Design Week Mexico, the country’s leading platform for Design and Architecture, has unveiled its program and first confirmed participants for its 9th edition, which takes place from October 4th—8th. The event will celebrate creativity and design with a range of activities, from exhibitions and temporary installations to interventions and talks, turning the capital into an international platform for innovation.

Last year, Mexico and Switzerland celebrated their 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Building on that relationship, Design Week Mexico will host Switzerland as its Guest Country. Meanwhile, the East-Central state of Puebla—known for its rich tradition of handcraft and folk art, such as the mayolica style pottery, glass and indigenous textiles—will be this edition’s Guest State, enabling bilateral collaboration between contemporary designers and traditional craftsmen.

As the city gears up to become World Design Capital Mexico City 2018—responding to the theme of Socially Responsible Design—this is an opportunity for the general public and professionals alike to discover the latest trends in Mexican and international contemporary design. Mexico City is the first city in the Americas to receive the designation, which is awarded biennially to cities based on their commitment to use design as an effective tool for economic, social, and cultural development.

For this edition of Design Week Mexico, the Museo de Arte Moderno is pleased to present 100 Years of Swiss Design, a significant exhibition looking at Switzerland’s design legacy and its international influence in the field. Initially mounted in 2014 at the Museum für Gestaltung (Zürich), this new iteration will explore the shared histories of both countries, for instance with the work of Swiss architect Hannes Meyer, who lived in Mexico from 1938 for a decade,

after directing the Bauhaus School. Mexican designers will be celebrated too, for instance Uzyel Karp and Moisés Hernández, who both spent time in Switzerland before returning to their native Mexico. Opens on October 4th—runs until February 25, 2018—Museo de Arte Moderno, Bosque de Chapultepec.  

The gardens of Museo Tamayo will play host to DWM Tamayo Project, a major architectural pavilion designed by the acclaimed Mexico City-based studio Materia. Similarly to the Serpentine Pavilion in London, the temporary structure will become a central element of the contemporary art museum and its surrounding park, Bosque de Chapultepec, and will be accessible until the Spring. Opens on 4th October—up until spring 2018—Museo Tamayo, Bosque de Chapultepec. 

Design Week isn’t only hosting a guest country, but also a guest state. Visión & Tradición offers a residency program to emerging designers from Switzerland and Mexico to work collaboratively with craftsmen in Puebla, enabling a cultural dialogue between international creative communities and exploring the significance of traditional crafts in contemporary design. 

The work produced during this residency will be exhibited at Museo Tamayo, alongside Inédito, an exhibition of new pieces by young talents in the field of contemporary design, including Mexican studios Äco, Acoocooro, Comité de Proyectos, Equipo Miztli, Josué Ulises and Vertebral, with also a special section dedicated to the Swiss Design Awards. Additionally, a residency project will be held at Casa Wabi in Oaxaca, with the Swiss designers Nicolas Le Moigne and Julie Richoz. Opens on October 4th—Visión & Tradición and Inédito run until October 8th, at Museo Tamayo, Bosque de Chapultepec.

The fundraising event Design House will see a group of Mexican designers and architects intervene on a neocolonial-style house at the heart of the upscale district of Polanco, known for its diverse artistic and cultural offerings. Participants will transform the space into an innovative, site-specific installation accessible to the public throughout the month. Opens on October 5th (invite only)—accessible to the public throughout the month of October (closing date TBC—10:30—7 pm)—Luis G. Urbina 84, Polanco—$100 MXN donation for adults, $50 MXN for students, teachers, seniors and children.

Meanwhile, EXPO Design Week brings together designers to promote and showcase their most recent creations at Campo Marte, near the National Auditorium in Chapultepec Park. This second edition of the commercial fair will feature around 140 national and international exhibitors in a space of 2,700 m2. 

Alongside the fair, Design Week Mexico has joined forces with a number of institutional and corporate leaders such as INADEM, Masisa Lab, ProMéxico, IMPI, Kickstarter, Idea Couture and Crowdfunded to present Design Hub, a talks series around the design industry in Mexico today. And for the companies and entrepreneurs wishing to develop their business models, a special business workshop focusing on the creative industries will be available too. Open from October 6th—8th (11:00—8 pm) – Campo Marte, Avenida Paseo de La Reforma, San Miguel de Chapultepec. 

This year will also see the launch of Coleccionable DWM 2017, a limited edition of 500 by the internationally acclaimed Mexican artist Edgar Orlaineta. The design piece made of ceramics pays homage to the city and its residents, exploring the urban landscape and the design narratives it inhabits. It will be available from October 4th at the concept store BLEND, the gift shops at the Museo de Arte Moderno and Museo Tamayo, as well as other key locations throughout the week. The piece can also be received as part of a new Membership program, launched this year by Design Week Mexico. 

