EVENTS: SYDNEY DESIGN FESTIVAL 2019

Sydney Design Festival returns from March 1-10 2019, with a new theme: ACCESSING DESIGN.

This year’s theme seeks to engage a responsive approach to design, showcasing the diversity of Sydney’s vast communities. ‘Accessing Design’ opens channels of communication between design disciplines, bridging cultural divides and encouraging a wider definition of design.

“Sydney Design Festival has been running for over 20 years and has played a key role in the evolution of design practice in Australia and across the world,” says Chief executive at Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS), Lisa Havilah.

“It is the role of festivals such as this to move industry conversations and connections forward. We look forward to learning from, and sharing with, the industry’s leading designers.”

The festival is a 10-day design-fever dream, hosting 138 events including workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions, markets, open studios, podcasts, keynote presentations, installations and symposiums.

Catering to the interests of all festival-goers, Sydney Design Festival boasts fifteen customised festival itineraries built around subject areas such as Women In Design, Indigenous Design and Shaping the future, Design, Access and Inclusion.

Check out our top picks from this year’s agenda:

  • Opening the festival this year with an in-depth talk is prize-winning architect Ana Luisa Soares from Fala Atelier in partnership with the School of Architecture, University of Queensland. Soares presents – Methodic Optimism: fala atelier, providing insight into the intuitive architecture derived from the Portuguese design hub.
  • With the debut of the Sydney exhibition celebrating the triumphant 25-year career of Akira Isogawa, the genius himself will be interviewed in an In Conversation at the Powerhouse Museum on 4th March.
  • Celebrate International Women’s Day on the 8th of March with a celebration of women in design. Festival keynote speaker Rachel Winfield of Loop. pH will present the role of art and design in public spaces on the 8th. While MAAS Indigenous Design Symposium runs art the Sydney Observatory from the 9-10 March, participants will be invited to learn about indigenous design practices 60,000 years in the making.  
  • Design enthusiasts can use one of fifteen festival itineraries to get the most out of their festival. Plans are built around a subject area with packages such as Women In Design, Indigenous Design, Shaping the Future, Design, Access and Inclusion and Go West catering to the interests of all festival-goers. 

For more information visit: www.sydneydesign.com.au