Several Australian designers recently attended the 2014 Asia Pacific Space Designers Alliance (APSDA) Congress 2014 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The 25th anniversary of the APSDA Congress in Indonesia became the meeting point for several hundred delegates from over a dozen countries across the Asia Pacific to exchange design knowledge and culture.
Indonesian Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, who spoke at the 2014 APSDA Congress, said Indonesia’s commitment to generating a flourishing economy can be described as ‘translating good ideas into good business through good design’.
Members of the Design Institute of Australia (DIA) attending the event also officially accepted the task of hosting the next APSDA Congress in 2016, which will be held in Adelaide, Australia. Having won the bid in 2012 to hold the 2016 APSDA Congress, DIA will host the event at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 24-26 September 2016.
Incoming DIA National President Julie Hobbs observes that these meetings reflect the commercial reality of how Australian designers are doing business, explaining that any country that commits to supporting a strong creative industry will flourish economically.
She adds that DIA is genuinely delighted to be hosting an event that will provide a forum for all interested creative practitioners within Australia and the Asia Pacific Region as Australia chairs APSDA 2016.
Joanne Cys LFDIA, Chair of the APSDA 2016 organising committee, said design, architecture and art as a driver for economic growth made a lot of sense. She adds that the event also provides a unique platform for cultural exchange through the design, architecture and art that reflects their traditions as well as their contemporary values and lives.
