FiftySix is a collaborative design forum developed by I+A with Valletta Cultural Agency. It operates as a platform, a showcase, and a public space where design is treated as culture, and where topical issues can be explored through the design process.
Context
FiftySix began in September 2023 as a monthly design talk hosted at the Valletta Design Cluster, created to give local design practice a consistent place to be seen, heard, and discussed. The foundation was simple: a stage for designers and makers to present their work in their own language, and a public invitation to engage with design as a way of thinking, not only a visual outcome.
The programme is co-founded and co-led by Joeaby Vassallo on behalf of I+A, in collaboration with Valletta Cultural Agency, with the Valletta Design Cluster as its home base.
Fit & Intent
The intent behind FiftySix has always been cultural. Malta has creative intelligence, strong practice, and a growing ecosystem, but it often lacks a consistent public format where that intelligence can gather, sharpen itself, and be taken seriously.
FiftySix exists to build that space. A repeatable structure where design can be presented without theatre, discussed without gatekeeping, and understood as part of public life. The focus is not on trend, but on contribution.
Direction
FiftySix is built using the design process as its organising logic. Each edition treats design conversation as a form of making: observe what is happening, name the pattern, test ideas, and refine thinking in public.
The platform has gradually expanded beyond talks. It now also acts as a forum for topical questions that matter to design culture, using public discussion, curated themes, and structured formats to attempt resolution, or at the very least, to make the problem legible.
The aim is always the same: move design from a private discipline into a shared cultural practice.
Outcome
FiftySix has established itself as a stable platform for design conversation in Malta. It has created a consistent public space for designers, makers, and creative practitioners to present work, share process, and build a shared language around contemporary practice.
More importantly, it has strengthened the idea that design is not decoration. It is a method for making meaning, shaping behaviour, and engaging real conditions with intelligence and care.
