Boston, MA – The producers of Boston Design Week, Tony Fusco and Robert Four, are honored to announce that Boston Design Week has been selected to host the World Design Weeks Forum as part of Boston Design Week 2020. The Forum is an international gathering to share knowledge, resources, and best practices, and foster the exchange of products and ideas, sustainable development and the growth of design events worldwide. Under the theme “Global Design Innovation” Boston will invite delegates from sister Design Weeks in Barcelona, Beijing, Bogota, Chiang Mai, Dubai, Eindhoven, Helsinki, Mexico, Prague, Seoul, Tokyo, Toronto and other cities as well as design weeks and design festivals in the United States.

“We are thrilled to have been chosen as this year’s host of the World Design Weeks Forum,” comments co-producer Tony Fusco. “Over the past 6 years, Boston Design Week has laid the groundwork to become a major design festival. Boston businesses and thought leaders have long exported cutting-edge design to the rest of the world. Today Boston is a world-class city, and our ultimate goal is to make it known internationally as a leader in the design fields.”

Leading the Forum will be two founding members of the World Design Weeks organization: Ingrid van der Wacht, the International and Public Affairs Manager for the Dutch Design Foundation which produces the highly-successful Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven; and Dawn Zidonis, Executive Director of the San Francisco chapter of AIGA and of San Francisco Design Week, which has been taking place since 2006.

Boston Design Week was founded by Fusco & Four in 2014, and has grown and expanded each year. The 2019 Boston Design Week hosted more than 80 events and programs over the 12-day festival. Last year close to 50% of the events sold out and over 15,000 people attended events in 10 Boston neighborhoods and 16 cities and towns in greater Boston. In all, more than 75,000 people have attended Boston Design Week events and the festival receives more than 1 million media impressions every year.

Participants include more than two dozen leading design businesses and agencies; the City of Boston and other government offices and agencies; professional societies such as the Boston Society of Architects (BSA/AIA), International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA), Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX), National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), and numerous others; universities such as Harvard University, MIT, Northeastern University, Boston Architectural College, Boston University, Suffolk University, Mass College of Art and Design, Wentworth Institute and others; and museums and non-profit organizations such as the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MIT list Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Boston Preservation Alliance, and 20 others. (Complete list on request.)

“The Forum will lay the groundwork for increasing international participation in Boston Design Week in the future,” notes Fusco. “The forum programs will allow delegates the opportunity to engage in numerous programs that are also open to the general public, and offering the public the opportunity to meet, interact with and learn from our international visitors.”

Forum programs will include presentations from Design Weeks around the world on the most critical issues facing their countries and their communities, and the role that design plays in developing solutions to those issues. Climate change, environmental sustainability, affordable housing, urban planning, transportation and other serious issues demand new design solutions. 

The multi-day Forum will culminate on Friday, April 5 with the Boston Design Week Awards event, which includes the presentation of the Annual Lifetime Achievement Award. Past Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients include internationally and locally recognized figures in the world of design including: Vladimir Kagan, Dakota Jackson, Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Vicente Wolf, John P. Axelrod, Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell, Boston preservationist Susan Park; and Boston architect Maurice N. Finegold. Last year, the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Roger Thomas, designer of numerous casinos for Wynn Design and Development including his latest, the Encore Boston Harbor.

A “Call for Events” has been issued for the 7th Annual Boston Design Week. Boston Design Week seeks to increase public awareness and appreciation of all aspects of design, foster recognition of the vital role design plays in our lives, and bring new audiences to a wide array of design industries and organizations.  Our vision is to encourage the public to explore all aspects of design. All Boston Design Week events are open to the public and most are free of charge. To download the Participant Guide or to propose an event please visit BostonDesignWeek.com. The deadline to register an event is January 17, 2020.

Boston Design Week is generously supported by numerous Sponsors. For information please email BostonDesignWeek@fuscofour.com or call 617.363.0405. To receive the newsletter, visit BostonDesignWeek.com. Follow Boston Design Week on Facebook at facebook.com/bostondesignweek, Instagram @BostonDesignWeek and Twitter @BosDesignWeek.