What Design Can Do 2011
What Design Can Do is an international conference on the social impact of design In Amsterdam, held on 26 and 27 May 2011. Design professionals from India visited What Design Can Do as part of the DutchDFA programme.
What Design Can Do celebrated the power of design and its problem-solving abilities. This two-day event in Amsterdam exposed design as a catalyst of change and renewal and a way of addressing the societal questions of our time.
Too often design is associated only with aesthetics, trends and luxury, but design can mean so much more. At its best, design can change, improve, renew, inspire, involve, shock, move, disrupt, help or solve. What Design Can Do intended to demonstrate the value of design thinking as a response to the challenges of today’s world.
With a lineup of international speakers from all design disciplines, What Design Can Do was a platform for designers to manifest the social potential of their profession. Together with the audience, the speakers discussed alternative strategies for the future. Participants were stimulated to come up with their own answers and ideas. This made What Design Can Do an activist conference, the outcome of which was published in a book compiled on the spot and presented at the end of the conference.
What Design Can Do was a cross-over between design disciplines – from architecture to product design, from graphic design to fashion design – as solutions for today’s challenges generally demand a multi-disciplinary approach.
What Design Can Do was initiated by designers who feel the responsibility to make their profession useful for society and want to reflect on this with fellow designers and other professionals.
Supporters of What Design Can Do include DutchDFA, Design Cooperation Brainport, Premsela, NAi, BNO and the Fonds BKVB. These institutions aim to stimulate designers to think about the social function of design. This is in contrast to the current image of design, which is still too focused on that attractive vase or contemporary sofa. What Design Can Do - which is set to become an annual event - will prove that this is an outmoded notion.
INTERVIEWS
Read the interviews with attending designers, fashion designers and architects from India on the invitation of DutchDFA here.
- Interview 1: Rajesh Dahiya
- Interview 2: Harmeet Bajaj
- Interview 3: Aravamuthan Srivatsan
- Interview 4: Rajesh Kejriwal
INFO
Event: Annual designer conference What Design Can Do
Date: 26 and 27 May 2011
Location: Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam
More info: www.whatdesigncando.nl
