Design enthusiasts or curious onlookers, consider marking this in your planner!
After last year’s smashing success, Design Victoria will be returning to the city from May 9th to 12th and will be even bigger than last year.
This four-day festival celebrates the city’s growing design community including interior, architecture, urban, landscape, graphic, illustration, fashion, product, lighting, furniture, software, ceramic design and more!
Last year, Design Victoria’s free events attracted over 3,000 visitors to areas in the downtown core and in other select spots across the city.
For this year, designers and design businesses will be creating special installations, exhibitions, events, open houses, tours and workshops.
Visitors will be able to access creative studios that aren’t normally open to the public—this is intended to share more about the stories behind familiar businesses and get inspired by their creativity!
Organizers are anticipating the attendance to double in size, with over 30 free events and some ticketed events, as well as a newly added Downtown Design Trail—which will guide visitors around downtown retail locations to peep window exhibitions by independent and emerging designers.
The trail will also include a feature talk on landscape design in Gabriel Ross’ stunning downtown showroom.
Overall, Design Victoria’s vision is to fill the city with wonderfully inspiring and accessible ways to learn about design from architecture and fashion to public spaces.
It establishes Victoria as a destination for world-class design and creates opportunities for collaboration across the industries on top of furthering the public’s understanding of the value of design in their daily lives.
“This year’s festival will introduce audiences to the people and ideas that are defining the city’s design identity and shaping its future,” said Carla Sorrell, Director of Design Victoria
“The design community has come together to give you a sense of the growing cultural sector.”
Don’t miss their launch party on Thursday, May 9th from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.—tickets are $99 for general admission, $149 for VIP and $75 for students.
If you wish to learn more about specific events, you can visit their website.
Design Victoria
- Where: Location varies by event, but most are located downtown
- When: Thursday, May 9th to Sunday, May 12th—times vary by event
