Design Week 2011 in association with Crown Paints will take place from
Monday 31 October to Sunday 6 November 2011.
» Download the Design Week 2011 Brochure (PDF)
Design in Ireland in 2011 has moved towards the centre of the stage.
The short-listing of Dublin’s World Design Capital 2014 submission, entitled Pivot
Dublin, has focused worldwide attention on design in Ireland. The world is aware
of the economic crisis that faces Ireland, and it is interested to see how we are using
design to find a way to overcome the significant challenges that we all face.
The Pivot Dublin submission presents a fantastic snapshot of design in Ireland today.
Fifty years ago, in 1961, the Report of the Scandinavian Design Group in Ireland was
commissioned. Designers came and told us what we had been doing and what we
should be doing. The Pivot Dublin submission tells the world not only what we have
been doing and are doing, but, crucially, what we will be doing. The plans are
ambitious and they will need your involvement.
Irrespective of the World Design Capital 2014 result, the design community is working
closely with Helsinki, World Design Capital 2012, and actively developing links with
the other short-listed cities, Cape Town and Bilbao.
Design Week is an all-island event, and our attention is not just on the Dublin region.
Events are taking place throughout Ireland, and we continue to develop links with
individuals, collectives or organisations that have an interest in design. This year,
Design Week has developed an association with Innovation Dublin. Design and
creativity are integral to innovation, and we are delighted that this year design is
the central theme of Innovation Dublin. Relationships are essential to the structure
of Design Week and we welcome approaches from anyone with an interest in
getting involved.
For many years at Design Week we have had a featured designer present a key
speech. Luminaries such as Tom Dixon, Karim Rashid, Thomas Heatherwick and
Wayne Hemingway have all provided the key address. This year we are delighted
that the young Irish designer Úna Burke will fill that role, at the Design Week launch
on 2 November.
Design exists because we do. It is not an additional component of our daily lives
and activities, but rather, it is central to them. Design Week celebrates everything
that relates to design and its various stakeholders: designers themselves, the clients
who commission design services, and, most importantly, the general public, the users
of design. Design Week does not magically appear each year. You make it happen.
To everyone involved at every level, we say thank you.
Together with Crown Paints, sponsors of Design Week 2011, we wish you a most
enjoyable festival.
For further information visit pivotdublin.com and designweek.ie
