Tokyo Design Week hosted the second annual World Design Week Summit on April 16th at the Museo del Novecento, Milan
Initiatives developed included —
Launching a global event database with Design Weeks around the world,
Creating a global network with international creators, and
Establishing the World Design Week Award Grand Prix.
The first gathering, which launched the World Design Week network, was held last April during Milan Design Week 2014, with more than 20 Design Events’ representatives in attendance, leading to the organization of 1st World Design Week Network Summit, in October 2014, in Tokyo.
The founder of Tokyo Designers Week, Kenji Kawasaki, invited the members of the network to gather together in Japan in October, during Tokyo Design Week 2014
Tokyo Oct 2014 WDW Summit
The World Design Week is a network where those design weeks connect each other to share our information.
“At the World Design Week Summit, we actually sit around a table and exchange experience for creating an even better creative event.”
Kristin McCourtie, Manager and Director, Design Foundation represented Design Matters: Melbourne International Design Week at World Design Week Summit 2014 in Tokyo
As a result, 18 Design Weeks expressed interest to become members of this initiative.
2015 WDW Summit, Milan Apr 2015
world design week summit milan 2015 representatives
One initiative to emerge from the Milan Summit is that there will be an international comprehensive creative award to enhance the network between the 5 regions of Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa.
Each design event proposes its best design of the year to compete for the best of the region and the best of the best, the WDW AWARD Grand-Prix.
World Design Weeks are Uniting
by Ewa Kumlin
World Design Summit with Design weeks from all over the world seeking wider collaboration
Thanks to our well organized Tokyo friends and the initiator Kenji Kawasaki and Yusaku Inamura and their team, a second World Design Week Summit was held in Milan during the Salone week, with members from all over the world, an amazing gathering, like a UN of Design Weeks (festivals, events etc).
Since our last summit in Tokyo in October, an impressive progress had been made.
The Tokyo team had prepared a web site, and developed the plans and purposes to be further discussed.
The European group had met in Munich to start defining a strategy.
Beatrice Leanze of Beijing Design Week, was moderating the session, and had also arranged the venue with the city of Milan with the support of the Mayor of Milan.
Teams were set up in regions with Europe, Asia and the Americas with responsible coordinators.
Anyway, as a network, the first steps are practical;
1) to exchange all the contacts and to establish a calendar when and where all the design weeks (festivals, biennals, events) take place, a web page.
2) to set up goals and visions and a strategy on how to make use of this unique exchange opportunities, in between the organizers,
3) how to communicate externally.
Meeting in real life, face to face, and make friends, is a very good, and necessary, first step indeed.
Here you can see more than 50 Design Weeks and Festivals in the world –
February
Stockholm Design Week
Country：Sweden
Duration：February 3th – 9th
Description：Stockholm Furniture and Lighting Fair featuring shop events.
Kansas City Design Week
Country：U.S
Duration：February 28th – March 8th
Description：Fashion, industrial design, graphic design, and urban design for the development design culture in Kansas.
March
Country：Singapore
Duration：March 10th – 16th
Description： Local and international design trade shows, conferences and workshops span various design disciplines. International Furniture Fair Singapore (IFFS) also takes place during the fair
Pordenone Design Week
Country:Italy
Duration：March 11th – 15th
Description：Various workshops are organized by students, designers, and educators to solve specific issues which companies are facing through design
Design Week Holon
Country：Israel
Duration：March 27th – 30th
Description：Design exhibitions in various galleries around the City of Holon, and interactive design activities for the general public in the Museum forecourt. Organized by Museum Holon.
April
Tortona Around Design
Country：Italy
Duration： April 8th – 13th
Description：Animates the entire city of Milan in the period of April. Design events take place in the via Savona-via Tortona, in correspondence of the Salone del Mobile that takes place in exhibition center in Rho
Florence Design Week
Country：Italy
Duration：April 22nd – May 1st
Description：Graphic and visual design, industrial design, fashion, interior design, music and food design, collaboration with design associations from around the world.
