Craft + Design Canberra Festival 2024 to celebrate our creative city
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The program for the 10th year of the Craft + Design Canberra Festival has been unveiled. With a theme of Regenerate, the program of events will run from 1 to 10 November alongside a month-long series of exhibitions.
The festival offers an innovative program of exhibitions, talks, tours, activations, open studios and workshops responding to the festival theme and celebrating Canberra as a creative capital and a global city of design.
Jodie Cunningham, Craft + Design Canberra CEO and Artistic Director, says ‘Canberra’s reputation as a hub for creativity and innovation draws together the layered legacies of Ngunnawal cultural practice – in which design, making and culture are intertwined, Walter and Marion Griffin’s visionary design for the city, significant mid-century architecture and world class contemporary art and design.’
With more creatives living and working in Canberra – and more cultural artefacts per capita than any other city in Australia – the festival celebrates our identity as a cultural capital.
The 2024 Craft + Design Canberra Festival will connect Canberra with over 500 artists, craftspeople and designers, advocating for design thinking, collaboration and making by hand to generate innovation and solve problems, providing hope for our future.
‘This year, the Festival showcases the incredible capacity of design thinking and supporting local creative enterprise to solve the big problems of our time,’ Cunningham says.
‘We must focus our efforts on reversing the devastating impacts of climate change. It is no longer enough to be sustainable; we must innovate to regenerate environments, relationships and communities.’
Seven things to plan ahead for
Climate-focussed collaboration
Leading the Festival is a modular public art installation, Urban Biome, which will be brought to life in Civic Square, demonstrating ways in which collaboration, regenerative design, reuse of materials, and endemic plants can be incorporated into public space and contribute to healthier cities.
The work is a collaboration between three designers and makers: Thor Diesendorf of reclaimed timber workshop Thor’s Hammer, glass artist Spike Deane from glass making facility Canberra Glassworks, and horticulturalist David Taylor from Ephemeral Country.
The design features playful handcrafted hexagonal decking tiles, planter boxes, and seating made from recycled timber, steel, and recycled plastic. It includes terrazzo tiles planters, pots, and dishes crafted from upcycling broken glass offcuts from the Canberra Glassworks. The array of plantings illustrates the interaction between Australian flora and extreme weather events, such as fires, showcasing the regenerative capacity of Australian plants, and highlights how we can enrich landscapes as caretakers of our unique biodiversity.
Businesses, government agencies or members of the public will be able to purchase components of the installation – or the whole thing – upon the Festival’s conclusion and relocate elsewhere in the city, in their own backyard or courtyard.
Markets + Makers
The popular Craft + Design Canberra Festival Design Markets return on Saturday 2 November to Civic Square, with unique and handmade objects available for purchase directly from Canberra’s best makers. There will also be free family workshops and local food.
Craft for all ages
The workshop program has been designed to enhance wellbeing, and includes diverse craft activities for adults and children allowing participants to learn new skills and discover the cortisol-reducing, mental health benefits of making by hand.
A chance to get up close and personal with makers
More than 80 of Canberra’s makers will showcase their work as part of the festival’s acclaimed Open Studios and Arts Organisation Open Days program.
Exhibitions to engage
Over 22 exhibitions will be held across November, exploring the regenerative potential of design thinking, and making by hand, showcasing excellence in contemporary craft and design practice.
Behind the scenes experiences
Architecture and urban design tours will be held to explore some of Canberra’s award-winning building design, iconic buildings, and hidden gems. This ‘behind the scenes’ treat in our global city of design will allow participants to discover regenerative approaches in sustainable design and historic innovation.
Inspiring conversations
The Making and Remaking Canberra symposiums and the Artist Talks program will inspire discussions with leading artists and designers, giving insights into industry trends, deep creative process and future innovations that help to uncover the regenerative possibilities for urban design and the built environment.
To view the full festival program or purchase tickets visit craftanddesigncanberrafestival.org
Feature image of Teffany Thiedman’s 2023 Open Studio by Tim Ngo.
