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 For a great getaway and an even greater get-together, I go to the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado. Editor In Chief July 2001 Every June for the last four years I have headed off to Aspen. It's pure mountain air, kind innkeepers, and courteous shop attendants I'm after. But that's not all. What draws me first and foremost to that lovely outpost at the foot of the Rockies is the renowned International Design Conference in Aspen (in 2001 IDCA ran from June 6 to 9). Since 1951 thousands have gathered under the great tent (recently redesigned by local architect Harry Teague, who also serves as president of the conference), in the surrounding meadows, and in the beautiful old town to partake in Aspen's magic. The spirit of design greats and their inspirational companions, who may come from every area of human concern--art, literature, technology, film, sports--wafts on the mountain breezes. Beginning with year one--when Bauhaus lights such as Josef Albers and Herbert Bayer mixed it up with the likes of George Nelson and D. J. DePree around "Design as a Function of Management"; "Ideas on the Future of Man and Design" (in 1956, the same year my own future shifted course as my family escaped from Communist Hungary); "The Corporation and the Designer" (in 1960, at the height of corporate expansion); the growing influences of Japan (1979), Italy (1981), Canada and Mexico (1984), Britain (1986), Germany (1996), and Hollywood (1997)--it has laid the foundations for how we understand and appreciate design culture today. And so this year's focus, "The More Things Change," seems an appropriate musing for the institution in its 51st year. "What has not changed," states www.idca.org, "is the point of it all: design that matters." Today, it goes on to say, design may be "more abundant than ever," but harder to recognize. Equally to the point, where else could you share--as I did a couple of years back--a gondola ride with the grandsons or sons of Walter Dorwin Teague, Elliot Noyes, and Sarah Tomerlin Lee? Aspen, like design itself, is always about people. Critical issues in 2001 included the changing states of business, the environment, aesthetics, ergonomics, and tradition. Wisdom on these and other topics was shared by such disparate thinkers as design strategist Larry Keeley, media entrepreneur Jay Chiat, experimental designer Marti Guixe, writer Richard Rodriguez, architect Moshe Safdie, and Metropolis's own cartoonist Ben Katchor. Aspen's longevity and perpetual freshness is an inspiration to us at Metropolis, because we too have committed ourselves to producing our own design conferences. For us it's five down, 45 to go. |
