Tenerife Design Festival

TDF 2009

Over 6000 pepople took part in The first Edition of the tenerife design festival
The Tenerife Design Festival (TDF) ended its first edition on the 25th October with the participation of over 6000 people from among professionals, students, business leaders and the general public. Participants were able to take part in workshops, symposiums, exhibitions and other activities during the event which was mainly held between the 19th and 25th October in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

TDF was proposed by CTND NoQuietDesign with the aim of creating links between international design tendencies and local resources, innovation and creativity thus generating a global awareness which contributes to regarding design as a tool for change and an economic driving force.

TDF has had the support of the Canarian Regional Government, via the Septenio programme, and the Cabildo de Tenerife (Island Government), via its Economic and Competition, Tourism, Culture and Economic Development Areas, as well as having the collaboration of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council.
The Festival proposes design in a dynamic way via five interconnected areas: TDFLab, TDFSolution, TDFATmósfera, TDFSigno and TDFAward. These thematic areas make up a programme which involves cooperation and experimentation, lectures, exhibitions, competitions, urban interventions, etc. and with the participation of prestigious national and international designers and creators. Within the framework of TDFLab, Walking Chair, América Sánchez, Gràffica, Roberto Feo (El Último Grito) and Albert Folch gave a variety of workshops for students and professionals.
TDF Solution led to a symposium on the “Profitability of Design,” given by Xènia Viladàs, Pierluigi Cattermole and Renate Schepen, as well as the lecture given by Martín de Azúa, “Nature + Tourism Festival+ Local Identity”. Also within this area, the Campana Brothers, who were patrons of the festival, gave a symposium on “Design and Local Production”, in which they explained their way of working, which is based on craft processes and natural, indigenous materials of their birthplace Brazil.

Within, TDFAtmósfera, the Viennese duet Walking Chair offered a wide retrospective of their work in the Círculo de Bellas Artes, at which 750 people attended, and various Canarian creators put their works together in the collective exhibition “Disleño”. TDFAtmósfera also brought the public closer to Dutch design with the exhibition “Binnen Buiten/ Make the street your home”, which was in the Recova from the 6th to the 29th October and received about 1.800 visits. Delfina Morán, curator of the exhibition, explained during the inauguration what the main aim of the exhibition was: very close to the philosophy of the festival as a whole: “It is aimed at all sections of the general public and by that I mean people who are not connected to design, designers by profession, etc. But we are particularly interested in the ordinary citizen, who knows little about design but uses it constantly.” Also inside this area, the “Flying Grass Carpet” landed in Santa Cruz on the 18th October, offering a leisure and fun space during the whole festival, as well as being the stage for other activities, like the Pecha Kucha night. Vol. 2, or the awards ceremony for TDFAward. TDF Signo was an experimental project of cooperation between local, national and international designers and representatives of industry and craftsmen and women. It is a tangible example of the exchange between the indigenous and the external and is intrinsically linked to the aims of the festival. For three months, nine designers worked with master craftsmen and women and local industries to create a structure from the knowledge, methodologies and experiences of each one of them. These exchanges generated new products that shared two characteristics: they include the values of the Canarian identity (through materials, craft techniques or the typology of the object itself) and they are aimed at being integrated into the tourism sector of the islands, and at the same time promoting the international projection of Canarian culture. The results were truly surprising: four variations of the traditional Canarian “timple” – guitar (Víctor Viñas and Francisco Fariña); a sculptured seat inspired by the landscape of the Teide (Harry & Camila and Esculturas Bronzo); urban furniture that brings together in one element a seat, a flower box and fountain (Martín Azúa + Julca); a souvenir based on the potato from Tenerife (Héctor Serrano); an urban bench which combines techniques of palm weaving with cement (Héctor Serrano, Beatriz Fernández Sánchez and Esculturas Bronzo), some separating panels made of cane set on volcanic rock from the Teide (El Último Grito and Cecilia Delgado) and a lamp made of Teide volcanic rock (CTND + Guama Arico).
The exhibition of the projects developed in TDFSigno was inaugurated on the 21st October, as well as the presentation of a video that contains images of the “Making Of” this area of the festival showing the synergies generated to perfection. (http:/www.zaunka.com/tdf-signo/).

Finally, TDFAward, the area of festival dedicated to design contests, awarded a prize to Javier Sicilia and Aranzazu Sarmiento, “Tenerife: Paradisum 1.0.”, an innovative guide on how to take advantage of and enjoy the potential of coastal areas. months, nine designers worked with master craftsmen and women and local industries to create a structure from the knowledge, methodologies and experiences of each one of them. These exchanges generated new products that shared two characteristics: they include the values of the Canarian identity (through materials, craft techniques or the typology of the object itself) and they are aimed at being integrated into the tourism sector of the islands, and at the same time promoting the international projection of Canarian culture. The results were truly surprising: four variations of the traditional Canarian “timple” – guitar (Víctor Viñas and Francisco Fariña); a sculptured seat inspired by the landscape of the Teide (Harry & Camila and Esculturas Bronzo); urban furniture that brings together in one element a seat, a flower box and fountain (Martín Azúa + Julca); a souvenir based on the potato from Tenerife (Héctor Serrano); an urban bench which combines techniques of palm weaving with cement (Héctor
The great number of venues, inside and outside in the open-air, where the different activities were carried out immersed Santa Cruz de Tenerife in a multitude of exhibition spaces which clearly demonstrated that functionality and design can and should be together. This is one of the reasons why the Tenerife Design Festival has been selected as an example of European good practice in creativity and innovation. (http://create2009.europa.eu/calendar_of_events/events_archive/events_singleview/news/tenerife-design-festival.html).
The development of the festival and the excellent results obtained have ensured that the Tenerife Design Festival is already an international symbol and part of the Island’s and Spain’s reality. A festival which is not just a one-off event, but one that hopes to become a continuous embrace between design and the Island of Tenerife.

www.tenerifedesignfestival.com/en