Complementing the program is the one-day symposium Creativity & Change in Chapultepec, which will offer a platform for dialogue and debate, hosting a range of practitioners, academics and writers. This discursive event will look at the dynamic relationship between design, education, innovation and sustainability while exploring their possible social impact, particularly within the urban context. Guest speakers include Martin Lotti, Vice President and Global Creative Director at Nike; Patrick Reymond, co-founder of Atelier Oï; Alexis Georgacopoulos, Director of the Swiss school ECAL, and more to be announced soon. October 6th (9:30—6:30 pm)—Foro Cultural Chapultepec, General Mariano Escobedo 665, Anzures.

Later that evening, a series of documentaries in relation to the creative industries will be screened outdoors at the Angela Peralta Theater. Opened in 1939, the venue was designed by Mexican architect Enrique Aragón Echegaray, inspired by the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, New York and the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles. October 6th (7 pm—10 pm)—Teatro Angela Peralta, Parque Lincoln.

Over the weekend, Design Content will bring Design to the streets while promoting young practitioners. 20 containers installed on Julio Verne in Parque Lincoln, Polanco, offer temporary showcase displays in one of the most important commercial areas of the city. In addition, architecture and design students present interventions around the water fountains of the park. Meanwhile, Territorio Creativo brings together a series of events, workshops, exhibitions and food stands to the neighbourhoods of Miguel Hidalgo and San Rafael. October 7th—8th (11:00—6 pm)—various locations.

For those eager to discover the newest collections and trends in the capital’s best showrooms and art galleries, Design Route provides buses in and around Polanco, Lomas de Chapultepec, San Miguel Chapultepec, Roma and Condesa in a hop on / hop off format, for residents and visitors alike can. October 7th (11:00—6 pm)—Julio Verne, Parque Lincoln.

Louis-José Touron, Embajador de Suiza en México, said:

Our country has a strong design legacy which enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide, probably because of the way it has ignored fleeting trends to focus on concepts which have gone beyond form, with a high degree of precision, graphically as much as industrially. It’s a great honor to be the Guest Country at Design Week Mexico 2017, which coincides with a series of other recent projects to strengthened alliance between the two countries, like our participation at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, the Casa de Suiza pavilion in Chapultepec Park and the inauguration last year of the Mexico-Switzerland Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The honor is even greater a few months before of the inauguration of World Design Capital Mexico City 2018, which will celebrate the capital’s design achievements.

Emilio Cabrero, General Director, Design Week México—World Design Capital 2018, said:

For this 9th edition of Design Week Mexico, we are pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Embassy of Switzerland to encourage collaboration and dialogue across creative communities in Mexico and Switzerland—a country with a rich history in design innovation. Design Week Mexico enables to strengthen a network of practitioners nationally and internationally, while offering a high-quality program of activities which explores the role of Design in culture and society. This edition of Design Week is a great opportunity to discover the latest international trends and debates in Design while we prepare for the launch of World Design Capital 2018.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Design Week Mexico 

Design Week Mexico is the country’s leading platform for design and architecture. Since 2009, it has curated and managed a varied program of exhibitions, architecture pavilions, installations and conferences that together aim to empower the city through creativity and design while addressing the urban challenges of the 21st century. 

designweekmexico.com

About Design Week México Guest Countries 

Since 2013, Design Week Mexico has hosted a “Guest Country” to encourage international collaboration and give the public a glimpse into the invited nation’s design context. Our first guest country was Brazil in 2013, followed by the United Kingdom in 2014, Italy in 2015 and Germany in 2016. This year, Design Week will host Switzerland. As of 2015, Design Week also hosts a “Guest Mexican State” with Chiapas as our first participant, Jalisco in 2016 and Puebla this year. With both initiatives, Design Week seeks to enhance national and international dialogue. 

About World Design Capital Mexico City 2018 

In 2015, the Government of Mexico City and Design Week Mexico won the designation as World Design Capital 2018, making Mexico City the sixth city and the first from the Americas to receive the title. Mexico City has a powerful story to share internationally, as a model for other megacities around the world tackling the challenges of urbanization and using design as a tool to enable a safer, more livable city. 

wdccdmx2018.com

About World Design Capital® 

With more than half the world’s population now living in cities, design has become an increasingly fundamental tool for making cities more competitive, attractive, livable and efficient. The World Design Capital (WDC) is designated by WDO (World Design Organization) every two years to recognize a city’s innovative use of design for economic, social and cultural development. Through a year-long program of design-related events, WDC provides a platform to showcase effective design-led urban policy and innovation. Past cities to hold the WDC title include Torino (Italy) in 2008, Seoul (South Korea) in 2010, Helsinki (Finland) in 2012, Cape Town (South Africa) in 2014 and Taipei (Taiwan) in 2016. 

wdo.org