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My Festival

My Festival

Celebrating 15 Years of the Seattle Design Festival

The Journey to SDF 2025 Begins! The Seattle Design Festival (SDF) is turning 15, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this milestone with you! While the Festival itself…

Invest in Future Fun and Community Impact with a Gift! Your continued support helps SDF remain a platform for community, creativity, collaboration, and innovation. Your end-of-year gift ensures SDF remains…

We’re now recruiting volunteers for the SDF ’25 Festival Planning Team!   •  Planning Team Volunteers (10-12 positions): For those able to commit to 5-6 hours a month, with bi-weekly…

Top row (L-R): Matt Hutchins, Melissa Falcetti, Erik Heironimus. Bottom row (L-R): Tyler Schaffer, Sarah Burk, Uwe Bergk. Seattle Design Festival (SDF) is pleased to announce our incoming slate of…

Thank You to Everyone who Joined Us for SDF 2024! 2024 was the year we asked WHAT IF? SDF is community-generated and community-funded. Together, we not only empowered everyone to engage…

Cheers to YOU and an Amazing Festival Close!   The Seattle Design Festival is community-generated, community-driven, and community-funded. Together, we not only empower everyone to engage in design discussions— we inspire action…

Mithun is back again this year at the Festival with Sound & Place – an interactive installation that incorporates elements of sound, light and shadow to invite users of all…

Weber Thompson is back at the Festival this year with their latest installation, Timbre – which asks the question, “What if structures could sing?” This immersive installation’s columns double as…

LMN Architects is back this year to host the SDF Closing Party in their Pioneer Square space. In anticipation, we sat down with Hank Butitta, the Shop Manager at LMN,…

Olson Kundig is no stranger to the Festival – and they’re back again this year with another installation – Between Baleen – which asks the simple question, “WHAT IF you…

This year’s Festival Closing Party will feature a silent auction with unique items to bid on such as:   Imaginative Artworks by Pacific Northwest Designers: In 2016, P2S (formerly Notkin) engaged…

Join us August 17-22 We are thrilled to invite you to join us for 6 days of transformative programming, all designed to unleash the design thinker in everyone and to…

What If… the next generation of designers and community organizations had more support? This year the Seattle Design Festival is investing over $12,000 back into our community by way of…

We were so excited to see over 300 designers respond to the SDF 2024 Call for Proposals! These designers have joined together to create just over 60 design teams, each…

Featured: Sketch Seattle – an SDF 2023 Pop-Up Experience that was awarded funding. Funding support is available for Non-Profit/Emerging Designer submitters. This funding reflects our commitment to keeping the Festival…

The Seattle Design Festival is a reflection of our community- an opportunity to showcase and amplify the conversations driving design in our city. We would not exist without you- and…

The Seattle Design Festival is a platform that serves to spotlight our community’s design conversations, and to deepen those conversations through community engagement. It is through partnership with our community…

It’s time to GiveBIG to support the Seattle Design Festival! The SDF Board of Directors has pledged to match every dollar you give to meet our goal of $5,000. Show…

Need some support pulling together your proposal? Proposals for SDF 2024: WHAT IF? are due May 29 at 5pm! Review the Call! Have you read through all 14 pages of…

This year’s theme is more than a prompt — it’s a catalyst for reimagining, reinventing, and rejoicing in infinite possibilities. While we’re not entirely reinventing the Festival, the Planning Team…

Remote Access to SDF 2024 Over the past four years SDF has seen the impact of virtual programming, which has helped us to better meet our community (both in Seattle,…

Submissions + Guidelines Proposals were due May 29th The Call for Proposals for the 2024 Seattle Design Festival has closed! We had over 300 designers engage to submit an idea…

SDF 2024 Theme: WHAT IF? Earlier this year, we invited our community to pick the 2024 Festival theme. A huge thanks to everyone who provided feedback to launch our planning!…

