Why Design Now? | A Westcoast Context

Opening Reception: June 21, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
June 22 to August 27, 2016

Curated by Barry Marshall, Creative Director of EDG, with the support of Nancy Bendtsen of INFORM
and Niels Bendsten of BENSEN

WHY DESIGN NOW?: A WEST COAST CONTEXT is partly inspired by New York’s Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s 2010 National Design Triennial entitled ‘Why Design Now?’, which focused on how innovative design globally has addressed significant social and environmental issues. This 2010 exhibition and the accompanying substantive catalogue were organized by themes, such as energy, mobility, health, communication and simplicity that cut across design fields—bringing a surprising range of projects together.

From 1945 to 1975, West Vancouver was considered a centre of innovative residential design that became known as the West Coast Style. This exhibition reflects and demonstrates how the integration of many creative and design disciplines have and continue to contribute to local culture and the creative economy—from the pioneering work of postwar artists, architects and designers, collectively known as Mid-Century Modern and West Coast Design, to the work of local and international designers today.

Finally, the WHY DESIGN NOW? exhibition is specifically inspired by contemporary business and industry’s growing recognition of “Design Thinking” a relatively new approach which employs a strategic solutions-based methodology to harness creativity, user-focused experience design and is increasingly seen to have the potential to revolutionize the education of the next generation of innovators.

The exhibition showcases how local designers are directly creating the value-added products and technologies that are needed by domestic and global consumers today and also how designers are consulting and collaborating with others -employing design thinking towards the improved output of knowledge based goods and services.

BENSEN, U Turn	Brent Comber, Hikae Soe		Martha Sturdy, Langara Bowl