Get ready for Auckland Design Week 2024!

12 Dec 2023

Auckland Design Week is thrilled to announce its debut showcase set to take place March 2024.

The new annual event will spotlight the vibrant design scene in Tāmaki Makaurau, offering a collaborative platform for the city’s creative thinkers, design practitioners, showrooms and retailers to converge and celebrate the essence of design, and how it informs the way we live.

Auckland Design Week provides a stage for designers spanning various disciplines – spatial, architectural, interiors, product, fashion and more – to showcase their work in a distinctive and engaging way. 

There will be three Design Districts as part of the first Auckland Design Week showcase. Grey Lynn, Parnell, and Mt Eden/Uptown will each have their own unique personality that reflects the local design community, enabling visitors to explore events a short walking distance from each other with an annual overarching curatorial theme. A central hub, the Design Depot at Ponsonby Central’s Sapphire Room will provide a space for brands and designers from outside the Districts to exhibit - with a biophilia inspired concept, the Depot will showcase sustainability brands and those with a connection to nature.

2024s ‘Bold & Brave’ theme urges a departure from the prevailing white-on-white aesthetic and encourages vibrant expression through daring choices in colour, shape and materiality. More than visual, Bold & Brave extends influence to environmental responsibility – calling for designers to challenge the status quo of how we design, and ensuring design-lead decisions prioritise recycled materials and restoration efforts - it’s an invitation to redefine spaces with flair whilst courageously addressing the environmental impact of design.

ADW Director, Jen Jones is a passionate design advocate – having, for over 10 years, worked with leading designers to manage, develop and deliver a diverse range of design/build projects - for commercial businesses (including Auckland Airport, BNZ, Flight Centre and Lumino) as well as a portfolio of high-end residential clients.

“Despite being a city who loves design – and our tendency to punch above our weight on the global stage, the events that champion local and international design are few and far between, the calendar for design events in New Zealand are either highly specialised or exclusively for design professionals. Auckland Design Week will be a window into our culture, to our work, and an open and inclusive invitation to come on in.”

Key event partner Resene’s Marketing Manager, Karen Warman sees the event as an opportunity to support local design talent.

“We’re delighted to be bringing the colour to Auckland Design Week. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the city’s designers, showrooms and suppliers to come together to showcase and share their creativity and the difference they can make to create and grow a vibrant city that we all can enjoy. It’s the people, the art, the colours, the texture, the design and the creativity, combined with nature’s beauty, that helps to make our cities so liveable and loveable. Resene started in a Wellington garage in 1946 and over all those years so many designers have inspired us on our journey. Auckland Design Week is an opportunity for Resene to help pay forward that inspiration to others, from emerging designers to seasoned professionals and design lovers.”

About:

Auckland Design Week is an independently run event that will deliver exhibitions, activations and immersive experiences that showcase the ingenuity of our design community. The inaugural edition will foster collaboration, interaction and idea exchange among designers; excite, educate and inspire design enthusiasts; and help to drive forward commercial prosperity for the whole industry.

Flipping the traditional fair model, the event will feature installations that blend these various design disciplines to create a dynamic and immersive experience for attendees, while showcasing the prowess of our design community. Alongside this, there will be a focus on innovative, ethical and sustainable solutions shaping the future of our spaces and communities.

Auckland Design Week 2024 will run from Sunday 10 – Saturday 16 March, 2024. Tickets for the Auckland Design Week event are on sale soon, from https://aucklanddesignweek.com/

More information about the event including partner showrooms, exhibition showcases, installations, events and talks programme will be announced in January. Special mention also to Forte Flooring and Cosentino for being early supporters of the ADW concept.

Published: 12 Dec 2023