The city of Valencia is now officially one of the candidate cities that are opting to become World Design Capital for the year 2022. The Associació Valencia Capital del Disseny has presented to the World Design Organization, based in Quebec (Canada), the report on merits that candidates are required to submit.
The members of the Associació Valencia Capital del Disseny have carried out rigorous research led by two strategic directors, Xavi Calvo and Pau Rausell, which has resulted in a document for internal use of over 500 pages, reflecting the past and present of design, as well as new proposals linked to the city of Valencia and the Valencian Community. A document that includes in turn the proposal for the annual programme of events to be held in the city if Valencia is selected.
Together with the report, the bid also included the presentation of what will be its graphic image, designed by Ibán Ramón, a renowned Valencian graphic designer with an extensive, award-winning track record.
“The image for capital status anticipates future uses. The letters VWDC have been interpreted on the basis of simple geometric shapes, on a squared grid that allows an infinite variety of compositions. In fact, the abstract nature of the identity, since it is not read like an illustration or a text, facilitates its future use together with a wide variety of images and headings. Furthermore, its colour evokes the Mediterranean: the sand, the sea, the sun. The typographic styles used in the dossier are sufficiently formal without renouncing a contemporary and fresh feel,” comments Ibán Ramón. “The modular design of the identity opens the way to an infinity of compositions, enabling an ample development; without a specific meaning, but recognisable,” adds the designer.
The bid is articulated around the slogan "The Mediterranean design of Valencia. Design for change, design for the senses", appealing to a “way of looking” (a filter) with certain geographic but also aesthetic, ethical, philosophical and political implications. “We want to underline the luminosity of our world, its temperate and balanced nature, the well-worked and equivocal simplicity of what is established, synthesized and catalyzed by the passing of time, tradition, cooperation by many, and the natural selection of a job well done. But at the same time Mediterranean design allows reading, use and contemporary enjoyment, it asserts its capacity for transgression and serves as a projection towards the future. Design, therefore, for the senses, but also for change,” explains Pau Rausell, strategic co-director of the project.
Valencia’s bid is supported by numerous institutions, organisations and public and private bodies, Valencian, national and international. It has also received the support of three Government Ministries and of the Presidency of the regional government, the Generalitat Valenciana. This backing represents unprecedented support for Valencian design, confirms the soundness of its past, the thrust of its present and the excellent and promising projects for the profession and the design professionals of the Valencian Community.
The report document reflects the present outlook of Valencian design industries and professional designers of both national and international relevance and in the different design disciplines: graphic design and communication, industrial, product and interior design, design of experiences-events, jewellery, architecture, fashion design, landscaping, urban planning, sustainable design, design education, service design, etc.
The report also includes the cultural infrastructures linked to design, as well as the full offer of events, conferences and cultural weeks of Valencia and the Valencian Community. The document develops aspects such as the logistics, security and public health conditions that enable the city to host an event of these dimensions and with international projection.
In this report the city of Valencia, its neighbourhoods and streets, as well as other municipalities and enclaves of the Community, show their strengths in the backing of design. Extensive material that transmits why Valencia and the Valencian Community are currently an international design benchmark.
PROJECT DEADLINES
June 2019: Bid evaluation and shortlisting.
July 2019: City visits by WDO representatives.
September 2019: Final evaluation by the WDC Selection Committee.
October 2019: Announcement of the city selected as WDC 2022.
2020 - 2021: Programme planning and attendance at WDC 2020.
2022: Implementation of the year-long programme of events.
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