What makes the Cité du design so valuable?
The Cité du design raises public awareness of the challenges and uses of design through teaching and research, exhibitions (including our renowned Biennale) and workshops. The Cité du design also provides services to local authorities and businesses.
Design places people at the heart of its approach, whether it is to improve usages and lifestyles, to make better use of energy, to guide changes in housing or to contribute to improve health and transportation.
The Cité du design is a platform for discussion and exhibition on practices, needs and usages. It shows how design contributes to the emergence of new dynamics within contemporary territories, whether it is social, economic, political or cultural. In doing so, the Cité du design actively participates in the development of the economic, tourist and cultural attractiveness of the city and the metropolis.
What are the Cité du design's projects? How does its direct environment, the Manufacture neighbourhood and the City of Saint-Étienne, feed the practice of art and design?
The Cité du design is a public institution for cultural cooperation (Établissement Public de Coopération Culturelle - EPCC) which brings together the Cité du design and the École supérieure d'art et design de Saint-Étienne (Esadse). It is supported by the City of Saint-Étienne and Saint-Étienne Métropole, backed by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and the French government (Ministry of Culture). Through its design management mission, the Cité du design supports the transformation of these local authorities.
The Cité du design is a pillar of the creative district of Saint-Étienne, La Manufacture neighbourhood that also includes schools, start-ups and housing. It is a key place to boost innovations and interactions.