Design Victoria, a four day festival celebrating the City of Victoria and the island’s growing design community returns May 1 to 4. The goal is to bring together different parts of the creative community and show the value of good design.

During the festival, events will happen across the city and beyond, organized by Design Victoria’s partners. These include special installations, exhibitions, events, open houses, tours and workshops and the official launch party.

Launched in May 2023 with the hope of bringing together a handful of events, Design Victoria is the first festival to celebrate Greater Victoria’s growing design community, and one of the first of its kind in B.C.

From the outset, the goals of the festival were to: establish Victoria as a destination for good design; create opportunities for collaboration and business across the cultural industries; and increase the public’s understanding of the power and value of good design.

At the time, the festival worked collaboratively with designers and design businesses to generate ideas for special installations, exhibitions, events, open houses, tours and workshops, which resulted in a variety of programming that reflected the expertise, innovation and unique style of individual designers. The inaugural festival exceeded expectations with 3,000 attendees to 35 individual events.

The festival was conceived by Carla Sorrell, director of Design Victoria, and Will Sorrell, director of the the Interior Design Show. Both were involved in the UK’s creative sector before moving to Victoria in 2020.