Design events to catch in November

Virtual conference: Around

Hosted by the founders of digital design platform Gravity Sketch, Around will explore what organisers are calling “the new age of industrial design”. The focus will be on how things like virtual reality (VR) and 3D ideation are changing for designers.

Speakers will include representative from the likes of Adidas, Ford and Occulus, as well as other designers working the fields of CAD, product, VR and industrial design. Talks will cover a range of topics, including tools designers might find useful, the need for diversity in design, and the “new normal”.

The event will be streamed globally on 4 and 5 November, and those wishing to attend will need to register. More information can be found on the Around website.

Festival: Design Manchester 2021

Design Manchester is back for another year, this time with a hybrid programme on in-person and online events. The theme connecting 2021’s offering is “connectivity”, according to organisers, who say they’ll be exploring “innovations on the theme of local, global and hybrid collaboration”.

Among the events billed for the festival is the Doing Zero Exhibition, which has been developed between local creatives and communities in Manchester and those in Nairobi, Kenya. The show addresses the impact of food on climate change, and will take place at the Vertical Gallery at the Manchester School of Art.

Online attendees will be able to explore “industrial symbiosis” at an online presentation put on between Design Manchester, MODA-FAS Barcelona and the British Council of Spain. Joint student teams will reveal their projects, which focus on the circular economy in the textile industry.

Design Manchester events will take place throughout November and across the city and online. For more information, and to register and buy tickets for events, head to the DM21 website.

Trade show: Workspace Design Show

November will see the inaugural edition of the Workspace Design Show, taking place at London’s Business Design Centre. The event, which will host a collection of representatives from the commercial interiors community, aims to “discover and discuss tomorrow’s places of work”, according to organisers.

The show claims to be the first UK exhibition in the sector since COVID-19 lockdowns began in March last year, and the effect of the pandemic on workspaces will be a running theme throughout the programme. Several panels, debates and workshops are slated for the event, alongside exhibitors – and topics will include how commercial interiors can spark creativity, building wellbeing into spaces and how designers can co-create with those using a workspace to achieve optimal results.

The trade show will take place in London on 4 and 5 November, and attendees need to register online. More information can be found via the Workspace Design Show website.

Market: Projekt Mkt

Billed as an “early Christmas shopping treat”, Projkt Mkt is a three-day pop-up market for vintage poster enthusiasts. Focusing particularly on mid-century pop culture, interiors, art and graphic design, the event offers the chance to browse and buy thousands of posters “under one roof”.

The event has been curated Projekt 26, and features ten leading independent vintage poster dealers, which each bring with them their own distinct specialism. The offering is appropriately diverse – Soviet-era Communist posters sit alongside quirky French health and safety signs and the “bold wry wit” of the Polish School for Posters’ output. All posters, the organisers promise, are authentic originals.

The event takes place at MKII, an old dairy building in Clapton, East London, from 12 to 14 November. Entry is £3, or free for under-16s and “four-legged friends”. Prices range from £20 to £2,000+. More information on the event can be found via the Projekt Mkt website.

Magazine: TYPEONE

TYPEONE, the bi-annual magazine by Femme Type, is now on its third issue as of November. This time around the theme is graffiti and mural art and the founder Amber Weaver says the topics are approached with TYPEONE’s usual “fresh perspective”.

Femme Type was established by Weaver to interrogate the type and design industry and support and encourage women working in these spaces. TYPEONE is an offshoot of this, and uses “creative type mediums as a gateway to explore topics such as culture, business, technology, innovation and design,” she says.

The latest edition of the magazine features a special fold-out section designed by Appear Offline, and boasts five sections dedicated to interviews, insights and more.

TYPEONE is priced at £12.99 and is available to buy from the magazine website.

Online festival: Design for Planet

The Design Council’s flagship event to mark COP26, Design for Planet, is a two-day design festival taking place at V&A Dundee. The festival, and supporting strategic focus, aims to “mobilise” the nation’s 1.69 million designers, who CEO Minnie Moll says have the “power and responsibility” to help address the climate crisis.

The event will be live-streamed for an audience of “thousands” online, and will also feature 100 experts in-person. Attendees, both online and in person can expect talks, practical sessions and design tools offered throughout the programme.

Speakers announced already include Dr Leyla Acaroglu, a named UN Champion of the Earth and award-winning designer and sociologist, and Sophie Thomas, a leader in sustainable design and behaviour change and co-founder of Thomas Matthews.

Design Week will be attending the festival and reporting on the events. The festival will run from the 9 to 10 November and those interested in attending are invited to register via the Design for Planet website.

What November design events are in your diary? Let us know in the comments below…

Banner image courtesy of Projekt Mkt.