Design Week Portland was built on the strength of hundreds of independent design events. On April 15-16, 2016, it expands and opens with a two-day Main Stage event in Portland, Ore., including speakers from every design discipline. The event is expected to attract architects, urban planners, students, graphic designers, and digital professionals from across the U.S. and beyond.

Cost for the two-day conference is $395; register online at designweekportland.com. Tickets purchased by January 31st include a special promotion: 1) $100 off full-price registration, 2) private tours of Portland’s most interesting design spaces, and 3) hand illustrated custom goods.

The event takes place at the renovated Revolution Hall (1300 SE Stark St.) in Portland and registration is limited to 700 people.

"Design Week Portland creates important moments of overlap between design disciplines that stoke the flames of innovation and impact," says festival director Tsilli Pines, who sees design as a cultural and economic resource. "The festival exists to galvanize the creative community and aims to fuel the city's rise as an important design center. We look forward to increasing a dialogue between creatives in Portland and the rest of the world."

The Main Stage speaker line-up is packed with visionaries influencing the industry and design community today, from Craig Dykers of Snøhetta, to Mike Thelin of Feast, to Genevieve Bell of Intel, as well as nine others, such as:

  • Crystal Beasley, Designer, Qcut: Beasley trained as a UX designer and is working to bring digital maturity to the apparel business and fix an antiquated manufacturing paradigm that hasn’t changed in over one hundred years. Beasley and her team are working to solve how to fit women for jeans by creating a size-less system with more than 400 patterns.
  • Chad Brown, Founder, Soul River Runs Deep: Brown is a trained designer and a U.S. Navy veteran who participated in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, served at Guantánamo Bay and saw combat during the Black Hawk Down era. He has launched a lifestyle fishing brand and a non-profit that connects disadvantaged youth with veterans via fishing excursions.
  • Rob Walker, Writer: Walker is a contributor to Design Observer, writes The Workologist column for The New York Times, and contributes to numerous other publications. He writes about technology, design, business, marketing, the arts, and work.

The Main Stage conference event kicks off a week-long city-wide festival of independently-organized events spanning hundreds of venues (April 17-23, 2016); most free or low cost. The week is about exploring the process, craft and practice of design across disciplines – from graphic design and architecture, to fashion and apparel, to film, interior design, writing, industrial design, and more. The full Festival schedule will launch mid-February online.

Oregon is home to nearly 12,000 companies in design and publishing industries, visual arts, performing arts, media production, art schools and museums. Those companies employ nearly 41,000 people and account for 4.4 percent of all Oregon businesses.

About Design Week:

Design Week Portland is a nonprofit organization that celebrates and promotes design as the city’s most promising cultural and economic resource. The mission of the organization is to increase awareness about design – what it is and what it can do for business, education and the economy in Portland. The aim is to help shape the evolving state of design in the city. Founded in Portland, Ore. in 2014. Festival launched in 2012.

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