AgIdeas International Design Week
Country：Australia
Duration： April 29th ~ May 5th
Description：Interactive media design, 3D, visualart communication design.
May
Romanian Design Week
Country：Romania
Duration：May 17th – 26th
Description：Promoting Romanian design to the world and further development of Romanian creative industries.
Clerkenwell Design Week
Country：England
Duration：May 20th – May 22nd
Description：Featuring more than 60 events, pop-up exhibitions and special installations, as well as offering special programs and foods.
Saint-Petersburg Design Week
Country：Russia
Duration：May 21st – May 29th
Description：Featuring various outdoor exhibitions as well as organizing seminars and workshops.
Belgrade Design Week
Country：Serbia
Duration：May 25th – June 1st
Description：Object, illustration, and digital design are displayed at museums.
Berlin Design Week
Country:Germany
Duration：May 28th – June 1st
Description：Numerous galleries, museums, studios and design institutions host exhibitions and events throughout the city of Berlin.
June
Barcelona Design Week
Country：Spain
Duration：June 2nd – 14th
Description：Exhibitions, conferences on design thinking anda design management awards ceremony. Organized by Barcelona Design Center. The guest country of 2014 is Israel.
Design Miami / Basel
Country：Switzerland
Duration：June 17th – 22th
Description：A premier venue for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating collectible design.
San Francisco Design Week
Country：U.S
Duration： June 17th ～22nd
Description：A premier venue for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating collectible design.
Sofia Design Week
Country：Bulgaria
Duration：June 21st – 30th
Description：Guest talks by prominent individuals and designers from all over the world as well as featuring numerous workshops on design.
Design Week Kortrijk
Country：Belgium
Duration：June 23rd – 30th
Description：Industrial design, architecture and graphic design.
Beirut Design Week
Country：Lebanon
Duration：June 24th – 30th
Description：Local products “Made in Beirut. Design sessions are organized by designers, students and educators from Beirut
August
Sao Paolo Design Weekend
Country：Brazil
Duration：August 15th – 18th
Description：Established in 2012.Featuring design trade shows and Brazil Design Awards.
Oklahoma Design Week
Country：U.S
Duration：August 21st – 25th
Description： Touch design through real experience with body―movie night, paper university and more workshops are held.
Design Week Birmingham
Country：U.S
Duration：August 21st – 28th
Description：A multi-faceted event uniting architects, landscape architects, graphic designers, interior designers and industrial designers.
September
Helsinki Design Week
Country：Finland
Duration：September 4th – 14th
Description：Numerous workshops and lecturers on design, and Children Helsinki Design Week.
Paris Design Week
Country：France
Duration：September 9th – 15th
Description：Art, design, food, architecture and workshop take place at more than 180 place throughout Paris.
Seattle Design Week
Country：U.S
Duration：September 13th – 22nd
Description：3 main streets in Seattle become the center of architecture, furniture, and design.
Tirana Design Week
Country：Albania
Duration：September 14th – October 14th
Description：Numerous contemporary art works themed after modernization and urbanization.
STL Design Week
Country：U.S
Duration：September 23rd – 29th
Description：Design and movies are displayed at museums
Beijing Design Week
Country：China
Duration：September 26th – October 3rd
Description：Organized by Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, The Municipal Government of Beijing
Vienna Design Week
Country：Austria
Duration：September 26th – October 5th
Description：Museums, design companies, and designers from around the world participate in this festival.
Tent London
Country：England
Duration：September 18th – 21st
Description：First staged in 2003, the London Design Festival is one of the world’s most important annual design events. 100%design,Tent London will be held during the festival.
Taiwan Designers Week
Country：Taiwan
Duration：September 27th – October 6th
Description：Featuring workshops and talk by prominent designers from around the world.
Budapest Design Week
Country：Hungary
Duration：September 27th – October 6th
Description：Featuring design workshops and design events for children as well as offering design tours in the city
October
Design Week Portland
Country:U.S
Duratioin：October 7th – 12th
Description：Graphic design, architecture, industrialdesign, and fashion.
