When a younger Indian, Pradyumna Vyas, arrived in Kilkenny within the Nineteen Eighties to work as an intern, he discovered one thing surprising in Eire’s then-fledgling design scene: a collaborative ethos that might form his total profession. Now president of the World Design Organisation, he returned final week to mark 60 years for the reason that Kilkenny Design Workshops, the initiative that successfully rebuilt Irish design from scratch.
His journey bookends a exceptional transformation. And Irish Design Week—which was launched in 2022 and this yr ran from 17-21 November with over 65 occasions throughout 15 counties—provided a masterclass in how a small nation has turned historic necessity into up to date benefit.
The standout format this yr was Design Diplomacy: intimate conversations between Irish and worldwide designers assembly for the primary time over a card sport of questions. Held on the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, it is a idea borrowed from Helsinki Design Week, but it surely speaks to one thing Eire does significantly properly: creating real alternate relatively than performative networking.
The pairings had been strategic. Laurent Ungerer from France’s C-Album met Noelle Cooper from Unthink. Japanese sound designer and Pentagram’s first audio specialist, Yuri Suzuki, related with Kasia Oźmin. Vogue’s Diane Pernet from the US sat down with Eibhlín Albert-Doran. Australian inside designer and tv character Banjo Beale talked with Anna Sutcliffe from Home of Achill.
These weren’t, although, the sort of panel discussions the place everybody performs their biggest hits. They had been structured to generate precise dialogue: the sort the place you may be taught one thing that you simply did not know you wanted to know.
For the creatives attending, it was an opportunity to look at how designers from totally different contexts strategy comparable issues, from physique politics in trend to the connection between sound and visible communication.
From coverage to observe
Irish Design Week opened with one thing a bit uncommon: a design coverage convention. Which may sound dry, however here is the place it will get fascinating. A brand new report from the Bureau of European Design Associations revealed that Eire ranks among the many most design-aware nations in Europe for integrating design throughout nationwide coverage, from round financial system initiatives to digital transformation and public service reform.
Thus far, although, solely two European nations (Latvia and Iceland) have devoted nationwide design insurance policies. Design is “hiding in plain sight,” as Christina Melander, chief design officer on the Danish Design Middle, put it. It might be all over the place in authorities considering, however not often named or coordinated.
For designers, this creates each alternative and frustration. The Irish authorities clearly understands design’s worth: Design & Crafts Council Eire receives state funding via Enterprise Eire, and the Division of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment backed the week itself. However the infrastructure stays fragmented.
The convention introduced collectively European and Irish leaders to discover how design considering can higher form coverage, companies and sustainable development. For anybody working with public sector shoppers or fascinated with systemic change, this dialog provided very important insights.
Past Dublin
You’d count on the main focus of Irish Design Week to be on Dublin, and there was certainly loads happening within the capital. Nevertheless, the actual energy of Irish Design Week lies in its distributed mannequin. Over 30 DCCI-funded occasions had been scattered throughout the nation, from Limerick to Leitrim, Cork to Kerry.
In Cork, as an example, the Fusion Workshop demonstrated learn how to remodel enterprise waste plastic into artistic textiles. Sligo noticed a week-long celebration of graphic design. In Wicklow, Kunstverein (a curatorial manufacturing workplace for up to date artwork tasks) marked the completion of a multi-year accessibility research of Aughrim city, exploring how design makes native areas extra inclusive.
None of this was in any respect tokenistic. It was extra a recognition that design considering occurs all over the place, not simply in capital cities. For rising designers and small studios, such occasions present visibility and connection to a nationwide motion, with out requiring relocation or huge budgets.
Elsewhere, the Irish Enterprise Design Problem, introduced throughout the week, awarded €50,000 to firms utilizing design considering for sustainability. This yr’s winners—Change Garments, a neighborhood clothes reuse hub, and the Rediscovery Centre, Eire’s hub for the round financial system—demonstrated how design technique creates actual enterprise worth.
International energy
To my thoughts, although, it was the calibre of worldwide participation —from Anthony Burrill’s typography to France’s Tabula Studio—that was the actual story of this occasion. As a part of the World Design Weeks community, Irish Design Week now connects to main world hubs throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. And this issues.
Why? As a result of Eire’s historic expertise of rebuilding design infrastructure from scratch, studying to punch above its weight and connecting native craft traditions with up to date observe has a lot to show the remainder of the globe about present challenges, akin to sustainability, social influence and significant collaboration.
©Sinéadvert O’Dwyer. Courtesy Irish Design Week 2025
The theme of the Week, ‘The Ties that Tie and the Hyperlinks that Hyperlink’, explicitly celebrated this. It acknowledged that good design not often occurs in isolation. The Kilkenny Design Workshops succeeded not via particular person genius however via structured collaboration and worldwide alternate. Six a long time later, that mannequin feels more and more related.
So here is my takeaway for creatives, whether or not you are based mostly in Eire, the UK or past. Irish Design Week affords one thing that is greater than mere networking, and past simply inspiration (helpful although this stuff are). Extra broadly, it is a working mannequin of how design communities can construct affect via real alternate, strategic connection and dedication to each craft excellence and social objective. And in an more and more fragmented artistic financial system, that is not too shabby.
