As we always say one of the joys of visiting design festivals is the chance they offer to explore different parts of the host city.
Normally it is the visitors who travel.
In Leipzig, it's Designers' Open that travels.
The true minstrel under the European design festivals, Designers' Open has been annually packing its kit bag and moving on ever since leaving its, figurative, family home in the Grassi Museum in 2006.
Designers Open 2012 will be held from October 25th to 28th in the Ernst-Grube-Halle of the Leipzig University Sport Science Campus.
A location that is grander than it sounds. The more commercial, product, part of the festival DO/Market features new for 2012 three special foci; "Off/Spring" with design for children, "Open/Air" for garden/balcony/outdoor products and "Spin/Off" which promises to present current diploma and masters projects. In addition to a, hopefully, sizable collection of international designers with their latest projects.
The more technological component DO/Industry meanwhile features, in addition to innovative design solutions, a conference under the title "smart technology – new design"
Designers' Open 2012 also features the exhibition and award ceremony for the "Sachsen Design Prize 2012". Here's hoping the 2012 jury do better than the 2009 jury who inexplicably decided to award 2 second prizes and no winner rather than doing the decent thing and proclaiming one entry as being better than all the others
We'll keep you updated.
And will indeed bring you all the highlights of Designers' Open 2012.
The obvious question of course now that we all know where Designers' Open 2012 is being held is where will Designers' Open 2013 be held.
If you follow Designers' Open's tour through Leipzig in recent years from the Merkurhaus in 2009 over Hôtel de Pologne and onto the Spinnerei prior to this years hard right back towards the city center, then for us there is only one geographically logical location for 2013.
Leipzig Zoo.
And then hopefully 2014 they will finally make it to Halle.
For us the better, and much more obvious, natural location for the show.....
Designers' Open Leipzig 2012 takes place at the Ernst-Grube-Halle, Leipzig University Sport Science Campus from October 25th - 28th 2012.
