6th DesignMarch Iceland Opens on March 27

DesignMarch held in Reykjavik, is Iceland’s biggest annual design festival. Now in it’s 6th year, this year’s festivities are considered to be the largest and the most significant, with 150 or more events and exhibits from architecture, furniture, fashion, food design and many more.

The celebration opens with DesignTalks, an all-day event comprised of leading international names in design. This year’s theme for DesignTalks is "Dealing with Reality" with speakers who will be addressing challenges that designers face in different real-life contexts. Speakers and topics include: Marco Steinberg, former director of strategic design at Helsinki Design Lab (Copy the Past or Design the Future); Kathryn Firth, London Legacy Corporation’s chief of design (The Olympic Legacy-From Urban Surgery to a Piece of a City); Robert Wong, Google Creative Lab’s chief creative officer (Invent the Future); Mikael Schiller, executive chairman of Acne Studios, and world-renowned fashion designer Calvin Klein (Strategies through different phases of his career and collaborations across disciplines).

Another event that designers should look out for is DesignMatch, a speed-dating inspired idea wherein Icelandic designers and design companies are matched with local and international companies, retailers, manufacturers, and other players in the industry and meet in short meetings. This year’s DesignMatch will be held at the Aalvar Aalto-designed house, the Nordic House, on March 28.

DesignMatch has already produced successful collaborations allowing Icelandic designers to efficiently and effortlessly build networks and locate suitable partners for their ideas.

Fashion lovers can also attend the Reykjavik Fashion Festival which will take place on Saturday, March 29. 

DesignMarch started out as a local festival, but over the years, it has expanded into a more international scene.

DesignMarch is organized by Iceland Design Center and will run from March 27 to March 30, 2014.