Business / design
Zagreb Design Week 2021
Resilience was a theme of this year’s edition
Zagreb Design Week was held at the well-known location, Hall V of the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum, as well as partner locations such as the Botanical Garden, BUQELE House of Fashion, Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Arts and Crafts Zagreb, Nunc, Planet.hr, Prostoria, School of Applied Arts and Design, to name a few, from 21-26 September this year.
ZGDW Awards
For the fifth year in a row, one of the festival’s highlights is the selection for the ZGDW Award.
For the second consecutive year, the ZGDW Award is presented in six categories: Graphic Design, Digital Communication Design and Interaction Design, Product Design, Space Design, Textile and Fashion Design and Social Innovation Design.
Graphic design and copywriting studios Mikser and Cipmann, and academic sculptor Tomica Grubiša won the first prize in the category of Spatial Design for the cultural and tourist route Lungomare Art, Rijeka 2020 project – European Capitals of Culture.
It’s a 60-minute documentary ‘It’s Dutch Design’ showing the worldwide success of Dutch design. Top designers and key international players reveal their vision and discover how a small country has managed to become so significant in the context of world design. The history is told by cult examples of Dutch design, spanning more than 100 years.
ZGDW
The exhibition & the partner country
Bounce Back! & Recovery! is the Dutch approach to contemporary social challenges. With the exhibition Recovery!, Dutch curators Marleen van Bergeijk and Lisa Hardon reflect on the theme of Zagreb Design Week 2021 – Resilience.
The concept of Dutch Design originated in the 1990s as a reaction to the then prevailing traditional approach to design. It became a globally known phenomenon with its presentation in Milan at the ‘Fuorisalone’ where it gets its name.
It’s characterised by conceptuality, experimentalism and innovation, often combined with a witty twist.
Style leaders Helle Jongerius, Marcel Wanders, Jurgen Bey and Tejo Remy, opened the door to an unconventional approach to design that has since become the standard in Dutch design.
Over the past three decades, the social focus has shifted to new issues worldwide, including the Netherlands, which has significantly affected design.
When we look at design as a problem-solving discipline, we can see that problems that require solutions have changed drastically.
Today, the world faces the complex challenges of climate change, sustainability, inequality and social tensions.
The limit of growth has been reached, which we feel in everyday life. As a result of these changes, responsibility, activism and awareness of complex changes become an indispensable part of the design.
Today, Dutch Design reflects the ideas of social and environmental responsibility, and designers deal with broader problems and offer possible solutions with their creative power.
Thanks to international cooperation and the exchange of experiences, this approach to design has spread far beyond the Netherlands borders. In the 21st. century, the new Dutch Design became a part of the social consciousness.
It’s a 60-minute documentary ‘It’s Dutch Design’ showing the worldwide success of Dutch design. Top designers and key international players reveal their vision and discover how a small country has managed to become so significant in the context of world design. The history is told by cult examples of Dutch design, spanning more than 100 years.
The pop-up store
At 1,000 m2, it offers the best-designed products on the Croatian market and the opportunity to meet authors and product manufacturers.
It’s a unique mixture of exhibition and trade show representing some of the most famous Croatian and global brands. It offers a top selection of furniture, fashion, jewellery, bags, decorative items, lighting fixtures.
The ZGDW Concept Store is a great place for tourists to buy locally made Croatian products.
The emphasis is on Croatian manufacturers, but their products are also presented by foreign brands that base their business on design.
Partner locations
At the heart of every design week are partner locations. Milan’s Salone del Mobile would be less attractive without its informal antipode, popularly called Fuorisalone. It is the name for several hundred self-organised events at various locations throughout Milan during the furniture fair.
ZGDW started in one location and evolved to twenty-one in 2018.
Partner locations can be galleries, shops, restaurants. The only condition is that they base their business on design.
The goal of including partner locations in the ZGDW program is to raise the visibility of Croatian designers and educate audiences about the added value that design brings to the economy and culture.
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