The 2024 SDF Planning Team: (First Row) Tanya Villarreal, Tyler Schaffer, Adrian Pacheco, Aurora Bays, En Ning Foo, Cheryl McIntosh; (Second Row) George Zatloka, Alice Irizarry, Isha Mishra, Julia Campanella,…

Drum roll, please… The theme of the 2024 Seattle Design Festival will be WHAT IF? A huge thanks goes to everyone who joined us on February 13 for the public…

A huge thanks to everyone who was able to make the time and space for last night’s virtual gathering! It was amazing to see so many members of our community…

Would you or someone you know make a great Seattle Design Festival Board Member? Learn more about what this leadership opportunity, and complete the nomination form by February 7 to help us unleash the design thinker in everyone!

Save the date – February 13 – for the SDF 2024 Kick Off Event! Be the first to hear what’s new and vote on this year’s theme!

Do you want to play a crucial role in shaping the Seattle Design Festival (SDF) and connecting with the local design community? If so, we invite you to join us…

At PopRox, anyone can come as they are and have fun dancing. PopRox offers a wide variety of dance classes across different age groups.

Thank you to everyone who attended, partnered, volunteered, and otherwise joined us in making SDF 2023 a resounding success!

Curiosity is at the core of what Stroop Design does and how they think. As a global design studio with team members in Seattle, New York, London, and Buenos Aires,…

The Olson Kundig team is ready to make a splash at the Block Party! Hear about what inspires their work in design.

Caitlyn has worked in the Architecture field as a designer for over 6 years. Her work has spanned from multi-family housing to high rise.

Joining us at the Block Party this year are the many interns of MG2! We sat down and asked them what inspires them and their work in design.

Designer Jonnie Nelson shares with us how he was introduced to architecture through music and how CURIOSITY inspires his work today!

Mahlum Designer Alexandra Holakiewicz shares with us how community and curiosity has shaped and inspired her work in design.

In anticipation of their installation, we asked a few members of the Bassetti SDF team what their favorite thing about Seattle is:.

The 2023 Seattle Design Festival lineup is ‘live’!  We’ve updated the website with 60+ installations, pop-up experiences, virtual discussions, and mixers happening during the Seattle Design Festival, August 19–24. All…

A desire to create connections across communities allows Seattle-based poet, Shin Yu Pai, to push her artistic boundaries.

Lauren Ko does not particularly enjoy sweets. The Seattle-based artist, baker, Instagram influencer and cookbook author finds fulfillment from her baking practices. 

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve extended funding awards to 23 outstanding community partners who are eager to unleash the design thinker in everyone. These awards were given to a…

Curious about the Seattle Design Festival Planning Team?   The Seattle Design Festival is organized and produced by a committed group of volunteers – the Festival Planning Team. For over…

SDF 2023: CURIOSITY Submissions + Guidelines We are now accepting event proposals for the 2023 Seattle Design Festival. Anyone is eligible to submit an idea for an event to engage…

The Planning Team has pulled together some of their favorite experiences from last year to help inspire you and your team as you develop your proposal for the 2023 Seattle…

SDF 2023: CURIOSITY Earlier this year we invited our community to let us know what they want to see from this year’s Festival. A huge thank you to everyone who…

Wondering how to engage with the 2023 Seattle Design Festival? We are still months away from officially gathering as a community, but we understand the excitement you may be feeling….

If you found yourself in South Lake Union at the Seattle Design Festival Block Party this past August, you may have heard the band (solely composed of AEC professionals) strike…

Seattle Design Festival seeks volunteers to sustain and expand our storytelling initiative Design in Community.

The Seattle Design Festival is a volunteer-powered organization, and we appreciate your help in making the festival a success! Together, the Festival advances the design discussion in Seattle, empowering everyone to…

Radical Botany: speculative landscapes for uncertain times can be seen at the UW College of Built Environments Gould Gallery now until December 16 during regular business hours.   This past…

Matthew McWilliams, long time SDF volunteer and creator of Design in Community, shares how he found comfort and community in cycling!

