Updates

Hello Birmingham and beyond. Ahead of the Christmas break, we wanted to share some dates with you all in regards to the festival next year so that you can plan accordingly. These dates are obviously subject to change.

We are soon approaching our tenth birthday at Emperor Birmingham and from our original duo we have blossomed into a vibrant team of 16+ and built ourselves a great home in one of the quarters’ classic old buildings in George Street.

Lead by Anna and Richard, we’re a small but perfectly formed bunch of creative and digital enthusiasts who love to help ambitious businesses grow. You’ll find us in Coleshill surrounded by trees and green fields, and we love it here. 

We’re a talented bunch and we love what we do. This love comes through in the creative content we pride ourselves on and the skills we possess in all areas of visual communication, from marketing and advertising, to branding, print, digital and motion and we have a passion for the lot.

We’re delighted to introduce you to another of our amazing District Sponsors – Foilco – who have been with us on our festival journey for months. No longer a designers best-kept-secret, this great company is fast becoming synonymous with encouraging creativity and supporting regional events.

We’re very grateful for support from local agencies who have help fund our festival and keep the tickets at amazing prices. Here’s some details in their own words from the excellent Sixth Story, who are based in the Jewellery Quarter.

You’ve seen their name all over the graphic district but we’ve been so busy we’ve not had chance to introduce them properly!

We wanted to post a message to you all to say thank you for bearing with us yesterday for what I’d imagine was a frustrating experience and a drain on your sunny Saturday. The great news is you all got there in the end and are joining us in June :).

As we continue to roll out the programme this week, adding new events every day, we’re excitedly building up for tickets going on sale, this Saturday at 9am. By booking your place at Birmingham Design Festival in June in the first two weeks of on sale you’ll be automatically entered into a prize draw to win VIP access to the festival, with prizes from our amazing sponsors, a festival pass and signed goodies from the speakers.

We’re delighted to announce our key headline events for the festival as we prepare for tickets to go on sale later this month.

Happy Friday everyone. It’s been a busy week and a half since our bumper speaker announcement so we wanted to fill in some gaps where we’ve quietly slotted in speakers and answer a few questions.

We are delighted to share with you a comprehensive list of the designers and studios joining us for the festival in June. A who’s who of printmakers, illustrators, typesetters, animators, architects, UX aficionados, product designers, digital talents and good people changing the design industry from the top down and the bottom up – which we hope will be greeted with as much excitement by you as we’ve felt with every speaker confirmation.

Great news for everyone wanting to get involved with the festival. We’re extending the deadline to submit a talk or workshop from today (2nd March) to Friday 27th April.

We are very excited to announce some of the incredible speakers we’re bringing to Birmingham for the design festival this June, making good on our intent to showcase top industry professionals. Although Anthony Burrill, Marina Willer, Jim Sutherland and Jack Renwick hardly need an introduction, we’re delighted to give them one here…

We’re delighted to announce BLOC hotels as a main partner for this year’s design festival. From the outset we wanted to attract partners who had a strong presence locally and shared the same love for design as we do.

We are delighted to announce our first partner for the design festival, G . F Smith – who will be sponsoring the Graphic District at the festival in June.