Over two decades after the International Design Conference in Aspen, a group of Aspenites are bringing a new design-centered event back to the Roaring Fork Valley. The inaugural Aspen Design Conference (ADC) runs later this month from Friday, Aug. 29 to Sunday, Aug. 31. A multifaceted schedule offers options from guided engagements with nature to panels and presentations to dinners and after parties.
This first year’s theme is “What’s Next?” The various talks will touch on different interpretations of that concise question, including: a panel on strategic design to promote social connection amidst the divisions of today’s society; the possibilities of entrepreneurship; and a conversation about how AI affects both architecture and humanity, featuring Imani Jones, Josh Crumb and Britt Burtz.
The Aspen Design Conference is meant to be inclusive. Per the founding team — Daniel Watkins, Chanel Host, Sarah McLellan and Eli Bucksbaum — it is “shaped to welcome both seasoned professionals and curious first-timers.” Their objectives include promoting dialogue, creating friction and driving momentum, all while providing a “space that’s accessible, joyful and genuinely engaging,” explained the team — “something that contributes, not extracts.”
The organizers trace a legacy back to 1949. That was the year industrialist and cultural patron Walter Paepcke founded the Aspen Institute (then the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies). The International Design Conference in Aspen followed a few years later. These annual meetings were part of Paepcke’s notion he called “the Aspen idea.” He envisioned a picturesque mountain town as a retreat where leaders in art, industry and philosophy could engage in open dialogue. By feeding their minds, bodies and spirits in a space like the Roaring Fork Valley, Paepcke believed people could foster collaboration and new ideas.
According to the ADC organizers, the International Design Conference in Aspen quickly became a pioneering platform for the global design community. Its interdisciplinary approach broke down boundaries. By encouraging designers to think about more than aesthetics, but also ethics, utility and the role of design in shaping society, it promoted innovation and ambitious visioning.
The International Design Conference in Aspen’s annual convention drew participants whose names are respected within and beyond the design world. To name a few: Charles and Ray Eames, Buckminster Fuller — who shared presentations about sustainable living and geodesic structures — Paul Rand, Herbert Bayer and Saul Bass.
Like the preceding conference, the ADC has roots in the Bauhaus ideal, which, beyond its creative uses of rectangular and spherical geometries in design, has an emphasis on function and practicality. Bauhaus design instructors in the 1930s felt that sport, physical activity and embodiment were essential to expression and creativity. In that vein, the ADC is intended to empower participants to feel alive, connected and grounded.
The majority of the ADC events will occur at the Wheeler Opera House, many on the main stage but some in The Vault. Outdoor events include walking tours of downtown Aspen, the Bayer Center and Aspen Institute campus, Hallam Lake and the Hunter Creek. Three-day passes for the event can be purchased for $88, while students can utilize a discount to attend for the full weekend for just $28.
The conference kicks off on Friday at the Wheeler at 1pm, when the organizers will share a welcome address. Events hosted at Aspen Collective Gallery and the walking tours do require reservations in addition to the three-day pass. The private dinner on Friday night is a fundraiser to support the ADC moving forward, and a limited number of seats are available for a contribution of $1,000 or more.
To learn more about the inaugural Aspen Design Conference, the 20-plus speakers participating and to see an itinerary, visit www.aspendesignconference.com