Seattle Design Festival is pleased to announce our incoming slate of accomplished design leaders who were elected to fill seats on our Board of Directors beginning September 1, 2022. Please join us in welcoming our new board members!

As design enthusiast, who would rather sketch or diagram with you than just talk, Rob Deane has shepherded his clients, colleagues and community to envision their best ideas for the…

Hear about some installations from the 2022 Seattle Design Festival Block Party and the process for the teams behind them!

Thank you to Everyone who Joined us for the 2022 Seattle Design Festival! Every year, SDF brings together designers, community members, experts, city officials, and business leaders to celebrate and explore…

The 2022 Seattle Design Festival will be all about CONNECTION. When thinking about design, there is something very tangible and physical in how things ‘connect’ – but there is also…

Sallyann Corn and her partner Joe Kent, co-owners of the industrial design firm Fruitsuper, share their story of resilience in the face of the pandemic.

Author Susanna Ryan documents novel findings and shares some of Seattle’s nearly forgotten remnants of its past.

We are beyond excited to announce that we are working with Coyote Central, again this year! This strategic partner supports the Festival’s goal to empower communities to leverage design and engage youth…

Nathan Hadley has always been a climber. Now he shares his passion through his work as lead route setter at the Seattle Bouldering Project.

When thinking about design, there is something very tangible and physical in how things ‘connect’ – but there is also something very emotional that ‘CONNECTION’ taps into as well. CONNECTION…

As we look to the summer, we are excited to share the result of the 2022 SDF Pavilion Design Competition with you!
Cue the drumroll and prep the confetti…
Our winner is Johnston Architects!

The year is whistling by in a blink of an eye and May 4 is almost upon us. Unfortunately, society’s challenges won’t be solved nearly as quickly but, through the…

Earlier this year SDF invited designers and multidisciplinary artists to submit designs for the SDF, pavilion, the visual anchor of our Festival which welcomes supporters, partners, and Festival-goers. Design teams…

Join us May 4th for Ignite! An SDF Fundraiser Now in its sixth year, the annual Seattle Design Festival (SDF) fundraiser brings together and acknowledges the community of designers, makers,…

You know it! We know it! It’s time to batten down your email inbox hatches against the storm of another city-wide fundraising campaign. GiveBIG is here again. As we edge…

Every one of us is engaged with design every day, even if we don’t realize it. Design impacts whether we feel safe in our neighborhood, how we choose to get…

Not sure what to propose for SDF 2022: Connection? Learn more about each of our Festival elements and see some examples that the Festival Planning team had in mind when…

In 2016, P2S (formerly Notkin) engaged 54 architecture firms from the Pacific Northwest in a collaborative reimagining of a playing card deck. Aiming to rekindle dormant relationships and create new ones,…

Preparations are fully underway for our 2022 SDF fundraiser – Ignite! – and we cannot wait to see you. In the lead up to May 4, we will be keeping…

We invite designers and multidisciplinary artists to submit designs for the temporary central pavilion of the 2022 Seattle Design Festival.   The pavilion will greet Festival attendees and serve as…

Who are we looking for? Volunteers looking to gain valuable leadership experience planning and producing the festival. The SDF core team requires members who are: Reliable, able to attend all…

Dear SDF Supporters and Community, It is with great appreciation and optimism that I am reaching out to you today to share a reflection from 2021 and our plans for…

#GivingTuesday is Tomorrow! Why does your Gift Matter?   The Seattle Design Festival (SDF) is the region’s largest public design event celebrating and exploring all the ways design improves the…

Congratulations to SDF partners Wittman Estes and The Clean Hands Collective! Their projects, which were featured as part of  SDF 2020: About Time, have been awarded Honorable Mentions at AIA…

We are excited to highlight the recent work of one of our long-time festival partner, Diversity Roundtable (DRT)! Together, with Sawhorse Revolution, DRT completed their 2nd build project— Danny Woo…

