The fest(ival) for design in Ghent

The end of April will see the start of Design Fest Gent, a new biennial 10-day festival that offers designers space to present their ground-breaking ideas. By focusing on sustainability in all its facets, Design Fest not only wants to inspire the visitors and residents of Ghent but also challenge them and encourage dialogue.

Design Fest Gent demonstrates what design can (and indeed should) be: inquisitive, experimental and activistic. The festival encourages creativity and will become a matchmaker for new collaborations between designers, knowledge institutions, organizations and the industry. These parties join forces because design is so much more than making objects. Moreover, the aim of Design Fest is not merely to present things but also to focus on creation, experience, meeting, stimulation and amazement.

An extensive range of installations, workshops and lectures are bundled in three content clusters: Look Back, Move Forward and Do Care. Look Back shows projects bringing together craft, tradition and new technology. Move forward focuses on hybrid collaborations between science, design and technology with nature as a blueprint. Do Care gathers designs with a social impact.

Participants

The festival showcases a unique selection of existing projects and new creation assignments, which were selected under the supervision of curator Siegrid Demyttenaere in close dialogue with the partners of the festival and six co-curators Christel De Maeyer, Nathalie Goethals, Heleen Sintobin, Unfold: Claire Warnier and Dries Verbruggen, Bram Vanderbeke and Sep Verboom.

Discover all participants here. You can also find them on the Design Fest Gent-socials.

 

Locations

Design Fest Gent is taking over downtown Ghent. Some locations:

 

The Wilde Route

Be Wild, Act & Change. During Design Fest Ghent, different design shops will form a trail through Ghent. In the run-up to the festival, each shop will make one or more deadstock available to an organisation or designer. The designer will use these deadstocks to create a new and unique design that can be sold. During DFG, the designers will present and sell their creations in the relevant shops.

The Wilde Route takes place from 22/04 through 01/05.

Programme

Design Fest Gent demonstrates what design can (and indeed should) be: inquisitive, experimental and activistic. Not only through presentations, but also through lectures, workshops and encounters. Experience, meeting, stimulation and amazement are central.

Sustainability has many faces, which is why the programme for each day is linked to a theme. See the full programme below. Follow the Design Fest Gent-socials for additional insights.

 

Partners

Design Fest Gent is an initiative of: