Tánaiste launches Design & Crafts Council Ireland Irish Design Week 2024

• The theme ‘Imagination for Opportunity’ looks at innovative solutions to global issues such as the climate emergency, the housing crisis and social inclusion
• Irish Design Week takes place from 11 – 15 November 2024

30 July 2024: The annual Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) Irish Design Week 2024 was launched today by the Tánaiste Micheál Martin TD.

Now in its third year, DCCI Irish Design Week is a national programme of events and workshops taking place across Ireland from the 11-15 November 2024.

The theme for Irish Design Week 2024 is “Imagination for Opportunity – Innovative, creative solutions to global issues such as the climate emergency, the housing crisis and social inclusion are many and varied. What needs to happen in order to make them investable?” This year’s programme will promote potential solutions to these challenges with the objective to get several of the showcased projects funded and actioned over the next year.

Launching Irish Design Week 2024, the Tánaiste Micheál Martin TD said:

“It is a great privilege to launch Irish Design Week 2024. The theme ‘Imagination for Opportunity’ underscores the vital role of human creativity in addressing the challenges of our time. Imagination is a powerful tool, but it must be supported by robust mechanisms to transform visionary ideas into tangible solutions. Our design community has the talent and the potential to lead this transformation.”

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke TD said:

“Irish Design Week presents the perfect opportunity for our indigenous design community to showcase their work and ideas and collaborate with their international peers. The design sector in Ireland makes a significant contribution to our economy and culture and we want to see that grow further in the years ahead.”

Irish Design Week has recently become a member of World Design Weeks and is aiming to generate international interest in global issues viewed through an Irish Design lens.

The main venue this year is Dublin’s Royal Irish Academy of Music, and a week-long programme of events kicks off on November 11. Themes will include Fashion, Graphic Design, Architecture, Storytelling, Climate-Design-Entrepreneurs and Design Diplomacy.

Guests for the week will include leaders from the international and Irish design communities in architecture, entrepreneurship, impact investment and policy. As part of the event participants will interrogate some of these design solutions and propositions with the aim of getting them off the ground.

Tom Watts, Head of Design with DCCI, said:

“Imagination is a huge topic in Design at the moment, coming off the back of the realisation that we will not solve the massive problems we are facing by thinking in the same old way. We need radical approaches that are implementable quickly. Most importantly we need action and so we are inviting entrepreneurs and investment funds to join the conversation. The measure of success should be how many projects get funded and are making an impact by the time Irish Design Week rolls around again next year.

“Clever solutions create opportunity, a sense of optimism, and a feeling that all is not lost. It is easy to feel that the challenges are insurmountable, but if we can create momentum towards implementing these solutions, I am quite sure that many more will emerge, and we will then have a path for them to follow.”

DCCI has opened the call for participation, asking design practitioners across Ireland to submit event ideas that celebrate and demonstrate this year’s theme.

DCCI Irish Design Week is funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment through Enterprise Ireland.

ENDS