The second annual San Diego Design Week event features presentations, studio tours, workshops, and self-guided tours hosted by groups throughout the binational design community of San Diego and Tijuana through Sept. 12.
Design Week Committee Chair Stacey Edelstein said the hybrid-style event, which includes some virtual presentations as well as “smaller walk-through experiences like studio tours, walking and bike tours” explores this year’s theme of Design=.
“There are about 90 different groups presenting events and virtual presentations related to design. The idea is really to bring all different ideas of design together and invite the public to experience the region through the lens of design,” Edelstein said.
Individual sections of the event are laid out on one comprehensive website, organized and tracked into different programs, within which different disciplines of design are represented, including, Edelstein said, interior and landscape design, fashion, graphic design, technology, and more.
For example, the Culinary and Craft Design program includes a virtual tour of Mexican design platform Object along with presentations from artisans such as Felipe and Milagro de Atocha, designers like Veronica Hernandez and chef Roberto Alcocer. However, it also includes an in-person beer can design show at Societe Brewing Company.
“There is a very comprehensive website, we worked on it last year and it was interesting from a design perspective. The cool thing is we’ve been able to carry that over for this year and people can filter events by online listing, or in person, or by discipline. There’s a lot of ways to customize the experience, like a ‘choose your own adventure,’” Edelstein said.
Individual events within the programs include a wide range of offerings such as virtual presentations from Mexican landscape designers Alejandra Cuentas and Fernanda D’Acosta, in-person beer tastings from Barrio Logan-based Mujeres Brew Club and an interactive workshop on community design.
Although there are innumerable ways for attendees to design their own experience, Edelstein said anyone with limited time to spare would likely benefit from the Redesign/Design for the Future program because “there are opportunities there to visit in person or a virtual that might represent the 2021 theme Design=” as well as bike and guided tours on topics like.
“With this particular collection, all these designers have re-envisioned how San Diego can function as a smart city. There’s also a proposal of a new park at the border and they have a grand vision for more facilities to serve the biomimicry, bio generative design,” Edelstein said.
Most of the events throughout all the programs are free, she said, and all are open to the public. Last year, the event drew attendees from all over the world, Edelstein said, and she doubt they’ll ever phase out the virtual events entirely.
“All the events in Mexico are virtual because borders are closed due to COVID but we’re able to reach an audience across borders and we really love that factor of accessibility. There’s one cool event, a group in Tijuana that redesigned the Loteria game who are going to talk about the design process and then attendees are invited to play together virtually,” Edelstein said.
Visit sddesignweek.org for a full listing of individual events and more information.
