Hasta La Ideas

Design at Work 09 is coming up on December 9 and 10 in Kortrijk Xpo, Belgium, featuring exhibitions, workshops, and lectures including Oxylane Design from Lille, France (the creative team behind sports retailer Decathlon), Kemo from Eindhoven, Netherlands (who specialise in prototyping), and Piuproducts, from Essen, Germany. Also featured will be Philips, Samsonite, Dyson, Tupperware and others. Ji Lee, Creative Director of Google (New York), will deliver the keynote speech. All wrapped up in some stage design by IEA Architects (Antwerp, Belgium). Here’s the pitch:

In the recent past, trade shows in general have become rather over-specialised, niche-oriented vertical events. At Design at Work, we do not believe this is the model of the future. We believe in a more horizontal approach which crosses the boundaries between industrial specialisations. Innovative and creative minds already ignore such borders and use cross-fertilisation between sectors and disciplines to develop new solutions and new approaches to their problems. Product developers, designers, innovation managers and others also look for solutions rather than products, whether made from plastic, metal, liquids, organic or new materials.

This is the approach and organisation of Design at Work: to take into account all the necessary steps and disciplines which are involved in introducing a new product, material or service to the marketplace. From market research to industrial design, via prototyping and materials, intellectual property, engineering and manufacturing techniques, all the way to branding and corporate identity: these are the necessary steps involved in new developments and designs.

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