Pivot Dublin’s World Design Capital Design Feast

Pivot Dublin Dining Table

As part of Dublin’s bid to become World Design Capital in 2014, the Pivot Dublin bid team organised a dinner to welcome the ICSID delegation to the city and introduce them to some of the vibant and diverse design community here in Dublin.

The dinner was held on the evening of the 21st of July in the reception of Dublin’s Hugh Lane Galley in Parnell Square. A fitting location, presenting the city’s art collection and directly facing Michael Biggs’ glorious typographic stone carvings in the Garden of Remembrance. The meal brought a close to the first day of the official ICSID judges visit to Dublin.

As the evening was a pop up event, all guests were requested to bring their own chair! Which proved to be both a challenge and an impromptu conversational piece! Some brought their own design prototypes, others customised chairs, I however had two meetings that bookended the day and was traveling by train, therefore my solution was more pragmatic one… I had a fold up chair!

Our host for the evening was Dublin City Architect and organiser of Dublin’s bid, Ali Grehan, who welcomed ICSID judges, Martin Darbyshire and ICSID Secretary General, Dilki de Silva.

The dinner table was designed by Jonathan Legge and was made by Orla Reynolds, Fionnuala Coffey, Mark Cosgrave and Barry Sheehan. Simply decorated, it was great example of problem solving and ingenuity in it’s design.

“You are now in the midst of a design community and the rest of the world is looking at Dublin.” Dilki de Silva

Among the 50 or so guests were Dubin’s new Lord Mayor, Andew Montague and luminaries of Dublin’s creative community such as Conor Clarke from Design Factory; Andrew Kavanagh from Kavaleer Animation; Mary Doherty from Red Dog; Sean O’Laoire,Architect; Dr Linda King and Dr Annie Doona from IADT; Ré Dubhthaigh from Radarstation; John Walsh from MADE adn the Institute of Designers in Ireland; Toby Scott from Pentacle; Illustrator, Bren B; Owen O’Doherty from Dublin City Architects Office, and of course, Bob Grey from Red and Grey and Architect Emma Curley who designed and co-ordinated the Pivot Dublin bid submission.

The meal was prepared and presented by Bord Biá and was simply suberb! Starter was Dublin Bay Prawns (naturally!), followed by Lamb for main course and a finished off with a delicious raspberry tart for desert.

The evening was a full of wonderful conversation and clearly demonstrated to the ICSID delegation the diverse and active design community we have in the capital and how many independent creative groups and individuals are fully supportive of Dublin being designated the World Design Capital 2014. The discourse and discussions were so engaging that once ejected from the Gallery, we simply continued on Parnell Square – after all, we had our own chairs!

You can show your support for Dublin to become World Design Capital by following @pivotdublin on twitter or by liking PivotDublin on Facebook.

Michael Biggs' uncial carvings in the Garden of Rememberance

"Have yis no home to go to?!" - Post-dinner Creative chit chat!

More reading:
http://www.pivotdublin.com
http://www.worlddesigncapital.com
http://www.icsid.org
Judges visit Dublin to assess city’s World Design Capital 2014 bid

Dublin city is shortlisted for World Design Capital 2014

Congratulations to the team at Pivot Dublin for being one of just 3 cities worldwide who have been shortlisted for the prestigious title of World Design Capital 2014.

Today the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) announced that Dublin, along with Cape Town and Bilbao have been shortlisted from 56 applicant cities from around the globe.

The Dublin bid, ‘Pivot Dublin, Turn Design Inside Out’ is a collaboration between the four Dublin local authorities, focusing on themes of ‘Connecting Cities’; ‘Making Cities Flow’; ‘Making Cities Lighter’ and ‘Making Cities Smile’.

The Pivot Dublin team are now developing and implementing these proposals as ‘seed projects’ for the run-up to the announcement in October of the winning city.

This is an unprecedented opportunity for Dublin and the Multidisciplinary Design Community we have in this city and not only for the promotion of Irish design at a global level, but also for promotion of the creative capabilities of the nation. Ireland is unique in our global influence – and we now need to exploit our position and become World Design Capital 2014.

