THE Jamaica Observer yesterday launched Design Week JA 2017 with a brunch at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston.

Aimed at stakeholders in the design, construction and real estate industries, as well as homeowners and homemakers, the inaugural Design Week 2017 will run from September 24 to September 30.

The week will bring a forum for the exchange of design information and specials on products from participating outlets.

“Design week is about making your exterior and interior beautiful,” quipped Observer Advertising and Marketing Manager Natalie Chin at the launch.

Retailers such as Spaces, Ashley Furniture HomeStore, Tile City & Kohler, Island Art & Framing, DeZign Diva, and Appliance Traders (ATL) are offering reduced prices on selected items for the home during Design Week.

And conversations in design will take place at Ashley Furniture HomeStore on Sunday, September 24 from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Then ATL, in partnership with Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), will have its design forum on Tuesday, September 26 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the appliance store’s Half-Way-Tree Road branch.

Spaces, located at Phoenix Avenue in Kingston 10, will have conversations in design on Wednesday, September 27 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, while Tile City & Kohler, at their Constant Spring Road outlet, will have design consultations with Joelle Smith on Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30.

“This is a perfect fit for us,” said Garth Walker, managing director of Business Access TV, one of the sponsors of Design Week and a guest at the luncheon.

“We have two specific programmes that cater directly to Design Week; one, our programme called Cameo, which focuses on the creative industry… we have another programme… Home Sweet Home, a real estate programme.

”All the people here who design… commercial and residential… the full gamut of real estate falls under Design Week,” he said.

“We definitely have to be on board.Business Access TV focuses on small business and we support the industries,” Walker added.

Meanwhile, Vivienne Bayley-Hay, group chief corporate affairs and communications officer at VMBS, major partners of Design Week, said that one of the important aspects of home ownership is improving the value of the property.

“A house is probably the single most important investment that somebody will make. You need to ensure that you are not only maintaining it, but also improving on it and increasing the value of the property,” Bayley-Hay told guests at the luncheon.

“We see Design Week as an opportunity to partner with many of the professionals who work within the construction industry that help people to achieve the dream of homeownership and improve the value of their properties,” she said. “We are pleased to be part of Design Week.”

— Patrick Foster