Conversations, workshops, guided visits and open studios. A feverish pace marked San Francisco Design Week, the annual event (ending on 11 June) that puts the spotlight on the Bay Area. As always, the week covered many different themes, at many different locations, with a wide range of offerings.
The geographical spread is a particular feature of this event, in fact, branching out into the city to reach public and private locations (from museums to schools, corporate headquarters to architecture firms), with the objective of discussing design in the widest sense of the term, interacting with the guiding theme for 2023: “Plot Twist.”
Aidling Darling Tour by Diane Dorrans Saeks, Dynamic Minds Series – Photo © Adam Rouse
Technology, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, food design, climate, sustainability, health, music, art, interior design, literary design… these are just some of the topics addressed during the encounters organized with the support of outstanding sponsors like Uber, IBM, IDEO, Accenture, Adobe, and others. The precise identity owes much to the character of the host city itself: “San Francisco is a city built on twists and turns around a convergence of factors: a strong culture open to new ideas, extensive research and development, a long history of investor start-up funding,” the organizers explain.
Talk Creating Beauty by Tina Frey – Photo © MO
“Understanding the factors contributing to the Bay Area’s success, and the shifts taking place, presents exciting new opportunities – says Dawn Zidonis, executive director of SFDW. – The Design festival gives access to fresh ideas and vital conversations regarding emerging technology and how design plays a transformative role in shaping our future.”
One of the crucial themes for the encounters this year was artificial intelligence, covered for example in the session with Adam Cheyer, co-creator of Siri, in a virtual context organized by Zoom to also delve into legal matters and questions of intellectual property; or in the talk by PA Design to explore the relationship between AI technology and design.
Leit House by Schwartz and Architecture
The question of start-ups was also a hot topic, examined in the talks organized by Uber and Creative Capital. Another focus was on climate action, namely technologies and solutions for coping with climate change, and the possible positive impact of design in this area. The various suggestions of food for thought included a contribution by the California College of the Arts.
Schools and education are important factors in the festival program, including the Stanford d.school and San Francisco State University, with workshops on design open to students and the general public.
New York Residence by Min Design
A chapter apart had to do with interior design, investigated during San Francisco Design Week through outstanding figures in this sector, many of whom opened the doors of their practices for the “Open Studios”; there were also direct visits to works of architecture and residential spaces, narrating new trends in modern design. Organized tours and encounters with designers were coordinated by the interior designer and blogger Diane Dorrans Saeks for the series “Dynamic Minds,” involving studios like Aidlin Darling, Feldman Architecture, BAMO and SOM, an personalities such as Ken Fulk, Charles de Lisle, Gary Hutton, Susan Collins Weir.
Yosemite Valley by Multistudio
Finally, the Design Week concluded with the announcement of the winners of the Design Awards 2023, with the aim of “celebrating and recognizing exemplary work in all fields of design including architecture, interiors, industrial design, communications, and user experience.” There were 28 nominated projects and 17 honorable mentions. Winners included the studio Schwartz and Architecture for the Leit House in the Architecture category, Min Design for the interiors of the New York Residence, Multistudio with the three new structures of Yosemite Valley, in the Travel & Hospitality section.
