Balkan Design Network has recently opened applications for the Young Balkan Designers 2015 competition, accepting submissions of projects that offer innovative, yet rational solutions to everyday problems.
Anything from design concepts, products (furniture, lighting, interior elements, everyday objects, home accessories, stationary, aid products), to urban services, recycled materials and fashion garments is eligible for entry.
Of all the submitted projects, 20-30 winning projects will be selected for inclusion in the “Young Balkan Designers” touring exhibition, which will start in Belgrade in June, 2015 and continue in Zagreb, Plovdiv, Skopje, Vienna, Istanbul and Cologne through to January, 2016.
All of the 2015 Young Balkan Designers will be able to travel and attend educational seminars and workshops at the organizers’ expense to three design destinations during the first eight months of the project. Three (3) finalist designers, which perform the best throughout this mobility program, will be selected to win a residency in one of the host cities around the region, pursued in cooperation with the leading regional design manufacturers from Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia.
The 2015 competition is themed “Common Grounds” and calls for introspective view on one’s own heritage and cultural values, vernacular roots, authenticities and imperfections, and their intelligent interpretation into contemporary Balkan context. Think about heritage in the broadest terms, from your own personal heritage – ancestry and culture – to our collective heritage as a society, including the places we live in. In your pursuit to define what universal values lie at the intersection of common interest and passion of traditional and progressive urban population, activate the value of cultural assets in and incorporate material and immaterial heritage in your work.
The competition is open to all persons aged 35 years and younger, from: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia and Turkey.
Young Balkan Designers (YBD) is a regional talent platform founded in 2011 with the aim to identify, promote and develop creative potential of the Balkan region, in the field of product design.
Balkan Design Network includes HDD, Mikser and Public Room.