Hyderabad Design Week to be held on Oct 9-13

Madhapur: The 31st edition of the prestigious World Design Assembly will take place for the first time in India in the city on October 11-12, in tandem with the inaugural edition of Hyderabad Design Week (October 9-13). It is a five-day city-wide event organised by the Government of Telangana, in partnership with India Design Forum (IDF), aimed at demonstrating the power of design to improve lives.

Key events in the programme include: the Autodesk Design Night (October 9), WDA Education Forum (October 10), IDF Awards (October 10), networking dinners at the historic Taj Falaknuma Palace (October 11) and Chowmahalla Palace (October 12), the HDW Design Conference (October 11-12) and curated design expo at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). It will present designs by leading students and design professionals from across the nation on October 11-12, as well as citywide tours showcasing the best of the region's heritage crafts on October 13.

More than 150 international participants, including members of the WDO, HDW, will showcase Indian designs on a global platform. A key highlight of the programme will be the highly anticipated Design Conference (October 11-12), which will take place at HICC and feature eminent design industry figures such as Marcus Fairs (Dezeen), Tim Kobe (Eight Inc.), Cristiano Ceccato (Zaha Hadid Architects), Jane Withers (Jane Withers Studio), Emma Greer (Carlo Ratti Associati), Pratap Bose (Tata Motors), Ruchika Sachdeva (Bodice), Sandeep Sangaru (Sangaru Design Studio), and Shiva Nallaperumal – to name but a few.

Hyderabad was praised by the WDO for a proposal that presented opportunities to position design as a critical tool for addressing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. With the theme of Humanising Design, the conference will consider how design innovation can be used to address pressing humanitarian issues such as poverty, pollution, and the rapid depletion of natural resources. "Contending among other global cities in 2018, the city won the bid to host the prestigious World Design Assembly. It is even more wonderful that it will be held in tandem with the city's own design event Hyderabad Design Week from October 9 to 13," said Jayesh Ranjan, the Principal Secretary (Industry & Commerce).

The city's first ever Design Week seeks to not only make an impression over the course of the five-day programme, but to have long-lasting impact for the region through awareness raising initiatives, change-making projects, and memorable events. "There are many challenges in today's world such as ecological crises, infrastructure of the future, ethical impact of technology, among others. Humanizing design will play a crucial role in addressing these," said Praveen Nahar, Director, NID, Ahmedabad, talking about the theme of the programme.