What is Design Up+rising?

What is Design Up+rising? Understand the ideas behind Bangkok Design Week 2025Bangkok Design Week returns for its 8th edition, maintaining its primary goal of making creativity and design tangible and accessible to everyone, not just those in the design or creative industries. The festival aims to be a tool for driving people, society, and the city forward in all dimensions.Over the past two years, the festival has experimented with inviting everyone to brainstorm and engage in conversations to explore the possibilities of using creativity and design to develop Bangkok into a more friendly and livable city. This has revealed the power of individuals and all sectors who want to see Bangkok improve, confirming that the festival can serve as a platform for collaboration, finding allies, and sparking new movements that can create change.This year, it is undeniable that the world, including Thailand, is facing multiple crises simultaneously. We expect many new challenges to arise in the future that we need to be prepared to handle.Therefore, it is an excellent opportunity for the festival to open up space and invite everyone to rise up, think together, and demonstrate “what creativity and design can do” to help us adapt and cope with this turbulent era. This is the starting point for this year’s festival concept.What is Uprising?Uprising (n.) is a broad term describing a movement or rebellion against something, often used in political or revolutionary contexts. On the other hand, Rise up (v.) can mean to recover from failure or to overcome problems. The term “uprising” itself is powerful and can convey multiple dimensions of meaning depending on interpretation. This is why the festival has chosen to use it to convey a message that awakens energy and encourages cooperation among everyone in this era.Why Design Up+Rising: Facing Challenges with a Positive Twist?When reviewing world history, we find that in many crises, pressure often serves as a special source of power that can generate new creative ideas. This has led to the emergence of various Art and Design Movements throughout different eras, arising to awaken social trends and aiming to guide the direction of social change at that time. For instance, Realism Art emerged to reflect the reality and social inequality of the 1900s, countering the concept of Romanticism Art, which focused on expressing emotions and feelings without adhering to reason and reality, potentially to an extreme degree.As the political and social situation is inextricably linked to art and design, it is unfortunate that many people still view these creative works as distant, extravagant, and unnecessary for life. This perception may regrettably diminish the value of creative work.For this reason, the festival wishes to use this opportunity to elevate and energize the design industry. We aim to demonstrate that design has the power to create real change at many levels and can also empower people to rise up and face the challenges that surround them.What Kind of Up+Rising? ‘Up+Rising’ is paired with ‘Facing Challenges with a Positive Twist’, which undoubtedly evokes a sense of power, enthusiasm and charging forward. This energy of collective readiness to face challenges is what the festival aims to harness. We invite everyone to unite and approach the challenges of our era with positivity, using design and creativity to transform negative energy into positive force, and despair into hope.Let’s explore how the festival will embody Design Up+Rising:+ Optimism: Designing with Positive MindsetRecent global trends show people adopting more optimistic outlooks, choosing to shed stress and embrace positivity. Design will play a role in creating happiness and joy while fostering hope that anything is possible and demonstrating how people’s lives can be improved.+ Cross-disciplinarity: Designing by Connecting Other Disciplines Expertise in a single field is insufficient to address complex challenges. Design is unique in its diverse specializations and its ability to seamlessly integrate with any discipline or context, not just within creative fields. Designers, too, embody this versatility.+ Positive Force: Designing to Face Every Challenge When faced with numerous challenges and limitations that might dampen spirits, we’ll explore how design can infuse positive energy and enhance the capabilities of people, businesses, society, and cities.+ Disruption: Designing Beyond Conventions Following trends can be monotonous. We aim to inspire new design trends, including emerging designers or veterans ready to embrace boldness, challenge the status quo, to create the new movements in the industry that are more relevant than ever.+ Power of Design: Designing with PurposeWe’ll showcase the value of design and the design profession, demonstrating that it is not just about aesthetics but can achieve more than imagined, particularly in creating positive change in the world.If you wish to see positive changes around you, regardless of your background or profession – whether you’re a designer, artist, creative professional, or from any other field – you’re invited to explore various design disciplines, share ideas, and draw positive energy from creative works at the Bangkok Design Week 2025, ‘Design Up+Rising: Facing Challenges with a Positive Twist’ from February 8-23, 2025.BKKDW2025 Open Call for ApplicationDeadline: 30 September 2024 at 23:59 hrs.Apply Now athttps://www.bangkokdesignweek.com/apply#BKKDW2025#BangkokDesignWeek#DesignUpRising#ออกแบบพร้อมบวก