The Design Palais is rocking

The Design Palais is rocking

On the evening of September 30th the fourth VIENNA DESIGN WEEK has started off in the wonderfully lit Palais Liechtenstein with a grand opening Event, and was, hosted by H.O.M.E., an energetic kick-off for yet another 10 days in Vienna packed with design in all its facets. During the more formal part of the event, the three initiators of the festival, Tulga Beyerle, Thomas Geisler and Lilli Hollein aka the 'Neigungsgruppe Design' once more presented this year's focal points of the festival and above all thanked all the many partners and sponsors that help make this growing international design festival possible year after year. Also the representatives of the principal partners of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK spoke in front of the large audience; Brigitte Jank, president of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, CEO of departure and Waltraud Wolf from the Vienna Tourist Board expressed all their best wishes for the festival 2010 and stressed not only the important role VIENNA DESIGN WEEK plays for Vienna as a lively and culturally rich city but also the role of design as promoter of culture, the economy and in tackling important societal issues such as ecology and sustainability.
Before everyone joined in the Party which had, among other things, fine cocktails by Bombay Sapphire, fizzy Kattus Frizzante sparkling wine and very danceable sounds by Radio Superfly to offer, Andreas Mailath-Pokorny, City Councillor for Culture in Vienna, officially opened the festival. The highlight oft the evening, however, was the opening of the exhibition „Baroque Splendor and Stainless Steel" in the basement gallery of LIECHTENSTEIN MUSEM. The Museum this year not only hosts the opening event, but has, in collaboration with VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, organized a fine show of contemporary design. Three renowned international design studios, Claesson Koivisto Rune (Stockholm), Olgoj Chorchoj (Prag) und Makkink&Bey (Rotterdam), each contributed a large installation on the theme of table culture. The show also functions as a teaser of the following exhibition "Das Prunkservice des Herzogs Albert von Sachsen-Teschen", which will be opened in December.
In addition to the already traditional design raffle the evening also had the presentation of the new WIEN PRODUCTS Collection and the award ceremony of the new Rado Young Design Prize to offer to the partying guests which had appeared as numerous as never before.

Via