Denver Design Week graces Denver from October 12 to 19. The week-long event celebrates Denver’s creatives from multiple industries including, interior, architecture and technology.
Denver Design Week started in 2016 after William Logan and his team saw the need to dig deeper into Denver creatives and give light to how Denver can become a hub of technology and innovative ideas. The first year started with a launch that around 600 people attended, showing the interest in Logan and his team’s mission.
Jason Belaire the executive director of Denver Design Week has taken over this year to create a new line up of presenters and workshops to crack into Denver’s untapped potential.
“This year is my first year really taking charge and I’ve curated it, to bring my network to Denver because we want to learn, we’re hungry to learn and we want to be that sort of quintessential center hub [and for] the creative community rather than always looking at a New York and LA [to look here]. That’s a big mission statement for us is to say, look, let’s bring design and architecture and technology and where they all converge is where we want to really be focused and bring important content to the people of Denver [and] to the creatives of Denver.”
When Denver Design Week began, Belaire reached out to Surya Vanka, an innovator in software and hardware design, to present his idea of “design swarms” which takes on social issues to find solutions for problems such as pollution, addiction and homelessness. Vanka used these “design swarms” to try to tackle the homelessness issues that Denver faces using design and technology to create resources and avenues for those who face living on the streets.
Vanka returns this year as one of the more than 50 different presenters showcasing their innovative designs and knowledge throughout multiple industries.
Another presenter, Thomas Lockwood, Boulder resident and author of Innovation By Design, will showcase his studies on companies that have used design thinking to improve their marketing, profitability and structure to become more appealing. Lockwood will present his findings and give insight into how you can also improve to open your accessibility, no matter the industry.
You can also learn from some of Denver’s top creatives such as architect Julian Fentress and industrial designer Michael McCoy. Fentress presents his experiences in architecture and his furniture manufacturing company, located in Denver. Fentress, who is now working with McCoy to redesign and build the Denver Art Museum will present with McCoy about entrepreneurship and their “Place®” products as well as design within the Fentress Global Challenge, a competition for students that presses for future architecture and design achievements.
Denver Design Week will start with a focus on the future. Belaire gave insight on the night that starts with a special program. ” [The] program, called Ignite, [is] very focused and very inclusive. It’s about putting together a panel of rockstar creatives to talk to college-aged student[s] to give them tools and to give them new ways of thinking to help drive their success. So really what we’re saying is, day one, we [are] launching this program because we want to say that we really believe in the future of designing and the creative mind.”
Each day of Denver Design Week will hold new and exciting presenters, tours and more all throughout Denver and the surrounding Denver area. The best part? You do not have to dedicate all of your time to attend. Belaire explained, “This is like a design conference, you get to pick and choose what you want and you can just, leave for an hour or two [or] you can go over a lunch break. You could [also] go to every single session if you want. It’s up to you. But the content is truly impressive and it’s there for all of us to really learn and to grow and to be better and stronger.”
Whether you are in architecture, design, technology or anything creative, Denver Design Week has something to offer to you.
“If you look at our region, there isn’t anything like a Denver Design Week. We’re very excited that we’ve sort of found our niche and we found something that is truly meaningful and can add a tremendous amount of value to this creative community.”
If you want to take a chance to improve yourself, check out Denver Design Week and register here.
