Madrid Design Festival 2022, fifth edition

In a few days, the fifth edition of the Madrid Design Festival will open its doors, conceived and created by La Fábrica and under the direction of Álvaro Matías. An event that has certainly positioned itself as an important appointment in the world of creativity, the Madrid Design Festival supports the concept of "redesigning the world ", with a rich programme of initiatives aimed at change, in other words ideas that materialise through design and help transform society.
Thus, the programme of events addresses issues related to habitability and mobility in cities, ageing populations, sustainable construction, as well as general well-being and improvement of the quality of life. Topics that MDF22 explores from the point of view of product design, craftsmanship, graphics, architecture, urban planning, fashion, interior design, gastronomy and lighting.
As design is a key element to economic development, the festival puts the spotlight on companies and organisations that have design in their DNA. These companies contribute to the strengthening and professional development of a creative fabric whose work serves to implement competitive circular economy systems, transform production and consumption processes to make them more sustainable, minimise the negative impact on the environment, as well as improve people’s everyday lives.
The 2022 edition features three main projects: the MINI Design Award, "Next Gen Seniors. Redesigning the city of the future for the longest-lived society in history" by IKEA and the second edition of the Atlas of Design Culture. The latter is based on the premise that "design is today an essential strategic tool to face the new dimensions and challenges of an uncertain future". Born in digital format during Madrid Design Festival 2021, as a meeting point for professionals of the culture world where they can discuss and collaborate to exploit the value of design and face the challenges of our time, the initiative will present a web-based project offering an in-depth analysis of the national and international context in which Spain’s culture of design is integrated. The Next Gen Seniors project created by IKEA in collaboration with the Espadaysantacruz studio will, instead, invite the public to reflect on the future of our cities, taking as a starting point the ageing of the population.
Finally, the MINI Design Award recognises the creative attitude of professionals who focus their work on improving life in cities and seek actions that increase the efficiency of our cities as a whole, as well as projects that focus on the new possibilities and challenges to create a smart, inclusive and sustainable city. The winners, chosen from over 130 nominees, will be announced on February 16.
For those who love sustainable architecture, the ICO Museum is presenting the exhibition titled "Anna Heringer. Essential Beauty". The event, which will be open to the public from February 9 to May 8, offers the opportunity to explore some of the most important projects created over a span of 16 years by the German architect, winner of the New European Bauhaus Prize 2021 and a reference point in sustainable architecture.
The complete programme of the Madrid Design Festival, strongly focused on design as a language capable of generating methodologies, changing our mentality, positively modifying our environment and, above all, redesigning our world, can be found on the official website of the event: https://www.lafabrica.com/madriddesignfestival/el-festival/

Christiane Bürklein

Madrid Design Festival 2022
February/March 2022
Location: Madrid, Spain
Images: see captions
Find out more: https://www.lafabrica.com/madriddesignfestival/el-festival/