Who We Are
The Cité du design, public establishment set up in 2005 by the Saint-Étienne City and its agglomeration Saint-Etienne Métropole, aims to develop the uses and the benefits of design by increasing the meeting opportunities between professionals of the area, companies and private individuals.
This young institution fits the whole reconversion process of a city that has been the leader of the Industrial Revolution for two centuries. Product of the Saint-Etienne history, the Cité du design was born of a local will and a strong dynamism, initiated in particular by the Saint-Etienne higher school of art and design – ESADSE (former regional school of fine arts – ERBASE), that created the Saint-Etienne International Design Biennial in 1998.
Furthermore, Saint-Étienne Métropole, the city of Saint-Étienne, the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region and the State-Ministry of Culture accompany the development of the Cité du design through their involvement in the EPCC (Public Institution of Cultural Cooperation), a new legal tool that translates public partnerships and boost the deployment of its activities. This new organization has been active since 2010 January.
What We Do
The Cité du design structures its activities around strong and transversal sets of themes which each serve a democratization of design. Whether it improves the uses and lifestyles, it optimizes the use of energy, it accompanies the transformations of housing or facilitates the development of health and mobility, design puts the human being at the heart of its reflection. As a platform of reflection on practices, needs, uses, the Cité du design demonstrates how design contributes to the emergence of new dynamics into contemporary fields, be they social, economical, political or cultural. The main objective of the Cité du design is to take an active part in the development of economic, touristic and cultural attractiveness.
