Top Moments You May Have Missed From Design Weeks Across the Country This Year

FairTop Moments You May Have Missed From Design Weeks Across the Country This YearThe notable happenings from this year’s regional design fairs, from San Francisco to Miami

By Tim Nelson

December 8, 2021

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After a year of cancelled or virtual events, 2021 saw the return of sorely missed regional design events in cities across the U.S. Unsurprisingly, many incorporated ideas of transition or renewal into their themes, investigating how design has changed since early 2020—and how the discipline can shape what comes next. Below, find a quick hit of memorable highlights from this year’s cross-country events, then start saving the dates for calendar events to come in 2022.

San Francisco Design Week (June 15–25)

Held in June, the 15th edition of San Francisco Design Week centered on a series of conversations, workshops, and virtual events themed around an exploration of the many ideas and definitions of “Power.” Multiple events covered how power manifests in the realm of digital design, including a session on the Reinvention of Illustration led by Adobe vice president of design Eric Snowden, a workshop on turning emoji into a more inclusive visual design language, and advice for breaking into augmented and virtual reality as a design medium.

Additional programming involved a session with former San Francisco Chronicle design editor Zahid Sardar covering creative design solutions with potentially global benefits, as well as a program on how leaders can make use of their power to shape design teams for the better.

Detroit Month of Design (September 1–30)

Spanning 30 days of programming that included 20 exhibitions, 15 workshops, and 11 installations, Detroit Design Month showcased why the Motor City is America’s first and only UNESCO City of Design. The Cranbrook Chair Show highlighted outside-the-box approaches to the aesthetics and utility of the chair, while Mike Han and Synecdoche Design’s “Discard Detroit” showcased the area’s ties to midcentury-modern classics. At the more cutting-edge end of the programming spectrum, Yazmin Dababneh’s “Moments of Immersion” installations dismantled boundaries between physical sculpture and the digital realm, and Cody Norman’s “Morphogenesis” used 3D printers to turn recycled plastic into organic forms.

As part of the Available City, Studio Barnes created a design-minded playground in collaboration with Shawhin Roudbari and MAS Context.

Photo: Nathan Keay

Chicago Architecture Biennial (September 17–December 18)

Chicago’s long-standing legacy of architectural innovation continues with the ongoing 2021 edition of its biennial, themed around curator and designer David Brown’s “Available City” concept. In partnership with a host of community organizations and like-minded architects (totaling 80 contributors from more than 18 countries), the “Available City” reimagines currently vacant urban lots by proposing new ideas for how architecture and public policy can better serve the public. (Ideas range from landscaped parks to architecturally inviting gathering places.) Hood Design Studio, Studio Barnes, Borderless Studio, and more contributed to the site-specific projects that foster play and community interaction, making this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial an example of the outsize impact that small changes to the built environment can have when applied on a citywide scale.

“This edition was a major departure from an exhibition model to a more direct engagement with the built environment and local audience,” says Rachel Kaplan, director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. “Local communities have come together to engage with the possibilities for space in their neighborhood with incredible energy and enthusiasm.”

Following five days of events, attendees gather at a wrap party for Nashville Design Week.

Photo: Daniel Meigs

Nashville Design Week (November 1–5)

Returning for its fourth installment, this year’s Nashville Design Week was an interdisciplinary exploration of transition. With help from what director of programming Maria Meyer describes as a team of “artists, chefs, furniture makers, musicians, architects, designers, [and] urban planners,” 18 events examined design’s role in everything from affordable housing and social justice to the culinary arts and the growing “metaverse.” Along the way, hands-on events provided opportunities to design furniture and explore virtual landscapes. Among the attendee favorites? A curated community art exhibition examining both the pandemic’s impact and local hopes for the future.

NYCxDesign Festival (November 11–18)

The 2021 edition of the NYCxDesign Festival returned with a focus on designing for a more equitable, accessible, and inclusive New York in the wake of the pandemic. Industry trade shows International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), WantedDesign Manhattan, and Boutique Design New York (BDNY) served as anchor events at Javits Center, while makers and shops hosted satellite events throughout the five boroughs. A long-awaited collective show at Colony, a student design competition in collaboration with DeMuro Das, and showroom celebrations for Emblem Paris and Hem were among the week’s highlights.

B&B Italia tapped multimedia artist Shantell Martin to enliven the showroom windows with her signature black-and-white artwork during Miami Art and Design Week.

Photo: Emilio Collavino

Miami Art and Design Week (December 1–5)

The design industry descended on Magic City earlier this month for Miami Art and Design Week, upheld by cornerstone fairs Art Basel and Design Miami. To commence the event, AD hosted a star-studded affair in celebration of the newly unveiled 2022 AD100. On the gallery front, Converso exhibited a widely buzzed-about suite of pieces from John Dickinson’s famous 1963 Firehouse, while the Future Perfect showed new works from Chris Wolston and others. And a visit to the Miami Design District presented a specially commissioned Mario Bellini sofa, an array of Vladimir Kagan reintroductions, and more.