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Inaugural festival closes

The inaugural DESIGN Canberra festival has come to a close, and it seems only momentarily. The overwhelming support for it to continue into the future aligns itself with the vision for DESIGN Canberra.

Twelve months ago DESIGN Canberra was formulating. It was apparent, from the centenary, Canberra was ready. It was an incredible experience, everywhere I went, every person I spoke to, every organisation, institution, business showed overwhelming support. It was important for there to be one strong voice, working together, collaboratively to change the way we think – about Canberra, about design and about our place as the nation’s capital.

From the outset we wanted to engage Canberrans on how design and creative processes are tools to develop innovative ways to grow our city and to show how these processes are part of our everyday life. How design enriches and improves our life, how it makes living easier and the pleasure it brings.

DESIGN Canberra is also about creating a unique possibility for cross pollination and for ideas to be generated. Economic growth and sustainability, sitting alongside cultural and social well-being, flows through open conversations, conversations between our critical thinkers, entrepreneurs, national cultural institutions, tertiary institutions, industry, local cultural organisations, government and individual artists and designers. DESIGN Canberra 2014 successfully brought these sectors together, facilitating new and inspirational dialogues.

ThinkPlace mapped Canberra’s innovative ecosystem bringing together a diverse range of participants, from leading thinkers to Canberra’s active community. The design project, Flagging our future, facilitated the Australian National University, University of Canberra and Canberra Institute of Technology in a unique collaboration through education and exchange. Fashfest and the Design Institute of Australia’s Design Hub as well as Fusion: the art of eating that teamed up designers with restaurants are more examples of new and innovative collaborations. The recipients of the inaugural Designcraft, Design + Craft Award, saw the collaboration between Nellie Peoples from the Australian National University and Sam Thomson from the University of Canberra acknowledged.

The Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries reported there are approximately 2,990 cultural and creative businesses in Canberra. This represents 10.7 per cent of business in the ACT. It will be interesting to see the statistics of the creative businesses involved in DESIGN Canberra.

I was determined to get to as many events, talks, exhibitions and tours as I could, and there were many highlights, too numerous to mention them all. Stylecraft presented a beautifully crafted ‘design family’ dinner, which saw business leaders, architects, interior and graphic designers, artists, designers and the general public conversing around the table; Thor Hammer’s unique and original body of inspirational furniture; the architects and students One:One creating a pop-up bar from recycled material was fun and truly inspirational; behind the scenes at the Brindabella Business Park; Timber Talks was engaging and inspiring and the constant buzz and activities at Centrepoint that kept drawing me back for more.

The exhibitions Creative Licence at Craft ACT, Bespoke: design for the people at MoAD and Glass x Design at the Canberra Glassworks, which are still open for viewing, are a must see, showcasing some of Canberra’s best early and established artists and designers.

DESIGN Canberra is a Craft ACT initiative and we must sincerely thank Mel George for her leadership and Yasmin Masri who worked alongside Mel to deliver the inaugural festival. A special acknowledgement must also go to the Craft ACT team Gwenyth Macnamara, Anne Radimin, Jessica Oliver, Thea McGrath and Aaron Garlick who worked tirelessly alongside Mel and Yasmin to deliver the festival. As always it is the team, the sponsors, supporters and participants who enliven a vision, and the audiences who make it come to life.

Thank you to the DESIGN Canberra participants and everybody who joined us to celebrate our nation’s capital as a designed city.

I could not end without a special and personal thank-you to our sponsors and supporters, we could not have done this without you.

Principal Sponsor – CBR; Senior Sponsors – In the City Canberra and ZOO.;

Program Sponsors – Australian National University, University of Canberra, 2B Design, National Museum of Australia, The Canberra Times;

Event Sponsors –Australian Institute of Architects, ThinkPlace, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Restaurant Associates, The Canberra Times; Design Sponsors – Eckersley’s Art & Craft, National Portrait Gallery;

Supporters – Broadbean Cetering, Little Bridge Wines, Canberra Institute of Technology, Hotel Hotel, New Acton, Questacon, Baily’s Corner and Long Rail Gully Wines.

A special thank-you to Steve Wright and his team for the Fashfest pop-up event at the closing party.

Canberra knows how to celebrate and the four day DESIGN Canberra festival was a visual treat of design in focus.

Thank you all.

Avi Amesbury

DESIGN Canberra Creative Director and Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre Executive Director