- Perth Design Week 2024 returns with expanded program showcasing over 80 events citywide and beyond.
- International collaboration with OMA highlights global impact.
- Returning partnerships and new additions set to elevate this year's PDW.
Perth Design Week (PDW) has returned for 2024 after the massive success of last year’s inaugural festival, and the program is being launched today.
PDW is a public festival celebrating the best our local community offers in design. This year, PDW will feature an expanded itinerary of events across the city, with the program moving beyond the confines of the CBD.
Perth residents are invited to immerse themselves in the rich, local design world, engaging with our local professionals to foster a deeper appreciation for their work.
Offering a lineup of more than 80 events, the weeklong program runs from 14 March 2024 to 21 March 2024, hosting events, exhibitions, talks, experiences, and films.
Triumph of last year’s Design Week attracts international attention
Event co-creators architect Sandy Anghie and designer David Smith said they were floored by the immense success of the inaugural PDW, from the spectacular events to the magnitude of people attending the festival.
“Many of the successful Design Weeks around the world attract and engage not only local but international audiences, we are aiming high. PDW is an impactful event for Perth, allowing the city to proudly present and showcase our local design talent and their work,” Anghie and Smith said.
“This year PDW has gone global! We are proud and honoured to announce our collaboration with renowned global architecture practice OMA in partnership with Italian-based, international furniture brand UniFor – presenting a bespoke installation, ‘Principles Square’ for the Festival at Cathedral Square.
“Significantly, PDW was chosen as the first location after Milan to host the highly innovative, interactive and inclusive installation.”
OMA’s Australian director, Paul Jones, said that OMA’s presence at PDW allows them to exchange ideas with Perth’s design community and public.
“The dialogues that we have strengthens our presence in Perth and Australia, and we are committed to delivering different types of work that positively engages with the region’s architectural and urban development.”
Paul Jones, OMA
“Bringing the Principles collection to Perth on the occasion of Design Week confirms the company’s strong willingness to continue supporting the Australian market, which has responded enthusiastically to UniFor’s design proposals over the years,” said UniFor CEO, Carlo Molteni.
“Working alongside the OMA studio is, again, an opportunity for us to gain new perspectives and visions,” he continued.
PDW 2023 partners to return
All PDW partners from last year are set to return for this year’s event, like the WA Museum Boola Bardip, which will host a Children’s and Family Program, Design Conversations and Films, and the “WA Homes – S, M,L” exhibition.
WA Homes – S,M,L, which opened last week, spotlight’s the efforts of Perth’s top architects in reinterpreting the great Australian dream of home ownership through smaller homes.
The exhibition is organised in order of size, with the letters referring to (S) medium-density developments, (M) apartments, and (L) environmentally sensitive designs. It critiques the predominant sentiment that a good home is a large home, proving that high-quality, smaller, sustainability-built homes can be just as good.
“We are excited to announce the Art Gallery of WA has joined our program in collaboration with the Design Institute of Australia, presenting a retrospective exhibition of the globally renowned jewellery designer – WA’s own Dorothy Erickson. ‘Piú di Cinquante’ features State Art Collection works alongside a rich array of loans, including special pieces from Erickson’s personal collection,” Anghie and Smith said.
“The State Buildings are also back with us, this year hosting events throughout the entire week of the festival, including talks from sustainability and affordable housing to graphic design and more. The exciting new members club Lawson Flats is opening its doors to host design conversations and a closing celebration.”
“Curtin University will host an exhibition at Central Park Perth, while TAFE brings fashion into the program with a runway show on the 35th floor of the QV1 building boasting views to match the spectacular showcase of fashion.”
“Extending PDWs boundaries this year, City of Stirling is new on board, inviting students to join the ‘coalition of the infilling’ and design innovative and sustainable infill development projects. While the City of Vincent continues the conversation started last year at PDW on mainstreaming sustainability, FORM will celebrate connection and creativity at their Claremont Gallery & Café.”
