World Design Festival shines spotlight on Tijuana

The San Diego-Tijuana region was designated as the World Design Capital 2024, largely due to the two cities commitment to human-centered design and cross-border collaboration.

“That’s because of our incredible talents and skills across a variety of different dimensions — arts, culture, design and innovation,” said World Design Capital board chair Mai Nguyen.

She’s also the director of the Design Lab at UC San Diego and said the designation is a prestigious honor.

This week she is helping to put on the World Design Festival in Tijuana — one of seven signature events this year tied into the World Design Capital.

“We are creating 100 events in 40 different venues. They will be experiences, workshops, talks, tours, showroom tours,” Nguyen said about the festival.

The five-day festival runs from May 1 through May 5. The central core of events will be at the Tijuana Cultural Center where Monterrey Institute of Technology Professor Jose De La O will be showing his work.

“It’s using objects, like regular objects and seeing how they can tell the stories about migrants. Not only at the border, but all across Mexico,” De La O said.

It will feature baby carriers, cell phones, bracelets and other items with deeper meanings.

The exhibition is called Arqueologia en Tránsito — or Archaeology in Transit.

“It’s an exhibition that is not about finding a solution, but it’s more about creating empathy through objects,” he said.

Other parts of the festival will be spread across the Northern Baja California city.

The World Design Capital awards have been given to cities around the globe every two years since 2008. San Diego-Tijuana is the first ever cross-border region to get the designation.

“The world and many border communities are looking at us as an example of what works, but also what doesn’t work,” Nguyen said.

She said the designation, and the festival, are a call to action to bring the community together on difficult societal issues.

“Like climate change, like affordable housing, using the lens of design. So we’re doing both — we’re showcasing what’s great about us, but we’re also focusing in on actually using design to solve real problems,” Nguyen said.

A sister event, World Design Experience in San Diego, will take place in September.

Dozens of other World Design Capital events will run through November on both sides of the border. For more information go to wdc2024.org.