DESIGN FAIR, FAIR DESIGN
OR, THE ROLE OF DESIGN FAIRS IN THE GROWING TURKISH INDUSTRIAL DESIGN MARKET

Comparing the ten years before and after 1994, it is obvious that there is a rise in the number of large scale national industrial design events happening in Turkey. To name a few, Designer’s Odyssey in 1994 and 1998, Designex Industrial Design Fair in 1999, and ADesign Fair/Istanbul Design Week that is taking place every year since 2003 are those that design related people can easily remember. Although the scale and time span of these events are growing each year, when the show is over one criticism has always been expressed by the participants in several design discussion platforms: Failure to draw the attention of non-designer industrialists into the events. But is a design fair mainly a promotional ground for attracting new customers for designers?

In this article, it is intended to discuss the role of design fairs in the growing Turkish industrial design market. What should be the main function of the design fairs? Should they only be the promotional areas of the professional work, or is there a possibility in which designers could take a position other than trying to charm new clients and target the masses to augment their design consciousness and therefore infiltrate design into everyday life?

In comparison with similar international design events, the paper discusses the possibility of using this popular ground as a cultural meeting zone to broaden horizons, build new perspectives, generate ideas and debate design issues closer to public.