On Wednesday 26 October at the IDA Congress in Taipei the winner of the World Design Capital 2014 designation was announced as Cape Town, South Africa. Though we at the IAF join the rest of Dublin and Ireland’s creative community in their disappointment that the extremely impressive PIVOT Dublin bid was unsuccessful, we’re happy to report that this is not the last we’ll hear from the PIVOT Dublin team…
PIVOT Dublin intends forging ahead with its plans to implement its strategy. The web site www.pivotdublin.com has been established as an international showcase and contact point for Irish design and this will be further developed.
Arising out of the bid Dublin will be showcasing its design skills at the WDC ‘Everyday Discoveries’ International Design House Exhibition in Helsinki in September 2012. There are also plans to host a milestone Dublin design event in 2013. Building on the organisational work done to prepare the bid, PIVOT Dublin will be coordinating and facilitating a programme of ‘seed’ projects under its four themes ‘Connecting Cities’; ‘Making Cities Flow’; ‘Making Cities Lighter’ and ‘Making Cities Smile’ with partners across the public and private sectors. These projects are planned as demonstrations of design’s capacity to impact socially, foster cultural programmes and implement economic initiatives to dignify people’s lives and restore the hearts of communities.
“The PIVOT Dublin bid has galvanised designers, business leaders and policy makers to recognise design’s capacity for social impact and innovation. It’s a catalyst and enabler for creative thinking across Dublin and by Dubliners across the world. It allows us tell an engaging story about our design capacity and our innate ability as Dubliners to design. It will continue to be a platform to showcase our extraordinary design talent and is a tribute to all the wonderful people who have been instrumental in taking us so far” says City Architect Ali Grehan. Watch the video below, produced for the IDA Congress, which shows just a small amount of that design capacity: