PARK was delighted to participate in the biannual World Design Organizations 33rd World Design Assembly™ held in Tokyo, Japan hosted by Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP).

Stephan Clambaneva, PARK USA Partner and WDO representative attended all three days of the World Design Assembly and events including the Research and Education Forum, where he presented PARK Design for Humanity framework as part of the theme with the same name. Stephan had the opportunity to participate in the International Design Conference held on Day two with over 600 other delegates. Day three is exclusively for WDO member participants to facilitate, debate, drive, and vote on motions for critical topics to ensure the long-term relevance and sustainability of design on the world stage, and get an update on the projects led by WDO such as the Design Research Institute (TDRI) Design Index Research Project.

A highlight of Day one was the keynote by longtime friend, former IDSA Board Member and well-known Designer, Ayse Birsel.

Ayse shared the concept of the “Design Feint” that was born out of an epiphany she had during a karate class. “Feint is a movement made to deceive an adversary, an attack aimed at one place or point merely as a distraction from the real place or point of attack. A Design Feint is a trick that distracts us in a good way to open our minds to ideas.” She thought, “OMG! We do feints in Design all the time! Design Feint is the secret of Design. For more details visit her LinkedIn post here.

On day two, it was Patricia Moore’s acceptance speech for the  World Design Medal  which brought the 600+ participants to tears. Patricia took the audience on the journey of her career as one of the founders of universal design and ended with a request for all of us to design with empathy: “Give a damn, give design, don’t build walls, build bridges, let’s hold hands, stick together, by design”.

Read more about Patricia Moore here.

As this was the first time PARK participated in day three of the assembly, Stephan focused on the procedural experience of a WDO Professional Member including voting for the motions brought to the floor for a vote.

World Design Capital 2026

The Assembly welcomed several representatives from Frankfurt RheinMain to officially accept the region’s recent designation as World Design Capital 2026. Jens Deutschendorf, State of Hesse and Stephanie Wuest, City of Frankfurt highlighted their aspirations for the WDC under the theme of Design for Democracy, Atmospheres for a Better Life during the acceptance speech which the PARK Germany team led by Frans Joziasse are very much looking forward to supporting and participating in.

World Design Congress 2025

The World Design Assembly will be renamed as the World Design Congress from 2025, and the entire PARK team are looking forward to supporting and collaborating with the UK Design Council who will host the 34th World Design Congress, which will take place in London in September 2025 under the timely theme of Design for Planet.

WDO 2024

PARK USA team is presently in conversations with Carlos De La Mora, CEO at World Design Capital San Diego Tijuana 2024 around activations during the upcoming WDO World Design Capital in San Diego / Tijuana. Stay in touch for updates here.

Stephan Clambaneva, and Patricia Moore (left image)
Stephan Clambaneva, Minnie Moll CEO Design Council UK and Lutz Dietzold, CEO German Design Council (right image)

Overall, an inspiring experience and opportunity to share our own vision of driving design leadership these past 25 years and further connecting PARK with the global design community. We look forward to a strong on-going relationship with the WDO into the future.

Read HIGHLIGHTS FROM 33RD WORLD DESIGN ASSEMBLY IN TOKYO