"Porto has understood the importance of design"

Demetrios Fakinos, European Design Awards' founder and organizer, talked to Porto. about the Porto International Design Biennale, of which he was invited to be a member of the advisory board, and about the city of Porto.

The "initiator", as Fakinos describes himself, explains the essentiality of design and how Porto understands its importance: by sharing it with society and the world.

Biennial, an initiative that stands on context

"This is an exciting thing. Whenever you hear about a new initiative you must think about background and substance. Here there is content and there is background. It is very important that there are two cities behind it - Porto and Matosinhos- and there seems to be a very competent team that will help organize this. I will be in the advisory board and something very interesting will happen in Porto".

Porto, ED Awards and a brand image with substance

"Porto. being awarded "Best Brand Implementation" and "Best of Show 2014" [in Istanbul in 2015] has expanded Porto abroad, without a doubt. One thing is saying to people "I am great, look at me, but branding must be honest, it cannot promise something it doesn't work. If the brand is great but the city isn't so great people will be disappointed. It is all about packaging and content. City branding, if the brand promises something exciting it should be exciting. Porto is giving all the correct answers. The branding corresponds to the content".

A vibrant city that understands the importance of design

"Porto is a beautiful city, a vibrant city, a young city and a design capital. It is now the fourth time I have come here and every time I come here I meet very interesting people, people who are very active and what surprises me, a pleasant surprise I must add, is the support that design gets from the local authorities. 

This is not something to be taken for granted. Not everyone understands the importance of design and what design can do for a community and the economy.

And the local Government in Porto has understood very well the importance of design".

ED Awards, an idea born between Portugal and Greece

"European Design Awards [This is the 10th edition, taking place in Porto] go back to my personal history. That's about me. I grew up in a family that was in the publishing business, so there were designers in my father's office all the time. At the time, in Greece, there were no magazines for designers and I saw an opportunity. I am not a designer but I love design and I started a magazine. And I started to doing things for designers like conferences, congresses and workshops. 

And then, the next step; I was on an airplane from Portugal to Greece, I had visited Experimenta, and I started writing a SWOT analysis; that showed me I had lots of knowledge in the design area and that I knew lots of people from design magazines and that was how I came out with the idea of bringing the people together, the magazines together to organize a pan European event. As soon as I landed I started calling the publishers of other design magazines from different countries". 

Design is a major driver for economy growth 

"Design is all around us, it is everywhere. However, some people forget about the financial aspect to design. Design can solve problems, design can create jobs, and design can boost economies.

The thing about design is aesthetics, if you think about it, everyone goes to the supermarket, everyone buys the newspaper, I am not talking just about communication design, also architecture, branding. It is all around us. 

Think of a product that has an identity. Think about being on a bookshop browsing a book. You will choose it, firstly because of its design. Product branding is important. Moreover, packaging and branding to the specific purpose of export".