Explore. Reflect. Respond.
The Explore. Reflect. Respond. workshop and exhibition was held as part of DesignMarch 2014 in Reykjavik, Iceland. DesignMarch is Iceland’s annual design festival with over 100 events that transformed the most northerly capital in the world into one big venue for design. From fashion to furniture, architecture to food design, the festival showcases the best of the local design scene alongside exciting international names, opening with DesignTalks, a day of lectures by internationally acclaimed designers and the foremost local design thinkers. DesignMarch is organized by Iceland Design Centre, the promotion agency of Icelandic design and architecture.
Explore. Reflect. Respond. was done in collaboration with a group of like-minded designers from around the world. During the workshop, we shared our experiences using design as a tool for regional development. Our work is connected ideologically through our experience of community based design practices.
Pete Collard
explore. reflect. respond. PRESENTERS
Lára Vilbergsdóttir, Iceland. MAKE by Þorpið
Daniel Byström, Sweden. Design Nation and Designers&Forests
Maria Sykes, United States. Epicenter
Pete Collard, UK, and Karna Sigurðardóttir, Iceland. Designs from Nowhere
Jason Dilworth and Megan Urban, United States. Designers&Forests
workshop
During the workshop, speakers shared their respective community based design practices in Iceland, Sweden, England, and the United States.
The workshop attendees consisted of a mix from designers and members of communities and municipalities from all around Iceland. It was an intimate gathering during which ideas were shared and new friendships were forged.
Megan Urban compiled and designed the accompanying publication, which included essays on collaboration and community based design and worksheets to facilitate a discussion about resources within communities. This document acted as a facilitation tool for discussion both within and beyond the confines of the workshop. At the center of the document was a worksheet that could be used to prompt discussion within their own communities.
The group has hopes that new projects will be formed through the new partnerships forged at the gathering. Already since DesignMarch, Sykes was invited to present in East Iceland and visit MAKE by Þorpið’s facilities. There, she gave a presentation to the local community which was broadcast in all the small villages across East Iceland. Additionally, Pete Collard came to Green River, Utah, to do a project titled "This Is Green River."
Attendee with the publication
Presenting in East Iceland
Beetle kill longboards
exhibition
An associated exhibition at Reykjavik 871±2 highlighted work by MAKE by Þorpið, Designers&Forests, and Epicenter.
Visit the Epicenter blog for a full details and a write-up on my first trip to Iceland.