The Seattle Design Festival explores ways that design serves the community it impacts, and how design can allow future generations and ecosystems to thrive. As part of SDF’s commitment to…

The 2021 Seattle Design Festival (SDF) has come to a close, but the energy generated from gathering as a community is still palpable. It was so much fun seeing you all there, in person, after…

Melissa K. Neher comes to AIA Seattle + Seattle Design Festival most recently from her role as Executive Director of Architects Without Borders Seattle, an organization formed by a dedicated…

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2021 Seattle Design Festival Block Party! Every year, the Seattle Design Festival brings together designers, community members, experts, city officials, and…

Adrian Bell leads Applied’s operations in the Pacific Northwest. He has over three decades of transportation planning experience within the public and private sectors and oversees the planning and business…

Born in an old city in China, Jing Qiao, graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Southern California. She spent the past few years immersing herself in various…

2021 is a year of aspiration. Emerging from COVID lockdown, we are ready to take a deep breath and consider our future. Aspiration means ambition and the act of breathing…

The Seattle Design Festival (SDF) was founded in 2011 to celebrate all the ways that design makes life better for Seattle, and to nurture relationships among designers, citizens, city leaders,…

We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to support various aspects of the Festival in August! If you are passionate about design—whether you have formal experience in a design discipline or…

The 2021 Seattle Design Festival is Emerging!   As the summer of 2021 is coming into focus we are excited to move into this Festival season with optimism and hope….

Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and donors, the Seattle Design Festival was able to fund non-profit/student/individual Festival partners who engage youth in the design process, leverage co-design…

As the summer of 2021 begins to come into focus we are excited to move into this Festival season with optimism and hope. With this year’s festival theme, EMERGE, we invite…

The Seattle Design Festival is a community-driven program made possible by small individual donations from our community.     The Seattle Design Festival provides such a meaningful opportunity to leverage…

This year’s festival theme, EMERGE, seeks to inspire action, addressing the consequences of the pandemic to nurture new possibilities. Emerging is a process of adaptation, of transforming the way we interact,…

The Seattle Design Festival (SDF) is entirely a product of the people that are involved in it. It is planned by a core group of dedicated volunteers, who work to…

Awaken your creative spirit and get ready for the 2021 Seattle Design Festival! Join the Seattle Design Festival planning committee and Surya Vanka, Founder & Chief Designer at AUTHENTIC DESIGN…

The Seattle Design Festival (SDF) is excited to announce that we have been awarded a Grant for Arts Project from the National Endowment of the Arts. Grants for Arts Projects…

We are excited to be partnering with NW Film Forum once again for the ByDesign [Online] Film Festival 2021! The 21st Annual Festival is a cross-cultural exploration of people, structures,…

A challenging year is behind us, and while there is much work that still must be done, we are moving into this new year with optimism and hope. With this…

Seattle’s historic structures, among them many unreinforced masonry buildings, are at risk not only from the numerous seismic faults in the Pacific Northwest, but also from economic factors. Many at-risk…

Mark your calendars for #GivingTuesday!   We are thrilled to be participating again in #GivingTuesday – a global day of generosity on Tuesday, December 1. Your gift is an investment in encouraging a…

We are looking forward to safely gathering with you all in August and want to ensure that we deliver the 2021 Seattle Design Festival that our community needs.   The…

The Seattle Architecture Foundation 23rd Annual Model exhibit, Iterations, celebrates the germination of a design idea and how it’s nurtured over time through the exploration of writing, drawing, modeling and material…

We hope you enjoyed the festival!  Even as it took on a very different form this year, we hope you found ways to plug in, celebrate design, and think critically…

Every year, the Seattle Design Festival brings together designers, community members, experts, city officials, and business leaders to celebrate and explore how design improves the quality of our lives and…

