Welcome to Cardiff Design Festival
This October we want to challenge and broaden the definition of design in Cardiff. We want to celebrate it’s wealth of design talent whilst experimenting and collaborating with designers of all kinds. We want to share the great work produced in this city and beyond to help inspire our creative community. The festival originally ran for nearly a decade from 2005 to 2013 with the School of Art and Design at Cardiff Metropolitan University leading the way. With guidance from the current Dean, Olwen Moseley, Cardiff Design Festival 2019 is being brought to you by an even bigger team of fresh and enthusiastic local creative individuals and agencies to make it all happen.
Things have moved on, there’s a more vibrant creative community than ever before and we see an opportunity to celebrate and focus on Cardiff’s design talent. The community has become more diverse and boundaries between traditional definitions of design and other creative endeavours have continued to become even harder to define. We believe design is central to creating happy and sustainable communities and creating beautiful experiences in our daily lives.
Discovering, showcasing and inspiring Welsh design talent.
Our aims
1. Challenge the definition of design
We want to reflect design and all its changing forms. Design is affected by everything from technology, social change and fashion to necessity. We want to illustrate how design can make life better and ultimately more beautiful.
2. Celebrate Cardiff
Cardiff’s creative community is thriving and there is a lot to celebrate. We want to take the time to enjoy the design led projects the city has to offer and to inspire new ones.
3. Reach out and showcase local talent
There has been an open invitation to the local design and creative community to submit any ideas for events. These could take any shape and form. The result is a festival schedule that is going to be as varied as our brilliant design community.
4. Encourage participation
Our approach is open, inclusive and welcoming. We want to help encourage collaboration by facilitating events, exhibitions, workshops and much more. We see huge potential in making connections and sharing experience, expertise and creativity.
The Hwb
Come on in
We’ll be hosting a Hwb in Little Man Coffee on on Bridge Street. This will be where you can find out more about the festival, or even just to come for a coffee and a quick hello.
Find out moreThe Team
DAN ROBERTS
DAN SARGENT
DAN SPAIN
GARETH STRANGE
LOWRI HOWELLS
JOSH BEDFORD
EMILY MERCHANT
MARC HEATLEY
MARED JONES
OLWEN MOSELEY
MELIN EDOMWONYI
RHI LEEDAM
SARAH BURLEY
FAQs
All over Cardiff! Each event is arranged by its respective host, meaning they get to choose the venue, too. From studios and stages to arcades and coffee shops, the festival is truly city-wide.
There's no wristband or ticket that gets you into every event - instead, each event is individually arranged by its respective host. Some events will be totally free of charge, while others may be have a small cost or require a ticket. To find out whether you need to purchase a ticket for an event, simply check out its page over on our website.
Some event details are still being finalised, which means some locations or ticket details may not be on our website yet - but they will be very soon!
If you have any accessibility requirements, we recommend contacting your event's host for more information. While we strive to ensure the festival can be fully enjoyed by everyone, some venue restrictions are sadly outside of our control.
It's too late to get involved as a host now we have our awesome jam-packed schedule, but we're always more than happy for new sponsors and volunteers to join the gang! To find out more, simply head to our website or shoot us a message.