Promotion: Festival of Design is set to return to Shanghai in November 2023, bringing with it a diverse programme that aims to inspire both designers and the wider public.
Speakers from Kvadrat, Raw-Edges, Bangkok Project Studio, Johnston Marklee, Atelier Deshaus, Schemata Architects, HHF Architects and Flores & Prats Architects feature in the month-long event, which will run from 10 November to 10 December 2023 and include workshops, an exhibition and a film screening alongside the lineup of talks.
Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, of Chinese architecture and design studio Neri&Hu, founded the Festival of Design in 2016 with the goal of emphasising the collaborative and communal aspects of design and inviting in a young audience through primarily free events. According to the design studio, inclusive, interdisciplinary and innovative work is at the forefront of the programme.
The Festival of Design is organised through Design Republic, and will this year be orientated towards the theme of "再 RE-", a prefix that calls to mind tenets of sustainable practice as well as doing things again.
"In the post-pandemic world, it's essential to reassess our values, redefine our priorities, and rediscover the meaning in what we do with design," said the Festival of Design.
The festival will begin with a full day of keynote presentations, taking place at venue 800 Show in Shanghai on 11 November.
Kvadrat CEO, Anders Byriel; Raw Edges co-founder, Shay Alkalay; Bangkok Project Studio founder, Boonserm Premthada; Johnston Marklee co-founder, Mark Lee; Atelier Deshaus co-founder, Liu Yichun; Schemata Architects founder, Jo Nagasaka; HHF Architects co-founder, Simon Frommenwiler; and Flores & Prats founders Eva Prats and Ricardo Flores will all be speaking at the event.
There will also be a talk co-presented with Dezeen on 14 November at Design Republic, exploring the topic of exporting Chinese design and engaging in overseas project implementation. Aedas Global Design principal Ken Wai, Linehouse co-founder Alex Mok, NODE founder Doreen Heng Liu and F.O.G founding partners Aijie Xiong and Ronghua Lei will speak at the event.
Further talks will take place at the Eco Vision Forum, a sustainability-focused event series organised in collaboration with creative agency yehyehyeh and hosted at Design Republic.
There, Studio Makkink & Bey co-founder Jurgen Bey will lead a workshop titled From WaterSchool to Bioregional Design on 16 November, while panel discussions on 18 November will explore the topics of Regenerative Design and Co-Creating with Nature.
Running the full month of the festival will be an exhibition that shares its title with the 2023 festival theme of 再 RE-. Different sections of the exhibition will drill down into the theme, with titles including RE-flect, RE-edition, RE-cycle, RE-generate and RE-imagine.
The Festival of Design says the exhibition – also hosted at Design Republic – will explore "open-ended conceptual topics" and invite everyone "to reflect on their approach to design, thus reinvigorating our community and environment at large".
Finally, in a Chinese premiere, a film screening of the documentary Alfabeto Mangiarotti, will be held on 13 November at the UME International Cineplex.
The movie, which made its worldwide premiere at the Milan Design Film Festival, explores the life and work of architect, designer and sculptor Angelo Mangiarotti, an influential figure in Italian post-war creative practice.
As part of the festival, Dezeen is hosting a talk on 14 November titled How to establish a Chinese design narrative. The talk will be moderated by Dezeen's China editor, Christina Yao, and take place at Design Republic's showroom, 511 Jiangning Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai.
For more information on the 2023 programme and to RSVP click here.
Festival of Design takes place from 10 November to 10 December 2023 in Shanghai. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen as part of a partnership with the Festival of Design. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.