Detroit’s annual citywide celebration of design – the Detroit Design Festival (DDF) – launches Sept. 23 with a kick-off party that will set the stage for 20 more events putting Detroit’s creative community on display Sept. 23-28.
Presented by the Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3), and supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the fourth-annual Detroit Design Festival spans all design disciplines and brings together commerce, culture, education, and entertainment with a full, varied program of exhibitions, openings, installations, shows, talks, open studios, fashion shows, product previews, performances and workshops.
This year DDF will also explore the juxtaposition between design and art when the six-day festival intersects with DLECTRICITY Sept. 26-27.
“The Detroit Design Festival is thrilled to join forces with DLECTRICITY this September,” says Matthew Clayson, DC3’s director. “A collaboration between the Detroit Creative Corridor Center and midtown Detroit bringing DDF and DLECTRICITY together in the same week was a simple decision. We have an exciting week planned, which will only further reinforce Detroit’s reputation as an internationally well-known center of design.”
With the addition of DLECTRICITY to its schedule, DDF expects a stellar year for attendance. Hundreds of designers and creative practitioners are expected to connect with up to 170,000 consumers during the six-day festival.
This year’s Detroit Design Festival is its most concentrated to date with little more than 20 design events, which will take place in six core clusters at venues along Detroit’s Creative Corridor, from downtown Detroit to New Center, in Eastern Market and in neighborhoods throughout Detroit.
For full details, visit http://detroitdesignfestival.com/
ALL ABOUT DETROIT & DESIGN
Detroit is home to the highest concentrations and quantities of commercial and industrial designers of all U.S. metropolitan regions. The Detroit Design Festival was created by DC3 as a vehicle to further position Detroit as a global center for independent design and creative innovation.
In its first three years, the Detroit Design Festival has hosted more than 230 design events, attracting 40,000 attendees to dozens of unique Detroit neighborhoods. More than 300 venues throughout the city were activated for fashion shows, lectures, installations, exhibitions, pop-up retail and other activities. An independent study conducted by researchers at London’s Victoria Albert Museum revealed many participating businesses recorded revenue spikes during the 2012 Detroit Design Festival.