.
Over the years there have been other, more niche, design week initiatives, but according to Design Week co-founder Jennifer Cutbill this is a first for Vancouver with such scope.
“They were fabulous efforts,” Cutbill says of the predecessors, “but we’re really looking to see how we can leverage and expand that audience. This will be the first one that is inclusive of all the design disciplines. It’s design as a verb, design as process, and, really, design as potential.”
The city-wide event opened Monday night with Vancouver’s inaugural Urban Design Awards – awarded by the City to 10 projects demonstrating visionary thinking in architecture and urban design – and ends with the 10th annual Interior Design Show West which brings exciting international design talent to the Vancouver Convention Centre Sept. 25-28.
Other highlights include the Open Doors series, which allows patrons to visit with working design professionals in their studios, and Samplings, a food series taking place on the hardtops of coffee shops, tasting rooms, and restaurants throughout Vancouver, featuring talks with the chefs, mixologists, and interior designers who bring these spaces to life.
The CreativeMornings breakfast series is teaming up with networking pros Likemind Vancouver and social media pioneers Hootsuite to get 300 people discussing the creative process at SFU Woodwards on Sept. 19. The talk will feature Vancouver artist Reece Terris, whose architectural portfolio includes a six-storey apartment building temporarily installed inside the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Also that day, the Museum of Vancouver is hosting Why I Design, an interactive conversation with 30 designers (including Andrew Zo, creator of the buzzworthy engagement ring box that can fit in a wallet) about their work, and why they choose to do it in Vancouver.
Ticket prices vary; To register, and for the full schedule of events, go to VancouverDesignWk.com.
