Designing happiness
Why?
Because design is a relationship that helps to strengthen the bonds between people and things, people and their environment, as well as humans and human connections. The more harmonious and sustainable this connection is, the more happiness it generates inside and outside.
The better the design, the better we recognise it and visualise our city, it becomes easier for us to find our way in it, we feel more dignified, it becomes easier for us to solve problems and find our way out of sticky situations and all (urban) design disasters.
When design for happiness equals culture, Lithuania approaches an opportunity to become a country of design, and Kaunas will work to justify its name as the Design City, by inviting everyone to create traditions of acting in good taste, increase the density of good design (from China to Kaimas), improve the creative ethics and aesthetics, increase the number of creative employees- designers, grow the muscles of empathy, raise and solve uncomfortable questions about how much the city is accommodating and accessible, create in the city and around it an open-air gallery, celebrate happiness and stay together before and after 2022.
What do we do / will be doing?
We organize creative workshops in Kaunas and Kaunas district on the basis of the “Design for All” concept.
The idea of “Design for All” unites global, and especially European, trends of design theory and practice, at the centre of which there is a suitable adaptation to the variety of people. It is an intervention to the environment, products and services in order to make sure that everyone, irrespective of their needs, abilities, culture age or gender could participate fully in various social activities. Even though related to the principles of universal design, this idea is not exclusively related to solving problems of vulnerable social groups (senior citizens, the disabled and persons with special needs).
It is also related to the respect for consumer diversity, safety, posing no danger to one’s health, encouraging the use of healthy environment and spaces, their functionality, smartness, sustainability, accessibility and appeal.
Since 2018, Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022 is a member of the EIDD (Design for All Europe) Network.
We will work to implement the best workshop ideas until 2022.
Dizainas laimei ir visiems kviečia jungtis į kūrybines dirbtuves “Prienam: Vilkija”
Mąstant apie Sugiharos namų ateitį pasitelkta dizaino visiems filosofija
On the 20th of March 2018, we initiated the celebration of the International Day of Happiness in Kaunas. We are the official ambassadors of the Day of Happiness in Lithuania. This “we” refers not only to the team of Kaunas 2022, but also to our numerous partners, friends and fellow Kaunasians. So, we cannot do anything without the help from all of you. Up until 2022, we plan to grow the happiest festival ever; its participants will include baristas, cooks, actors, guides, academics, artists, doctors, drivers of the public transport, museum employees, businessmen, pilots and all the residents of the city and the district.
For more information visit Day of Happiness website.
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We are going to experiment. We want to create an innovative and interactive object / landmark in the public space of the city, the symbol of Kaunas European Capital of Culture. An object of hybrid design / architecture / media that would draw in and reflect the emotions in the city. In a city, which is full and will be even fuller of culture. How does it affect it? Let’s measure it!
The aim of the project is to break the walls between different disciplines and unite representatives of art and science: architects, designers, artists working with the new media, IT and ICT specialists, engineers, etc.
Implementing this project, we will organise an international competition of design ideas.
Start: 2019. Start: 2022. Place of implementation: Kaunas city centre.
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In cooperation with the art festivals of Kaunas and Lithuania as well as international curators, we will work to create an open-air gallery of contemporary art in Kaunas and around it. In this case, we perceive this gallery as a playground for thoughts and senses, stimulating different approaches to the everyday life. The gallery will feature one narrative and tour to visits its twenty art objects and stories, situations and discoveries in the most unexpected places.
We will announce international calls for ideas to implement the project.
Start: 2019
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It is our concern for the young talents not to leave Kaunas and Lithuania! We summon all of our inventiveness to encourage new forms for the incubation of culture and creativity. We will look for spaces accessible for creative employees to start their activities in the city and around it, we will grow the muscles of creative entrepreneurship, and offer to join innovative and social business movements.
We work to activate empty city spaces and buildings in order for them to serve as promoters of the areas of design and other areas of culture and creative industries. We will act as an area for art, culture, business and industry to meet one another. We invite real estate managers to start participating in the creative business promotion programme and open their spaces or buildings for meaningful cultural exchange.