DESIGN FUSION IN C-MINE GENK LEADING INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS ON TREND-SETTING DESIGN CONCEPTS (ON 14/12)
How relevant is design in our society? Which role can you play as a designer in this day and age? And what is co-creation design exactly? The annual Design Fusion event will provide a captivating answer to all these questions on 14 December in C-mine in Genk (Belgium). At the same time it will also be a unique opportunity to meet international design specialists face-to-face and to get designing yourself in one of the many fun workshops – from recycling your old toys to developing your own design style.
LECTURES: GUEST SPEAKER MICHEL BAUWENS
Design Fusion surprises every year with unique lectures on trend-setting design concepts. This year too, the organisation secured the presence of four internationally renowned speakers from the design world, of whom Jane Chen as well as Liz Sanders will be heard in Belgium for the first time.
MICHEL BAUWENS (B/TH) Founder of the Peer-to-Peer Foundation for Economic Alternatives, a worldwide organisation conducting research with a great impact on the evolution in social economy and design. Michel Bauwens featured as the only Belgian in the top 100 of the 2012 (En)Rich list of the world’s greatest inspirers and is a popular speaker at international events. Earlier this year, he was a guest on Belgian TV show Café Corsari to talk about his research.
JOHN THACKARA (FR) Writer, journalist, philosopher and event producer who puts the focus on ecological consciousness and local anchoring. Founder of Doors of Perception, an international network researching how practical acts through design processes lead to a more sustainable future. Author of bestseller In the Bubble in which he states that the times of successful solo-design are over.
JANE CHEN (VS) Founder of Embrace, a socially involved company developing products such as design tools for health care in developing countries. Designer of a safe, portable and low-cost incubator preventing premature babies from dying of hypothermia. TED speaker and pronounced one of the world’s 100 most influential social entrepreneurs by Fortune magazine.
LIZ SANDERS (VS) Professor at the Ohio State University Design Institute and founder of design research agency Make Tools, she strives to involve end users in all aspects of the design process. Author of Convivial Toolbox in which she shows how companies and organisations can deal with open and participative design.
WORKSHOPS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF STEFAN SCHÖNING
Design Fusion – with its curator Kurt Vanbelleghem – is an initiative of Design Platform Vlaanderen, an umbrella organisation of 5 partners wanting to develop Flanders into a strategic area in terms of design. Beside the lectures, Design Fusion is treating its visitors to lots of other animation and educational workshops for young & old.
DESIGN YOUR OWN TOYS (AGE: 6-8)
Come and join us for cutting, sticking, ripping and stacking. Because you’re going to be making your own toy with old packaging materials. Cardboard, plastic containers, paper boxes, you name it. Great for the smallest children’s hands. Because with simple materials like tape, string, staples and of course a pair of scissors, you can attach anything to everything! This workshop is organised by children’s event organiser De Kleine Ballon.
CREATIVE WITH TOYS (AGE: 9-12)
A cuddly toy without its tail? A toy car without its wheels? De Kleine Ballon will give them a new lease of life together with you! We have collected lots of broken aeroplanes and dolls and we’ll aim to make them into new toys together. So, get hold of that screwdriver, pull out your needle and thread or wave that glue gun and design your own new toy from old and broken ones.
CLIMB INTO THE FOOTSTEPS OF DESIGNER STEFAN SCHÖNING (AGE: 12-15)
‘What is design?’ and ‘What does a designer do?’ With these questions as a starting point, this workshop will help you develop your own design style. You’ll be challenged by designer Stefan Schöning to experiment with a vast array of design ideas. As a challenge you’ll get a design question age 12-15 anspresented to you from the world you live in. Afterwards, you can apply the design process you have learnt with all your imagination and creativity. You’ll mould your ideas into shape together with the group of people around you using sketches and drawings and in the end, you will of course be allowed to present your designs.
MAKE YOURSELF A PROTOTYPE (AGE: 15+)
Lose yourself in the FabLab Genk: a space for making, experimenting and researching. During this workshop, you’ll first get to know everything that’s possible in the FabLab, but you’ll start working practically very quickly with the machines the FabLab has (3D printers, laser cutter, CNC portal milling cutter). You’ll learn to use them in an easy and straightforward way to really make things, such as little boxes, necklaces and figurines. FabLab Genk is a co-operation between LUCA School of Arts MAD-faculty and the University of Hasselt and is supported by the EU through its Interreg IV programme.
