Sri Lanka Design Festival 2022, conceptualized & organised by AOD, to pay tribute to the panorama of potential local design, with the launch of the ‘Design Lokayak’ theme
The most highly-anticipated event on Sri Lanka’s design calendar is just around the corner and has revealed its exciting new vision: ‘Panoramically new, panoramically local, design lokayak.’ The Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF) 2022, now in its 13th year, will be held from the 2nd to the 4th of December and promises to honour the panorama of possibilities heralded by local innovation, creativity, and design, and also the immense potential these hold in bridging local talent, processes, and materials with global markets.
An initiative by the Academy of Design (AOD) –Sri Lanka’s pioneering design institution-, this year, the annual 3-day celebration of all things innovation will provide a platform to local designers, entrepreneurs, and businesses that are working through economic challenges. By connecting inspiring solutions, ideas, and processes that are locally rooted -yet relevant to audiences all over the world, SLDF 2022 aims to encourage greater participation of Sri Lanka’s creative sectors in its economic recovery.
Sri Lanka has had its fair share of challenges. Even more notably, however, the country has always led the charge when it comes to constructive introspection, recovery, and resilience – testament to the immense potential of its citizens to overcome from within.
Adopting a panoramic vision is pivotal to surviving and thriving – i.e. seeking out the larger picture while also learning to accept and work on the imperfections; a means to securing long-lasting connections and economic opportunities, building on our own talent and resource pool.
Participants at SLDF 2022 can expect to see an inspiring viewpoint into what design and innovation can deliver in terms of commercial solutions, and how fostering an entrepreneurial culture gives rise to successful business ecosystems. The festival will unlock key lessons for recovery and resilience that will aid young entrepreneurs, students, and business owners in shifting their perspectives to a wider worldview with which to overcome our unique challenges.
Premised on creativity, innovative capacity, and talent— things that Sri Lanka has in abundance— the festival will showcase design as a powerful leveler that should utilise the island’s untapped potential and bring about new sustainable modes of product development. This ‘Design Lokayak’ timely vision directly responds and looks to foster a broader design vision that would support development by bridging local talent, processes, and materials with global markets. This edition of SLDF featuring local creators and innovators is poised to inspire Sri Lankans as much as international attendees.
While the full schedule of events and line-up of participating luminaries for SLDF 2022 is yet to be revealed, both participants and attendees can expect an inspiring series of exhibitions, shows, talks, and knowledge-sharing sessions looking at the panorama of possibilities that this innovative new vision presents.
However, as is the case every year, the highly prestigious Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Sri Lanka as well as the much looked-forward-to AOD Grad
Exhibition will be two key events associated with SLDF. Collaborations between designers and local industries, leading companies, and knowledge-led initiatives pioneered by key diplomatic missions, design exhibitions, workshops, forums, and talks will also be part of the agenda.
Aligning with this year’s ‘Panoramically new, panoramically local, design lokayak’ theme, SLDF 2022 will be showcasing a panoramic view into the different industries that accelerate localism in order to sustain globalism, and how these very industries intersect, contribute, and even define the local identity.
Economic protectionism today pushes the idea of creating from within; finding and holding on to new identities and alternatives. At SLDF 2022, AOD unfolds the identity of a New Local, with a panoramic look into the creative landscape of our island, exploring how design innovation is creating a space for local expression, information, conversation, and creation that will pave the way to build a uniquely New Local identity.
This vision was adopted for SLDF 2022 staying true to the festival’s continuing core of supporting local design talent and industries to grow beyond the island and reach international markets. This vision also borrows from the best of localism and globalism—that is, to source from close to home and employ local talent while understanding and empathising with the needs of markets beyond borders. A welcome vision channeling hope, courage, and resilience for positive change-makers of the future.
The Sri Lanka Design Festival was conceptualized by the Academy of Design in 2009 with the aim to fulfil the need for a platform with global reach to support and strengthen the fast-evolving design initiatives and global trends in Sri Lanka. A firm believer in the power of design in catalysing a greater positive impact, AOD has strived to ensure that this initiative has over the years connected industries, creatives, emerging designers, as well as the general public to inspire and learn from each other and truly internalise the immense potential design has to change the world we live in - for the better.
The Academy of Design invites all design enthusiasts to register for the 2022 edition of the Sri Lanka Design Festival online at www.srilankadesignfestival.lk. For more information on the festival, all are welcome to drop by CIT between 9am and 5pm or call 077 572 7772.
Sri Lanka has had its fair share of challenges. Even more notably, however, the country has always led the charge when it comes to constructive introspection, recovery, and resilience – testament to the immense potential of its citizens to overcome from within.