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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