The Distributed Design Market Platform is a four-year project funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe fund. It acts as an exchange and networking hub for the European Maker Movement. It consists of both online and offline activities such as events, resources, workshops, fairs and bootcamps that promote and advocate for emerging creative talent in Europe and their business productivity and sustainability. With events across Europe the Platform also supports the mobility of emerging creatives and their work.
Maker Movement + Digitisation of Design = Distributed Design
Distributed Design is one outcome of the intersection of two global trends: the Maker Movement and the digitisation of the design discipline. A new market is rising, in which creative individuals have access to digital tools that allow them to design, produce and fabricate products themselves. We call this Distributed Design!
WHY?
The emergence of Industry 4.0, the global shift away from Fossil Fuels, climate change and overconsumption have raised questions about the nature and culture of the products we buy. Through Distributed Design Market Platform we are researching and developing alternatives to mass-production and the linear consumption models of Industrialisation. We focus on the movement of data, use of local material supply chains and digital fabrication as an alternative to the movement of materials and goods from production to consumer. This system can provide consumers more control over their final products by allowing them a voice in the production process.
FOR WHOM?
Emerging creatives in Europe
We wish to reach all creative disciplines dealing with design and the Maker Movement: creative players, makers, designers, artists, architects, scientists, students and others.
Designers
We hope to benefit and increase the number of designers and creatives that self-produce goods by integrating resources they don’t have access to. Utilizing digital platforms for all aspects of the creation process, to financing and ex*****on.
Makers
This global movement merges artisanal skills with a digital layer of tools. We hope to benefit this global community of do-ers by enhancing the connectivity between them and the spaces in which they work such as Fab Labs, Makerspaces and Hackerspaces.
OUR VALUES
Supportive. We promote designers and makers who are working on new approaches to product development and commercialization.
Sustainable. We promote sustainable production and consumption with a focus on: product distribution and fabrication, the application of ‘zero kilometer’ in supply chains, open source distribution, and the circular lifecycle of products.
Open. We promote platforms and toolkits that help designers to go from idea to prototype, and from prototype to products and markets.
Ecosystemic. We promote an an ecosystemic approach to both online and offline tools which can connect designers, makers, manufacturers, and markets.
24/10/2025
22/10/2025
14/10/2025
09/10/2025
07/10/2025
06/10/2025
30/09/2025
26/09/2025
04/08/2025
24/07/2025