The Saint-Étienne Design Biennale got underway here in France last week, filled with installations, exhibitions, panel discussions and a pile of off-site events. This is the 10th anniversary of the Biennale (so there have been 6 of 'em--counting year zero), and the mood was celebratory on the one hand, and a bit nostalgic on the other. The venue for the event is Cité du Design a completely re-furbed (well, almost finished) site of a vast former weapons manufacturing plant, which will be home to a design school and various studios once the festival pulls up its tent pegs. So ya, swords into plowshares as it were, but of the "design thinking" kind.

Saint-Étienne is a very easy city to get around in (trams run almost continuously) and quite charming too, so if you're in the neighborhood, make sure to take a train over and check out the event. Tons of info at the Biennale site.

Panel above: Elsa Francès, Director of the Cite du Design and curator of this edition of the Biennial; Maurice Vincent, Mayor of Saint Etienne; Jean-Jack Queyranne, President of the Rhones Alpes Regional Council; Françoise Gourbeyre, elected representative in charge of the culture.

>> View all Saint-Étienne Design Biennale posts here.