IIDEX/NeoCon Canada has confirmed three keynote speakers for this year's event slated for Sept. 22-25 at the Direct Energy Centre.
The Design Keynote is Arik Levy, internationally acclaimed designer, technician, artist, photographer, and filmmaker. Levy's skills are multi-disciplinary and his work can be seen in prestigious galleries and museums worldwide. Best known publicly for his furniture design for global companies, installations and limited editions, Levy nevertheless feels, "The world is about people, not tables and chairs."

Hailing originally from Israel and moving to Europe in 1988, Levy currently works in Paris with his 20-strong team of designers and graphic artists forming L design. Under the vision of Levy the firm also produces brand identities, packaging, signage, exhibition and interior design. Levy continues to contribute substantially to our interior and exterior milieu, his work including public sculpture - his signature Rock pieces - as well as complete environments that can be adapted for multi use.

The Innovation Keynote is Avi Flombaum, co-founder of Designer Pages, a successful global social media company. Flombaum will share his thoughts on how to, "Harness the Internet to Usher a Renaissance of Design."

Learn which websites will make your jobs and companies more efficient and productive. Understand how to leverage the conversations on these new social platforms. Most importantly, see how to harness the Internet to make design consumable, accessible, and digestible to mainstream culture.

The Architecture Keynote is Craig Dykers, senior partner/director, Snøhetta, Oslo/New York. Snøhetta has designed cultural projects around the world, including Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandria, Norway’s National Opera in Oslo and NYC’s National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion. 

The keynote address will acknowledge the fact that cultural projects in the public realm are not merely defined by their program or facade, instead they remain defined by the people who use them. Dykers has worked on the design of several prominent cultural projects including the aforementioned projects. His other projects include the Lillehammer Winter Olympics Art Museum and the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin.

Read IIDEX/NeoCon's press release.