The general outline of the “Asahikawa Design Week (ADW) 2021” furniture and woodwork festival to be held in June in areas including the city of Asahikawa in Northern Hokkaido was released on March 15. This will be the first ADW since Asahikawa joined the “Creative Cities Network (Design Category)” of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2019. The festival will feature approximately 50 organizations from many varied industries, including but not limited to furniture and woodwork alone. It will be a gala event advertising the technological skill and beauty of design in Asahikawa furniture and an opportunity for local residents to see many different kinds of design.

ADW is organized by a planning committee made up of members including the Asahikawa Furniture Industry Cooperative. It was originally the “Asahikawa Furniture Exhibition”, an event for nationwide manufacturers and wholesalers, but underwent a complete content makeover and name change in 2015. In 2019, approximately 18,000 people attended over five days. It was suspended for 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

This year, the festival will be held for five days from June 16 to 20, with Asahikawa Design Center serving as the main venue. The theme will be: “Design all around. Design for everyone.” Organizations will participate in a total of nine categories, including architecture, food, and sightseeing as well as the furniture industry. In addition to exhibitions displaying new Asahikawa furniture pieces, a discussion session with architect Kuma Kengo and factory tours for various manufacturers will be available.

Planning Committee Chairman Watanabe Naoyuki commented, “In addition to furniture and crafts, we will work with people in a wide variety of fields. We want it to be five days of seeing, learning, and playing with design.”