Organized by the brand and design agency Peter Schmidt Group, the Future Playgrounds design festival brings together global talents and renowned speakers to explore emerging trends, innovations, and concepts to meet the challenges facing the creative industry. The focus is on new tech tools and pioneering ideas, which will be shared through inspiring lectures, discussions and presentations. And because the Future Playgrounds Design Festival is getting bigger and bigger, it will be held for the first time at the Hamburg Design Zentrum in the heart of HafenCity, Hongkongstr. 8, 20457 Hamburg. The motto of this year's festival is “Life Is a Prototype.”

 

“Design processes are like life itself. We experiment, fail, stay curious, improve, and grow.  No step is in vain, every single one leads to innovation,” says Lukas Cottrell, managing partner at Peter Schmidt Group. “Our design festival is the platform to celebrate prototyping and fuel our ideas with the unseen.”

 

Top international speakers on both festival days

 

For two days, renowned designers and artists will reveal innovative ways to develop concepts and designs. This year's guests include creative director Tina Touli from London, low-frequency sound artist Stefanie Egedy from São Paulo, and deepfake artist Ethan Pope along with developers Christoph Amort, Paula Nikolussi and Florian Weiermann from Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (FH Salzburg). Other speakers include Victoria Young and Niels Van Der Donk from YONK 3D Art Studio in Den Haag; Tra Giang Nguyen, Jan Stein and Paul Watmough-Halim from the Hamburg design studio Hyperfocus, and Felix Damerius, Felix May, Stephan Wolter and Michael Waning from PSG Imagine, the innovations unit at Peter Schmidt Group. The presentations will begin at 2 p.m., and visitors can check in at the reception desk an hour earlier.

 

Networking and live prompting on Thursday evening
 

Thursday evening's events will be dedicated to networking, with snacks, drinks, and a “prompt battle” where guests can follow a live-prompting session with designers from Peter Schmidt Group and Ninu Dramis, an artist and the founder of the Hamburg collective “Uber Nerd.”

 

Tickets available now

 

If you would like to attend Future Playgrounds 2024, get your tickets now. Admission covers all lectures and presentations as well as the networking event and beverages. Click here to get your ticket! 

 

The festival microsite also includes a link to the ticket shop, as well as comprehensive information about the speakers, topics, venue, and festival schedule.