ICAD celebrates jubilee with eco book

Ireland’s Institute of Creative Advertising and Design kicks off its golden jubilee year celebrations this Thursday with the launch of a showcase book of the best of Irish design talent from the past five years.

The book – called Gold, Silver, Bronze and Green – marks the beginning of the 2008 ICAD awards season, as well as a raft of exhibitions and events to celebrate the organisation’s 50-year anniversary.

ICAD president Martin Wright says the book exemplifies the process of celebrating the past, while looking forward to the future of Irish design and advertising.

‘This book provides a great chance for us to celebrate five years of brilliantly executed ideas and design in Ireland, but it is also an example of what we are capable of achieving in terms of environmentally sustainable production and manufacture in the future,’ he says.

Looking back on five decades of the ICAD, Wright believes that Ireland’s design future lies within the ‘economy of ideas’, as opposed to manufacture.

He comments, ‘We aren’t really a manufacturing economy, but what we are seeing now is an increasing emphasis on insight and ideas – that is our forte.’

‘There is more energy and enthusiasm in the design world now than I have ever seen in my entire career, because of all the new technologies available to us. It is an exciting time,’ he adds.

Embracing Ireland’s commitment to the environment, the book has been specially designed using the latest ecologically sustainable production techniques, ‘Green’ papers and vegetable-based inks and glues.

The 2008 ICAD Awards, art of the ICAD season, are now open for entries through the website www.icad.ie.

Entries will be assessed by leading Irish and international creatives, ahead of the awards on 27 November.