Last week we held the inaugural Design Manchester, a new week-long creative festival featuring a series of inspirational talks, interactive workshops and evening events, on the theme of longevity.
There were nine events across the week, including Intellectual Property workshops, OWT Creative’s Discourse event at Band on the Wall and a D&AD Creative Brief-in.
The jewel in the crown was the core festival day at Manchester Town Hall curated by our ambassador Malcolm Garrett RDI, at which were honoured to have Mark Farrow RDI in conversation with Design Week’s Angus Mongomery, the inspirational Kate Moross (STUDIO MOROSS), Nat Hunter and Mark Shayler talking about the Great Recovery plus Colophon Foundry.
One talk I loved was Andrew Shoben’s (greyworld). I’m a huge fan of public art and interactive or collaborative pieces and his are beautiful. Do take a look at his site, it’s well worth the visit. My personal favourite piece was Flowerbox (2012) which was displayed in Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square to mark the Queen’s Jubilee. I also completely love the fact that they were so taken with their own piece that they bought in the ChildLine charity auction only to realise they had nowhere to put it.
Another highlight was the Q and A, hosted Professor David Crow, Dean of the Manchester School of Art, who were headline sponsor for the event. Featuring a surprise appearance from Creative Director for Manchester Peter Saville, the session was a dynamic debate about the future of design among different generations of the design community.
The festival generated a huge buzz, with coverage on Design Week, Creative Review, Emerald Street and Manchester Wire among many more.
All in all an inspiring and motiving week that it was an a pleasure to be part of.
