barcelona design week 2016 looked into the future of the creative industries
(above) the inaugural talk and opening party were held at the disseny hub barelona
image © designboom

 

 

 

called ‘the design invasion’, the eleventh version of barcelona design week has concluded, bringing together over 12,000 people. the programme offered more than 70 activities comprising conferences, exhibitions, workshops, talks, presentations, circuits, round tables, celebrations and network activities. the visitors included professionals, companies, entrepreneurs, and design enthusiasts were able to dedicate a whole week to topics like business innovation, sustainability, education, and society seen through design’s lens. the event made it possible to debate the future of design, its impact and how it can change, and help our ever-changing world.

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more than 1,500 people attended the opening party
image courtesy barcelona design week

 

 

 

barcelona design week was inaugurated with a conference called ‘what if the solution was design? reconsidering the role of design in the company and society’ where british design critic alice rawsthorn presented her ‘design and us’ talk. she stated that ‘design is an agent of change which can help us make sense of what is happening and to turn it into our advantage.’ she demonstrated through the use of examples on different subjects like health, education, social service, environment and gender how design projects and interventions have improved our society.

 

a party followed the conference together with the opening of the main exhibition ‘interfaces: 100 years of design in simon, celebrating the evolution of the company’s long trajectory in the market with their most iconic designs. located at the disseny hub barcelona, the show will be open until the 30th of july.

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design critic alice rawsthorn inaugurated the event with her ‘design and us’ talk
image © designboom

 

 

 

the main attraction of BDW 2016 was the ‘design is future’ event that defended the economic and social value of design, generating a space for knowledge exchange and debate for companies, institutions and professionals from around the world. throughout its three days, participants enjoyed talks and workshops led by a prestigious line-up formed by 15 experts of recognized prestige like doug powell (IBM design), chris moody (wolff olins), miquel ballester (fairphone), laszlito kovacs (wetransfer), andreas enslin (miele), cristina bustillo (hospital sant joan déu) and ed gillespie (futerra), among others. the conferences were divided into four different subjects: profession, company, education, and society, where they stressed the point that we have reached a turning point in which designers are responsible for leading many of the current major challenges, emphasizing the impact of design on the social sphere and on the improvement of the quality of people’s life.

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the audience included professionals, companies, entrepreneurs, and design enthusiasts
image courtesy barcelona design week

 

 

 

this year’s novelties included the first ‘design4food: what’s the link between design and gastronomy’ event organized in collaboration with studio papila as well as a PechaKucha night whose theme was social innovation. thematic workshops took place introducing participants to different aspects of design like branding, creative innovation, 3D printing, smart marketing, and moodboarding. finally, the open design studios made it possible to discover at first hand some of the most important studios in barcelona thanks to five routes which covered different parts of the city visiting clase BCN, VASAVA, P.A.R, tigges architekt, comité studio, hey studio, emiliana design studio, lagranja design, run design, andrés requena, wassabi and H2O.

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the main exhibition ‘interfaces: 100 years of design in simon’, celebrating the evolution of the company
image © designboom

 

 

 

isabel roig, managing editor of BCD highlights that this year two of BDW’s main goals have been achieved stating that, ‘the attendance and participation in the activities increased, with more international visitors and bringing design closer to locals. moreover, we have received very positive feedback from the attendees on the contents and the subjects discussed.’

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the event’s aim was to understand design’s position in our society
image courtesy barcelona design week

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‘design is future’ was the main event, bringing to the table themes like profession, education, and society
image courtesy barcelona design week

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this year’s novelty was design 4 food in collaboration with studio papila
image courtesy barcelona design week

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designboom visited graphic design studio clase BCN
image © designboom

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clase BCN’s office
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