Read more:
World Design Capital
ICSID
Pivot Dublin
Institute of Designers in Ireland
Core 77

Pivot Dublin event

Last night I attended the Pivot Dublin presentation in City Hall, where Dublin City’s bid to become World Design Capital in 2014 was presented to an audience of a couple of hundred designer, architects, film makers, educators, students and city officials.

The the evening was presented by Ali Grehan, City Architect for Dublin City Council and the keynote speaker was Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Ruarí Quinn, T.D. – who incidentally was once an architect!

Mr. Quinn highlighted the vibrancy of design in Dublin and how that dynamism effects the wider community and economy at large.

Other attendees were Dr. Linda King and David Smith from IADT, John O’Connor, Kiean Corcoran and Barry Sheehan from DIT, Ré Dubhthaigh from Radarstation, Séamus Byrne of IxDA, Illustrator and Offset organiser Bren B, Garret Stokes from Design Business Ireland, Architect Emma Curley, Bob Gray from Red and Grey and many, many more. Of course, I was wearing my Institute of Designers in Ireland hat, so pretty much the whole creative community was represented.

You can show your support for Dublin to become World Design Capital in 2014 by liking Pivot Dublin on Facebook , tweeting about fantastic design is in Dublin, by using the hash tag #wdc2014 or by following Pivot Dublin on Twitter.

Dublin: World Design Capital?

Last week I was handed a report written by Garrett Stokes. The document entitled “Dublin: World Design Capital” asks the question is the Irish Creative, Design & Applied Arts Sector fit for purpose?

The report can be downloaded from here as a PDF file.

The report makes some interesting suggestions to how representation of the design sector in Ireland can be improved upon, discusses current bids from other cities to become World Design Capital in 2014 and highlights what needs to be done for a Dublin bid to be successful.

The report calls for the creation of the Irish Creativity Industry Council (ICIC) as an overarching body representing all design interests including representative orgainsations, state bodies and independent design collectives.

The report has been initially circulated to a limited audience and has received very positive feedback some of which can be read below:

A Senior Official in the state sector: “I returned this morning to find the report on my desk – I have briefly skimmed it – it is exceptionally interesting and relevant … my immediate reaction was shoot for 2016 – so I agree with your assessment.”

Culture & Arts Sector: “I’ve just finished reading your document on the above. It was a very informative read – taking stock of where we are at – without losing sight of where we could be – and outlining what we need to do in order to get there! This is the kind of pragmatic thinking we need in order to get some fundamentals in place. I really welcome your call to separate out Culture and Arts/ Business and Innovation and Creative Industries. I think we all need to be really clear about what we are talking about in each of these three areas so we can maximize the interplay between the them, but more importantly, as you point out, ensure that the right kind of infrastructure, leadership and resources are put in place to support the creative industries. I think we both know that Government simply does not understand the distinction between these areas and really does not understand how the process works. I also think there are people in all three sectors who are confused too!

I welcome your call to set up the Irish Creative Industry Council. This is where it all starts.”

Professional Representative bodies: “The WDC competition is thoroughly valid and most certainly Dublin should make a bid in the future because winning something of this magnitude would do so much for the Irish design industry and our economy. This is a fleeting opportunity for us to come together and to invest our time & energy into a process that could achieve so much on a world level but also on a domestic level … We have realised that Ireland is too small to continue to operate in the fragmented way that we and all the other design associations & institutes have been doing and that we need to come together to develop a stronger voice on a pan European & international level, without losing our individual identity and diluting our industry specific agendas. I would like to confirm that in principal we would endorse a bid to win the World Design Capital Project in 2014 but that we have the same inherent concerns as expressed in the report, especially in relation to timeframe. We have a lot to do in order for a bid to be successful and feel that 8 months is far too short, given the head start that the competition has had.

I worry slightly that we might bruise our efforts to win in 2016 if we bid for 2014 and are unsuccessful. For now, I think the most prudent approach is to assemble representatives in each of the design areas who will come together to develop a coherent group – a bit like the Design Council in the UK.”