It all began in 1953 at an industrial design congress in Paris, where Jacques Vienot, a French industrial design pioneer, tabled the idea of creating an international organisation to support the aims of national industrial design associations. In 1957, after much discussion and debate on the best way to do this, the first Executive Board of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design was elected at a special meeting in London. Shortly thereafter, the official registration took place in Paris and Icsid was born. Back then, Icsid consisted of just twelve societies from ten countries.
Icsid soon gained an international reputation as the leading organisation for industrial design and worked with many world bodies to develop the profession and initiate a movement committed to using design to improve the world around us. Numerous activities have taken us around the world, where more than 20 countries have hosted an Icsid Congress and General Assembly, and engaged leaders in design education, promotion and professional practice into its programs and its work. By the late 1970s, Icsid's membership consisted of 52 societies from more than 30 countries.
50 years after being founded, Icsid now counts over 150 member organisations in more than 50 countries, representing an estimated 150,000 designers from educational institutions, promotional and professional organisations, as well as consulting practises and corporations. Amongst the thousands of design organisations around the world, Icsid is still unique in bringing together a truly international range of design voices, which gives a broad perspective to each one of our projects. By facilitating international collaboration, Icsid represents the multi-faceted nature of design today and utilises the resources of its members to improve the world in which we live - hence our guiding principle: Global solidarity and design for a better quality of life around the world.
International Council of Societies of Industrial Design: https://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/3