YOUNG BALKAN DESIGNERS 2014

OPEN CALL FOR REGIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION:
YOUNG BALKAN DESIGNERS 2014

ABOUT
Young Balkan Designers is a regional talent platform dedicated to identifying, promoting and developing creative potentials of the Balkansin the field of conceptual and product design.The two-year program consists of the regional design competition (February – March, 2014), an international touring exhibition of the winning projects (May 2014 – February 2015), and a series of residency workshops and practical trainings around the region (March 2015 – February 2016), tailored for the final three winners of the project, pursued in cooperation with the leading regional design manufacturers
As a result of the evolution of the project, two regional partner organizations are joining Mikser in organizing and managing the Young Balkan Designers project. Cooperation network among equal partners: Croatian Design Association, Public Room form Macedonia and Mikser organization from Serbia pose a fresh challenge for the project this year. Young Balkan Designers initiative aims at unifying regional design scene, bringing it closer to the international market, strengthening its creative potential by offering additional education and practice, while at the same time contributes to the restoration of multi-cultural cooperation in the Balkan region.

THEME

The Young Balkan Designers slogan for 2014: “EVERYDAY HEROES”emphasizes the power of simple, incremental changes in social behavior that designers can contribute to their community, collaborating with the locals, visioning and solving local problems and needs related to the economic crisis, limited resources, and the necessity for people to search for alternatives to inefficientpublic services. Competition Young Balkan Designers 2014 callsfor more impactful design solutions that can serve as a catalyst for social innovation in everyday lives within local communities, and mobilizes designers to provide not only the final products, but to design tools, concepts and services that help communities and individuals to solve their own problems. Offering visions of possible worlds in the limited conditions of Balkan production and economy, by facilitating people to achieve the sense of well-being rather than material wealth, Young Balkan Designers prove that more sustainable society is not an utopia in the Balkans, and that designers themselves are “the change they want to see in the world”, translating the experience of small community  projectsinto their active role in a more sustainable future both for our region, and for our planet.

COMPETITION SUBJECT AND CRITERIA

Design concepts, products (furniture, lighting, interior elements, everyday objects, home accessories, stationary, aid products), urban services, recycled materials, fashion garments, etc. that offer innovative yet rationalsolutions to everyday problems. Criteria appreciated by the Jury: innovative features that enhance thequality of community life; ergonomics; rational production costs; use of materials available locally;environmentally friendly production process; significant social impact.

JURY

President:
Konstantin Grcic, Industrial Designer, KGID (Germany)

Nikola Radeljković, Product Designer, Numen / ForUse (Croatia)

Ivana Borovnjak, Product Designer; Director, Croatian Design Association (Croatia)
Jelena Matić, Furniture Designer, Professor at the University of Belgrade; (Serbia)
Aleksandar Velinovski, Design manager; Founder, Skopje Design Week (Macedonia)
Maja Lalić, Architect; Creative Director and Founder, Mikser organization (Serbia)

GENERAL TERMS

The competition is open to all persons aged 35 years and younger, from the following countries: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia and Turkey.
Applicants may be individuals or groups of creators.Each applicant may submit more than one entry.

DEADLINES

The competition is open from 3 February – 10 March 2014
The jury will announce the winners of the:Competition Level 1:Selected designers for the TOURING EXHIBITION YOUNG BALKAN DESIGNERS, on 15March 2014.
Competition Level 2: Selected designers for the RESIDENCY WORKSHOPS AND PRACTICAL TRAINING PROGRAM, will be announced in December 2014

REGISTRATION AND PROJECT SUBMISSION

Applicants will be able to register and submit their projects by filling in a Young Balkan Designers form online at www.ybd.mikser.rs until 10 March 2014 at 23.59

AWARDS

Award / Level 1:TOURING EXHIBITION “YOUNG BALKAN DESIGNERS”
Tenbest projects will be selected among the competition entries to participate in the Young Balkan Designers exhibition which will be on tour to all major regional design events and fairs including:
D Day in Zagreb (25-29 May, 2014); Mikser Festival in Belgrade (3-8 June, 2014), One Design Week in Plovdiv (20–29 June, 2014); Skopje Design Week (September 2014);Klaster Festival in Podgorica (October, 2014); Tirana Design Week (October, 2014); Belgrade Furniture Fair (November, 2014),and many more.

Award / Level 2: RESIDENCY WORKSHOPS AND PRACTICAL TRAINING PROGRAM

Three best designers will be selected among exhibition participants to attend a series of residency workshops and practical trainings around the region (Zagreb, Belgrade, Skopje), pursued in cooperation with the leading regional design manufacturers throughout the period from March 2015 till February 2016.

IMPORTANT NOTES

By submitting this application, designers commit, if selected to participate in the Young Balkan Designers exhibition, to develop prototypes or produce relevant presentation of their conceptual project and secure their transportation to Zagreb, Croatiaby 22 May 2014, at their own expense. Upon the announcement of the competition results, the Organizers will contact the laureates to providethem with the official invitation letter to accompany their prototypes during the transportation and the detailed information about the delivery location. After D Day in Zagreb designers leave their prototypeswith the YBD organizational team for the purpose of the touring exhibition for the duration of one year. The return of the selected prototypes is possible upon request and the return transportation costs need to be covered by the designer.

The decisions of the jury are final. Any claims arising in relation to the authorship of the design or of possible plagiarism thereof, will be the responsibility of the designer. In the event of non-fulfilment of any of the rules herein, or in the case of inconsistency of the prototype with the project selected by the jury, the objects submitted will be excluded from the Competition.

MAIN ORGANIZERS:

HDD / Croatia / dizajn.hr
MIKSER / Serbia / mikser.rs
PUBLIC ROOM / Macedonia / publicroom.org

*Special thanks to Ezio Manzini for the inspiration for this year’s competition theme


Press Contact:

Maja Lalić, Mikser
+381 62 80 40 130

maja@mikser.rs

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