2016 Northern Design Festival Programme
This year’s Northern Design Festival takes place from 7 to 16 October 2016 and takes the theme ‘Where do ideas come from?’
How do ideas evolve into furniture, products, posters, brands and buildings? – the things that surround us every day. How do designers decide which ones to follow, develop and bring to life, and how do they get from initial concept to finished work?
The Festival explores innovation, from the importance of drawing with the RIBA’s Drawing Room exhibition, to collaborative working with Turner Prize-winning Assemble’s Granby Workshop installation. Our ‘Where do ideas come from?’ exhibition invites leading designers and image makers to share their inspirations from process and materials research to typography and wit, resulting in stunning work and a rare behind-the-scenes insight into their working practice.
Design NOW, our inaugural design symposium, provides deeper insights from a stellar line-up of speakers across architecture, design, graphics and illustration. Our partnership with the Crafts Council continues and this year we will present 10 beautifully crafted pieces from their national Hothouse programme by the hottest emerging talent working in contemporary craft today.
Once again we have some stunning hidden gem venues including the Assembly House and Cooper’s Studios, perfect backdrops to showcase the best in contemporary design.
We look forward to seeing you at the Festival, and don’t forget that you can buy brilliant Northern design at our pop up shop and our online store.
It’s free to visit the Northern Design Festival pop-up shop and just £2.50 entry to the Assembly House exhibitions which allows you unlimited repeat visits.
Download a copy of the 2016 Northern Design Festival brochure (PDF, 968kb)