And lots of sectors spoke up last year, in answer to the call to put themselves out there and show the world what Canberra was made of. Some of the voices were big and booming, while others were diminutive. And for the folk at Craft ACT, it was the small voices that stood out the most.

And so, late last year, an idea began to take shape. What if it were possible to join all these voices together – the large-scale architects, visual artists, woodworkers, metalsmiths, historians, product and fashion designers, graphic designers, environmentalists – anyone involved in an aspect of design, to form one really big voice?

Twelve months later, and that voice has resolved itself into DESIGN Canberra, a four-day festival that celebrates all elements of design in Australia's only purpose-built city. Since coming up with its initial concept, Craft ACT has acted as the umbrella organisation, but, says executive director Avi Amesbury, the sector has stepped up to the mark admirably.

"That was the intent, and I think that worked," she says.

From the moment she began contacting key organisations, she has been bombarded with a resounding series of affirmations. And once she began receiving expressions of interest from throughout the sector, it became a question of turning the event into something cohesive.

DESIGN Canberra, which kicks off on Wednesday November 19, is divided into several categories, from tours, talks and workshops, to exhibitions, open studios and, undoubtedly the centrepiece, the modern market, a high-end craft and design market showing wares from dozens of makers on Saturday and Sunday. Scattered throughout the Nishi precinct, with live music and a custom designed Post Modern Cocktail, the markets will be an entertaining and lust-worthy chance to ogle – and hopefully snap up – some one-of-a-kind pieces from the likes of fashion collaboration Assemblage Project, ceramicist Sarit Cohen, and glass artists Harriet Schwarzrock and John White, jewellery studio FIVEFOLD Studio, and, a particular out-of-town drawcard, bespoke clothing makers from Newcastle, Mrs Woo and the Seven Sundays Project.

The festival kicks off with Fusion: the Art of Eating on Wednesday night, a pricey event that mixes creative food with high-end, custom-designed serving wear. But, while it sets the tone aesthetically, it's one of the few paid events.

Throughout the whole week, on the other hand, several disused shopfronts through the city centre – in Centrepoint, Baileys Corner and Lonsdale Street Traders – will be populated by individual makers right through to design labs, creating pop-up exhibitions, installations, shops and studios, as part of Activate.

Some of these include Thor's Hammer, an exhibition by a collective of artisans and designers working at the old Canberra Brickworks, and Sharing Light, a showcase of lighting installations by Fink & Co, headed up by Robert Foster, he of the sleek titanium water jugs. The ACT chapter of the Design Institute of Australia will be teaming up with Fashfest to create a pop-up design hub, while students from the capital's three main tertiary institutions – the Australian National University, The University of Canberra and the Canberra Institute of Technology – have upcycled the 2013 Centenary of Canberra banners in new and innovative ways. There'll be an ANU School of Art gold and silversmithing workshop, while several individual artists and collectives will be sharing their work and ideas.

For those who love a good walking tour, several are on offer, including one through Canberra's new and improved airport with architect Alastair Swayn, and a stroll across the ANU campus with landscape architects Karina Harris and Neil Hobbs, who will highlight the arrangement of sculptures and how they sit in the landscape. The City Landscape bike tours, run over two days, will take in the Sculpture Garden, Questacon and Menzies Walk, as well as a faster zip through some of Canberra's famed local hills for some panoramic views of the city. And, if you have a penchant for suburbia and innovative urban design, there will be an evening walk through the suburb of Crace, the subject of an extensive study focused on its design objectives.

A Canberra festival wouldn't be complete without a series of thoughtful talks and – of all things – an entire symposium focusing on contemporary furniture and woodwork. Amesbury says she was as surprised as anyone when a theme shone through in the many expressions of interest for the festival – that of wood. Timber Talks, held at the National Portrait Gallery on Friday, November 21, the symposium will feature talks on studio craft to commissioned fit outs, and inspire all kind of designers. Over at the ANU School of Art, later the same day, another symposium will explore themes of sustainability and ethical design.

Also at the Portrait Gallery, on Sunday, November 23, architect Graeme Dix, of the firm Johnson Pilton Walker, will be discussing the multi-award winning gallery building, which he helped design, and how it has successfully integrated into Canberra's landscape and consciousness.

As well as tours of two architecture firms on Friday, November 21, the festival's last day will also be devoted to a tour of open studios – complete with a bus for those who aren't comfortable just rocking up alone – to see how ceramicists, glass artists and furniture-makers do their thing. Over at the Hayshed in Pialligo, for instance, Julie Ryder, Kirstie Rea and Lisa Cahill will be demonstrating how they work with textiles, glass and paper, and give talks about their practice.

Meanwhile, starting now, many of Canberra's established art galleries, museums and tertiary institutions are holding exhibitions tied in with DESIGN Canberra, including Craft ACT itself, with Creative Licence, in which 17 artists have reinterpreted the Centenary humble licence plate. Others include the Drill Hall at ANU, Tuggeranong and Belconnen Art Centres, the Canberra Glassworks, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Beaver Galleries in Deakin, Form Studio and Gallery in Queanbeyan and the recently re-opened Gallery of Australian Design in Kingston.

Amesbury says the size of the program – housed between distinctive, bold, yellow-and-hot-pink covers and available throughout the city – has astounded many, but not the team at Craft ACT.

"I guess we always knew that the potential was there for something like this, so that's why we wanted to really put it out in one strong voice," she says.

"This is pretty unique, and I guess this has also come out of the fact that Canberra is a designed city, and the only one in Australia, so we're really exploiting that."

Next year, there will be push to give the event a national focus, although as far as Amesbury is concerned, there's barely a limit as to how far it could go in the future.

"In five years' time, I would like to see Paris Design, London Design, Canberra Design. I think we as a capital city have the potential to take this to the international market," she says.

To see the full program, visit designcanberrafestival.com.au.