Visiting Design Festivals has become a full-time job for some since there are more of these city events than weeks on the Gregorian calendar, and it’s still in crescendo – Must be the European Year of Creativity and Innovation? - where in October alone there’s been Vienna Design Week, Designblok Prague, Dutch Design Week, Milano design-in-the-city, Tenerife Design Festival, just to mention a few points on the map off the top of our head. Design in Vienna may generate associations with Mozart foulards or Beethoven earplugs, but just as with the recent discovery of its wines, design in Austria has begun to unfold its many hidden taste palettes to be sampled.

It seems clear that when launching the Vienna Design Week (VDW), founding mothers Tulga Beyerle, Thomas Geisler and Lilli Hollein - aka the Neigungsgruppe Design – had no intention of recreating yet another parachuted event of the kind we all witness in many self-acclaimed ‘design cities’, but rather focusing on the emerging contemporary creativity popping up from the backstreet ateliers of old Vienna. Their mission is to investigate, map, trigger, boost, promote and showcase some of the best of what the Viennese region has to offer, engaging local and traditional manufacturing, workplaces and cottage industries as allies to create a contemporary twist. In this way the VDW brings together a variety of creative players in a mix of venues spread throughout the city, ranging from shops to museums, designer’s studios to retail companies, from the street corners to the university auditoriums, with the relish of serving a local dish with international flavour.

Asked about some initial reactions from the ‘establishment’ - both government and industry - to this year’s edition, Neigungsgruppe member Thomas Geisler clarifies: ‘We’ve already received very positive feedback from the local design and cultural community. International guests we have invited to discover design in the city are fascinated by the unexpected presentations, especially at traditional Viennese or Austrian manufacturers. No doubt it will still take some persuasion in order to engage the involvement of the government and industries. But examples like Riess KELOmat with their new 'Aromapots' designed by dottings show that experiment and entrepreneurial intention can lead to a commodity of cultural value. Here the festival has played an important role as a promoter.’


After 3 editions the VDW as a work-in-progress has been solidifying its position as a design playground in the heart of the city, a place for ‘experimentierfreude’ between designers, entrepreneurs, craftsmen, scholars, party animals or a mix of the above. ‘This year's edition has been more dense and diverse in content than ever’, says Geisler. ‘I do have the feeling that we managed to reach a bigger audience and not just design’s inner circle. With the presence of Arik Levy, Jasper Morrison and Michael Young we had the big names as well as the newcomers or “fresh fruits” to discover.’ For the lovers of statistics, almost 20,000 design aficionados visited the 80 events spread over 50 locations, a full programme offering a mix of exhibitions and talks.

‘Passionswege’ (remembering the Passion of Christ and the Stations of the Cross…) exemplifies the creative angle of the event, where some ‘traditional’ Viennese manufacturers are displaying new experimental stuff on the shelves of their 1900’s shops, all within walking distance in the heart of the city. ‘The core of the VDW has been the “Passionswege” since its very beginning’, Geisler continues. ‘The outcome of all ten projects is amazing and inspiring, difficult to choose a favourite. Also because they were all approached differently.’ These emerging designers – from Vienna or elsewhere – have been voluntarily nailed to the cross of creativity, with this year’s edition’s favourites featuring Max Lamb, collaborating at glass manufacturer Lobmeyr – examining the three different stages of glass manipulation: blowing, cutting, and engraving - and Adrien Rovero's leather animal series at Ledermanufaktur Posenanski, just to name a few of the experiments. ‘The satisfaction comes from the smiling faces of both designers and manufacturers. It's all about the process. Some of the presentations are even just ephemeral while others endure as pieces of evidence. The experiment as a creative starting point could also be seen in a lot of other projects and presentations within the festival programme’, muses Geisler.

Last June the Neigungsgruppe released ‘Design, beispielhaft’, (‘Design, examplarily’) a study examining and questioning the VDW’s earlier editions - with the support of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. Its first page announcing ‘Eine positive Bilanz’ (a positive outcome) gives it all away, with the publication evaluating the VDW through interviews and statistics. And as the story develops, the aim is to give added value to Vienna as a creative hub beyond all the clichés of being this traditional capital of culture imprisoned by its past. Recalling the burning title on page 92 of their study stating that ‘Design is everything. Everything!’ might be somewhat short-changing the true virtues of life, but we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s see what November has in store on the design calendar.