Not able to catch all of the festival partner events during the August 15-23 dates? You are in luck – these partner programs will have a life beyond the dates…

Sunmin Whang is a designer with LMN Architects. She has worked in New York, Boston, Chicago, and the Netherlands, and has found a home in Seattle, focusing on educational and…

Felix Chang is an Associate Strategy Director at Artefact – a sponsor of this year’s Seattle Design Festival. As a researcher, Felix describes his job as “a little bit like the…

Alex Lopez is Senior Design Manager with the AI + Research & Search Studio at Microsoft – this year’s Platinum Sponsor of Seattle Design Festival. Make sure to join Microsoft for…

Stephanie Di Biase is a creative director at Teague, Seattle’s leading design and innovation company. Stephanie draws on her 20-year design career, starting as a graphic designer and moving into…

Nate Holland is the Design Innovation Director at NBBJ – one of the Festival’s Gold Level Sponsors. Make sure to join NBBJ to participate in their festival-long virtual program, Urban…

John S. Couch is the author of “The Art of Creative Rebellion: How to champion creativity, change culture, and save your soul” and Vice President, Product Design for Hulu. Make sure…

Rob Frye is Design Director for Product Design at Microsoft – this year’s Platinum Sponsor of Seattle Design Festival. Make sure to join Microsoft for their panel discussion in this…

The 10th Seattle Design Festival (SDF) is just over 20 days away! This celebration will look different than originally planned, as we find ourselves swapping gatherings and canapes for screens…

We are celebrating the tenth year of the Seattle Design Festival, and for ten years the Festival Planning Committee, a group of volunteers, has worked to build a platform intended…

Sharpen your skills and expand your thinking by engaging in our weekly virtual design challenge   THINKERCYZE is a weekly virtual design challenge from some of our favorite designers that…

Indeed it will look different this year, but the festival does go on… virtually! 60+ submissions are in and we are working on getting the festival line up ‘live’ on…

We want to thank you for your patience and continued support as the team worked to re-imagine this year’s Festival, in light of the current circumstances. The Seattle Design Festival is…

Design in Public will be closed on Friday, June 12, 2020 in solidarity with Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County’s call for a general strike and Statewide Silent March.  Design in Public joins the many…

Thank you for your participation in our annual Benefit Breakfast! We are amazed at the generosity of our community and are honored to receive your support. We’ve raised $24,998 so…

Not sure what to propose for the 2020 Seattle Design Festival? 2020 marks the first time that the Seattle Design Festival has gone virtual. As such, we are looking to…

Join us for our first-ever online benefit breakfast, May 27, 8-9:30am as we bring the Design Community to you right into your own home! Table Captains will facilitate design discussions with…

This year’s theme, About Time, sought to ponder past, present and future at a unique moment of transition for the city, the region and the world. Instead, it presently confronts…

2020 now marks a turning point that we had not imagined. As the Seattle Design Festival prepares for its tenth year, the landscape has changed. This year’s theme, About Time, sought…

Not sure what to propose for the 2020 Seattle Design Festival?  Here are some examples of effective program formats we’ve featured in previous years. This is by no means an…

ByDesign Festival is a cross-cultural exploration of people, structures, and ideas at the intersection of design and the moving image happening March 18 – 22 at Northwest Film Forum. In…

As speculative development and fast-paced growth transform urban space, architects must not be complacent in service to the market economy. How can we practice architecture as caretakers for our communities…

Our anniversary comes at a pivotal moment in time, for our city and our world. This year’s festival theme, About Time, ponders our past, present, and future, and seeks opportunities…

FESTIVAL GOALS Demonstrate the relevance of design thinking Propose design solutions to urgent community problems Create a vision for our urban future, elicited from everyone Inspire action Empower communities to…

Design in Public has openings for volunteers looking to gain valuable leadership experience planning and producing the festival.  Every Seattle Design Festival program is organized and produced by committed volunteers. …

