Five years ago, four women founded Nashville Design Week to create an event that would bring together the local creative design community. They were looking for a way to connect and collaborate with others interested in design related fields like architecture, interior design, graphic design, visual arts, textiles, sculpture, print design, landscape/green space design, fashion design, experiential design and more.
Recently, Nashville Design Week, held its 2022 event and celebrated its five-year anniversary.
“We are so excited to be celebrating five years of Nashville Design Week this year and couldn’t have asked for a better turnout as we commemorate this milestone anniversary,” said Ann Katherine Vitti, Nashville Design Week’s Director of Communications. “We’ve sold out nearly every event and have had several people travel into town to be here for it. It has been a huge success and we are so appreciative of the countless volunteers, sponsors and the Nashville design community for making it all possible.”
Nashville Design Week, which took place October 31 – November 4, showcases regional design talent, unites the local design community through collaboration, and teaches the public about the impact of design. It was created to evolve every year, keeping in mind the question, “what’s new?”
Every year it is rebranded, allowing local graphic design talent to keep the logo aligned with the most current trends in industry. The 2022 Nashville Design Week brand was designed by Rex Runyeon. Lindsey and Allen Laseter designed logo for 2020 and 2021’s brand identity and New Hat designed the branding for 2018 and 2019. This year’s logo also became part of a final collaborative project.
The one-week event provided 17 sessions hosted at a variety of venues throughout the Nashville area that included panel discussions, workshops, presentations, experiences and networking events. Several of these events were geared towards providing both creatives and those who may not be in creative industries full time with tools they can use to start, grow, or refine their business, work, and ideas.
Breakout sessions covered diverse topics — from supplier diversity to developing a brand to digital architecture. They also focused on specific creative talents like weaving and the rebirth of the printed word.
After one of the final events, “Scaling Your Creativity,” participant Tammy McCammo said her biggest take away from the week was, “In the creative community passion and perseverance can help overcome so many challenges.”
“Learning how to be a connector,” is one of the biggest lessons learned by Madyson McClure at Nashville Design Week. She learned a lot about communication with others and how to connect herself to the creative community, as well as how to connect others within the community. It is a lesson she feels she can take into her job at Elevated Outcomes, which helps small businesses grow.
“Scaling Your Creativity,” which addressed the business side of a creative life, took place at The Forge, a collection of co-working spaces for artists, designers, and wood crafters. It is here where the close-out event took place, also. Other participating organizations included Aberdeen Studio, Career Thrivers, Circa Design, Confidant, the Frist Art Museum, Greater Than Equal, The Green Ray Books, Hastings Architecture, Hip Hues, Kiser+Vogrin, Lasso Studio, Make Nashville, Mesa, Nashville Interiors, the North Nashville Arts Coalition, the Porch Nashville, STG Design, Studio Dease, Sunnyside Projects, and more.
“A highlight for sure is this year’s community art project which we present every year to showcase the work of local artists, designers and makers,” added Vitti. “This year’s project features four public art installations created by four pairs of artists on display in public spaces throughout Nashville during Nashville Design Week. Each pairing collaborated on the same framework to use as their canvas for the artwork – a ’22 ligature, this year’s logo that represents collaboration and a marker of this year. The four installations [came] together for the closing party, “A Fond Fifth Farewell.”
This year’s planning committee included: Shanese Brown, who is a project coordinator for Tuck-Hinton Architecture and Design, serving as Co-Director of Nashville Design Week Programming; Emmanuel LeGrair, Co-Director of Nashville Design Week Programming; Ann Katherine Vitti, a Senior Brand Manager at The Buntin Group, acting as Director of Communications; Katie Laughinghouse , an architect at Hastings Architecture, taking on the role of Director of Operations for the week; and Ava Allen, also with Tuck-Hinton, who was Director of Partnerships.
Nashville Design Week was founded by Kate O’Neil, Co-Founder and Director of Partnerships, Lindsay DeCarlo, Co-Founder and Communications Advisor, Fuller Hanan, Co-Founder and Programming Ambassador, and Julia Sweitzer, Co-Founder and Organizational Strategy Co-Lead.