Moscow Design Week
Country：Russia
Duration：October 11th – 17th
Description：Organizing culture, design, and business forums.
DC Design Week
Country：U.S
Duration：October 14th – 20th
Description：Many seminars focus on the impact of design on the society and discuss the potential and possibility of design to change societies, organizations, and way of life.
Design Week Mexico
Country：Mexico
Duration：October 16th – December 4th
Description：Organizing conferences and seminars (Design Saturdays)
Phoenix Design Week
Country：U.S
Duration：October 18th – 25th
Description：Pecha Kucha Night、Featuring “Pecha Kucha Night” and talks by designers.
Dutch Design Week
Country：the Netherlands
Duration：October 19th – 27th
Description：Student and school exhibitions and product presentations are held throughout the city.
Country：Japan
Duration：October 25th – November 3rd
Description：Having “Design””Art””Fashion””Music” as 4 main themes, TDW offers various events, exhibitions, talk sessions, presentations and workshops. Asia Awards and World Design Week Summit will be also held.
November
Design Week Ireland
Country：Irland
Duration：November 4th – January 10th
Description：Talks and debates by prominent individuals, design display and workshops.
Istanbul Design Week
Duration：November 27th – December 1st
Description： Creative sessions and workshops across the genres.
December
Bahrain International Design Week
Country：Bahrain
Duration：December 5th – 7th
Description：Personal design, Architecture, interior design, and Services in Design including Design Universities and Schools
Design Miami
Country：U.S
Duration：December 3rd – 7th
Description：Design Miami is more than a marketplace for design, where the world’s top galleries gather to present museum-quality exhibitions of 20th and 21st century furniture, lighting and objets d’art
Guangzhou Design Week
Country：China
Duration：December 6th – 8th
Description：The biggest design business event in China
Other Design Events
Bangkok Design Festival
Country：Thailand
期間：May 8th – 30th
Description：A showcase of dance, drama and music of East and West, in traditional, modern and fusion forms. The weekend evening shows are mostly intelligible to non-Thai speakers.
India Design ID
Country：India
Duration：February 14th – 16th
Description：The 3 facets of India Design ID: Exhibit ID, ID Symposium, ID Satellite
Design Indaba
Country：South Africa
Duration：February 28th -March 2nd
Description：Design Indaba is a multifacetedplatform committed to a better world through creativity.
Design Days Dubai
Country：UAE
Duration：March 17th – 21st
Description：Owned and managed by Art Dubai Fair LLC. A leading fair in the Middle East and South Asia dedicated to collectible and limited edition furniture and design objects.
LA Design Festival
Country：U.S
Duration：June 13th – 30th
Description：An annual series of events staged around greater Los Angeles celebrating outstanding local and international design talent
London Design Festival
Country：England
Duration：September 13th – 21st
特 徴：London Design Festival was established in 2003 in order to promote the city of London for the touristic purpose. Along with this festival, Tent London and 100% London will be also held at the same time.
Design Days Geneva
Country：Switzerland
Duration：September 26th – 29th
Description：Furniture, lighting, kitchens, siding and accessories, prototype with limited editions of the object unique industrial design and production Swiss as well as international.
Łód’ z Design Festival
Country：Poland
Duration：October 17th – 27th
Description：The festival presents design in its various modes – starting from industrial design, through arts and crafts, graphic design, architecture, up to fashion
Seoul Design Festival
Country：South Korea
Duration：December 18th – 22nd
Description：The festival provides the perfect opportunity to stay warm indoors and view the latest in innovationsin design from local artists to major corporations
Hello — We are the organizers of Boston Design Week, which has taken place in 2014 and 2015. Our next festival is March 30-April 10, 2016. Our website is http://www.BostonDesignWeek.com. How do we join/connect with others in the WORLD DESIGN WEEK NETWORK? We will be visiting Paris for Paris Design Week Sept. 4-9, if others will be attending. Thanks for contacting me at TFusco@FuscoFour.com.