Tom Dixon launches Irish Design Week

Tom Dixon will kick off Irish Design Week tonight at the National Gallery in Dublin.

The UK designer, who is also a member of Irish Design Week sponsor the Bombay Sapphire Foundation, is expected to talk about his work, setting the tone for a week-long programme of multidisciplinary events.

Barry Sheehan, president of the Institute of Designers of Ireland and one of the key organisers of Irish Design Week, tells Design Week that, having had IDW hosted by Karim Rashid last year and Tom Dixon this year, he would love to have Thomas Heatherwick in the future, and would ‘do anything to get him over’.

Irish Design Week, now in its seventh year, has grown from a purely Dublin-based event to an all-Ireland programme, with 60 events across graphics, furniture and product, architecture and sustainability.

Sheehan says that the idea is to have ‘as much variety as possible, and cover as many topics as possible’, engaging an audience of clients and designers.

The Graphic Design Business Association will relaunch later this week as Design Business Ireland, with an extended remit to include a wider number of disciplines.

It key awards scheme, The Irish Design Effectiveness Awards, established in 1994 to reward the client community for their commitment to graphic design, will take place on Friday 7 November.

Across furniture and product, New Works by The Irish Furniture Designers Network will be on show in the capital, bringing together new collections by Gordon Byrne Design and Leo Scarff Design. This gallery event will showcase new works by the Network, which now comprises 18 of Ireland’s top furniture and lighting designers.

The Institute of Creative Advertising and Design’s 50 by 50 exhibition in Dublin aims to celebrate ‘big ideas’. Fifty Irish creatives, including Jan de Fouw, will showcase commissioned original pieces, printed off 50 times and sold for €50 (£40) each.

Belfast will host the Digital Futures event, led by Red Bee Media creative director Jane Fielder and Poke creative director Nic Roope, sharing thoughts on the developments in digital and broadcast media design.

Irish Design Week takes place from 3-8 November across locations in Dublin, Shannon, Kilkenny, Limerick and Cork.

For further details, visit www.designweek.ie.