As I write this, my husband's on a resort island in British Columbia. There, he is learning the art of rammed earth building construction. It's a dream design destination for him and he's fulfilling it. Which has me daydreaming about my own design-focused travel:
Right now, as the thermometers topple 100 in my hometown, I'm dreaming of Finland. I would start by visiting the works of architect Alvar Aalto. I would also make a stop at the Arabia factory clearance store and Marimekko shops and fill my suitcases for the trip back home.
What about you? If you could travel anywhere to see any design work or learn any design-oriented trade, were would you go? Any plans to make that dream a reality? Or have you already? Let us know in the comments below! If there's lots of feedback, we'll compile the top design destinations and repost them here later this week.
Image: Old Arabia pottery factory, which is now Helsinki's Uiversity of Art and Design. Image by Flickr member zinjixmaggir, licensed for use under Creative Commons
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
White Enamel Flatwa...
Party Recipe: Creamy Crawfish Dip
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Axel Ver Voordt's KANAAL --
Went a couple of years ago, and it did not disappoint!
Carl and Karin Larsson's Lilla Hyttnas. Someday.
http://clg.se/enstart.aspx
Mary
I've been fortunate to have already visited my dream design destination, Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright home in Western Pennsylvania and the nearby home of his design, Kentuck Knob.
Now my dream design destination is Barcelona, Spain and the buildings and structures of Gaudi, Mies van der Rohe, Santiago Calatrava, and the city's other notable architects and designers.
I have already been there: Dessau, Germany, Bauhaus mecca.
Mine is already listed, Barcelona. I have always wanted to go and love learning about it and seeing pictures. So beautiful and different!
Alyssa
coolproducts.com
http://www.yestermorrow.org/
Absolutely.
Paris, France: I love the apartment buildings. Great Britain: for the old English farm houses. The Northeast: Dutch and English inspired farm houses. New Zealand: historic British and modern beachy buildings.
Japan. Morocco. Istambul. The Taj Mahal. Florence.
Right this minute, I would LOVE to learn the art of reglazing laminate countertops multicolors, just so I could reglaze our bathroom. No one in my city, or even my state, does it and yet there are plenty of contractors on the coasts that do.
I love visiting the Heath Ceramics Studios in Sausalito right here in Northern California - one of these days I want to go during a weekday so I can see them at work!
I also enjoyed my visits to the Taliesins in Wisconsin and Arizona.
When you visit Helsinki, you can also see Aalto's house and studio (reserve tour in advance). And Eliel Saarinen's house and garden at Hvittrask is also open for viewing. All well worth it!
"Image: Old Arabia pottery factory, which is now Helsinki's Uiversity of Art and Design."
Oh, the factory is still running there.. At least for now, there's been talk about laying people off..
The pottery is molded and fired in the low, dark grey building wing just seen in the right-hand picture corner; The pattern setters who add the figures on the pottery before glazing work in the pinkish building wing in the back right; the "Resident Artists" like Kim Simonson and Fujiwo Ishimoto have their studios in the upper floor of the main building - there, where the "Arabia" sign begins. Those windows belong to the museum, but the artists share the same elevator and lobby, and you can see them come and go if you visit :)
Imagine my surprise when scrolling down the page revealed such a familiar view from the hoods ;)
My dream destination: a Knoll factory!
..I like to see how things are made.. :)
Kovenhaven, Denmark. Went there 2 years ago.
I made a pilgrimage to Copenhagen earlier this year, and it was utterly wonderful. I went through the Museum of Art and Design gasping with delight like a kid at a Harry Potter movie premiere.
Barcelona is next on the list.
Have made my design pilgrimages to Copenhagen/Denmark, Stockholm/Sweden (and the glass factories between the two), Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, Florence, Turin (really! Yes!! Turin is great!), Berlin, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Venice, Barcelona, Prague...
Prague is particularly rich in terms of design, being almost unique among European cities in the number and quality of styles represented, the Baroque, Art Nouveau and modernist (eg., Cubist, Constructivist and Bauhaus) being the most remarkable, but Gothic, Romanesque, Renaissance, Rococo, Classicist as well as others are also present.
And Barcelona rocks.
Denmark.