Lots to do this week for fans of design. The first ever Design Week RI celebrates design and the Rhode Island design community with nationally recognized speakers, local design superstars, a design treasure hunt, open spaces, cocktail receptions and a design hall of fame. Phil Eil over at the Phoenix has a nice write-up of this wide-ranging series of events.
This year’s roster includes a New Yorker cartoonist, a roboticist, the chief innovation officer at the Coca-Cola Company, and the renowned The Way Things Work author/illustrator, David Macaulay. At the other end of Design Week RI, is the American Institute of Architects (AIA) annual New England Regional Conference (September 26-28). In between, you’ve got the increasingly mindblowing Better World by Design Conference at Brown and RISD (September 19-21; more than 700 students from around the world will attend) and Providence Park(ing) Day (September 19), during which 32 parking spaces across the city will be transformed into “parklets” and local cyclists will enjoy a temporary protected bike lane on Broadway.
Eil highlights the extraordinary set designer Eugene Lee (Saturday Night Live, Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and too many Broadway shows to mention). Lee still chooses to live here in Providence and is scheduled to give a talk from 4pm to 6pm, Monday, September 22, at Aurora on Westminster Street. (Full schedule here.)