First-ever design week is the local industry’s ‘missing piece’
Adelaide Design Week will be held in August, aiming to raise the visibility of the South Australia’s sector that creates $1.8 billion in economic value.
From August 20 to 24, Every*Where: Adelaide Design Week will transform Adelaide with exhibitions, talks, tours, and more.
Previous Design Weeks have been held in Melbourne and Sydney for decades, gaining international attention.
While a first of its kind for the state, the not-for-profit festival promises to become a permanent fixture in the Adelaide cultural calendar.
It aims to amplify the state’s $1.8 billion industry and to bolster the 15,000 people who work in the sector, who fear a creative “brain drain” could leave the 10,000 firms that call SA home high and dry.
More than 100 designers and makers will take part, as well as businesses and institutions including 4th Floor Elevator, Hugo Michell Gallery, Jam Factory, Soda Objects, Longplay, 1K Chairs, UniSA, University of Adelaide and more.
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UniSA lecturer and Adelaide Design Week board member Hannah White says what makes Adelaide unique is that it is home to both designing and manufacturing.
“We have so many incredible people here that are fabricating and hands-on, so that was super important for us to showcase,” she says.
“All these unique shows have been created especially for this week… for people to engage hands-on, so visiting Shops and design Studios to hear designers talk about interesting things from sustainability to the idea of place and how Adelaide fits in that.”
The first event, Motion, is an opening party by Samantha Agostino and Rachel Leppinus.
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“Motion has over 80 object designers, including furniture makers, lighting, and sort of everything within that realm… I think it sets the tone then for the entire week so that one is special,” says Hannah.
Hannah says one of the events she thinks is special is the Open Studios, which are open workshops where anyone can visit a range of object makers and furniture workshops within Adelaide.
“That really shows the generosity and also the commitment from the design community in being generous with opening up and letting everyone have a nosy inside,” she says.
“Many of our local designers, who are internationally renowned, are invited to those Melbourne and Sydney design weeks, and we thought, why aren’t we celebrating them here as well?”
Board Member André Zufferey (dré fuzz) says the direction behind Every*Where was clear.
“There are a lot of individual projects and institutions that hold important spaces in Adelaide. What is important for us when bringing this together is that the sharing that happens across design is what really drives it forward and develops design practice,” says dré.
“As this event develops, I think we’ll see more opportunities coming for designers, design practices, and architecture firms.”
“We were intentional in trying to give it a name that wasn’t just city-name design week. So, we titled it Every*Where, and I think everywhere is important to us because it’s an observation of our built environments where we see that everything is designed.”