How does technology influence our urban experience? Whether we like it or not, technology is deeply rooted in our everyday lives. As emerging technologies continue to evolve, and our cities…

The Design in Public Board Nominating Committee is pleased to announce our incoming slate of accomplished design leaders who were elected to fill seats on our Board of Directors beginning…

The Seattle Architecture Foundation’s Annual Architectural Model Exhibit brings the work of local architects and designers to the public, forging a deeper understanding of the design process and the built…

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2019 Seattle Design Festival exploring BALANCE! Every year, the Seattle Design Festival brings together designers, community members, experts, city officials, and…

JW Architects, founded in 2009, specializes in urban infill housing and custom homes. Their award winning work space, located in Seattle’s International District, is Zero Energy Certified by the International…

Design Goggles is a podcast centering on the evolution of the world around us through the lens of design. Architecture, interior design, graphic design, fashion, art, tech, UX and more…

Scott Crawford is a designer at LMN Architects in Seattle and a founding member of LMNts, the integrated and interdisciplinary research and development group within LMN.  Scott continues to pursue…

Thank you to the Seattle design community and everyone who submitted a proposal for SDF 2019! We are thrilled at the breadth and diversity of proposals engaging with this year’s…

A collaboration between Duffy DeArmas and Stefan Hofmann, Electric Coffin is supported by a team of talented designers, project managers, and fabricators to really make this super deluxe art machine…

Interested in films that entertain, engage and evoke public debate, Bart has been in the documentary industry since 1996. Films he has produced include The Corporation (winner at over 25…

Born in Riga, Žanete Skarule is currently based in Amsterdam. She holds a Master’s in Film/Video from California Institute of the Arts where she studied analogue and digital film, as…

Design in Public interviews Nicolás Rodríguez Fuchs and Pablo Pivetta, the Argentine Co-Directors of the documentary film, Endless Letterpress (Los Últimos).

Gather Seattle is a community, a network, and a welcoming friend group with a mission to support one another in creative pursuits that enhance the vibrancy of the city and…

Join Africatown Central District Preservation and Development Association and Design in Public for an inspiring non-traditional keynote presentation with the distinguished artist, designer, and educator Walter Hood. Make your voice…

Society is witnessing a time of record migration and displacement. Cities are on the front lines of this global crisis. 60-70% of displaced people now live in cities. As the…

Gabriel Ramos is a second year graduate student of Urban Planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and Design Fellow with Africatown Seattle through the GSD Community Service…

“We continue to imagine what this community can, and will, be”—K. Wyking Garrett Thank you friends and donors for passionately believing in our work and giving generously. Together we raised…

Garrett Nelli Assoc. AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is a designer at NAC Architecture in the process of completing licensure. His professional work includes medical facilities, K-12 educational facilities, residential and…

Christian Petersen is a graphic designer, photographer, artist, journalist and curator. His multidisciplinary company I Want You Studio is best known for its innovative and unique approach to design and…

Makoto Hamamoto Eyre is an associate at SkB Architects, a Seattle-based architecture firm dedicated to enhancing the human experience of urban spaces through redefining prevalent typologies. He is also one…

Aletheia Wittman cofounded and coordinates The Incluseum, a project that advances new ways of being a museum through community building and collaborative practice related to social justice in museums. Wittman…

David Conrad is a founding partner and Design Director at Design Commission, a user experience design studio in Seattle WA. His responsibility is to ensure strategic design thinking is applied…

Khatsini is a Seattleite passionate about youth empowerment, healthy foods and futures, economic mobility, financial literacy, biking, dancing, photography and making things. She’s studied the arts, 3-D modeling, and hand drafting in college,…

AV Goodsell is a designer and project manager with Reformd, a web design and development studio in Seattle. She specializes in project management and designing sustainable organizational practices & systems….

Trevor is a licensed architect and certified Seattle Design Nerd. In addition to his extensive design build experience and many competition awards, he was once a steel fabricator in Montana,…