Announcing the Exhibitors for Designblok 2018
2. 10. 2018
Announcing the Exhibitors for Designblok 2018 – Plus a Host of Exciting New Features to Celebrate the Festival’s 20th Year!
The Designblok international festival of design and fashion is celebrating its 20th year, with installations by a total of 343 designers from the worlds of product design, fashion and jewellery. Visitors can look forward to lectures, moderated debates, theatre productions and three days of fashion shows. The theme for the festival programme – which features installations by leading Czech and international designers – is Celebration. Designblok runs from October 25th to October 29th, 2018.
Designblok, Prague’s annual design week, always offers something new. In addition to the traditional venue of Výstaviště, this year the festival will also be held at Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace. The venue hosts Manifesto, an exhibition showcasing the creative offerings of 14 respected Czech and international designers/design studios including Eva Eisler, Maxim Velčovský, Ineke Hans, Jorge Penadés, Petr Babák, deFORM, Jan Plecháč and Henry Wielgus, Zorya and chmara.rosinke. The historic palace will also house an installation by Designblok’s main guest – Jaime Hayon. On behalf of Manifesto’s curators, Designblok Creative Director Jiří Macek says: “Manifesto is an exhibition that showcases a variety of dynamic approaches to design. The individual designers have been selected based on how they conceive of and understand design. All of them are synonymous with the Designblok event and continue to have a lasting impact on the festival as a whole. The esteemed exception this year is Jaime Hayon, who’s exhibiting his work here for the first time. Jaime’s also made a special birthday cake to celebrate our 20th anniversary!”
Located in the right wing of the Industrial Palace, Superstudio will showcase new products by 80 Czech and international companies. A major emphasis is being placed on Czech brands this year, with the event featuring collections of furniture, lights and interior accessories as well as a new airplane model and a special mobile house-on-wheels. Highlights include new furniture collections from Master & Master, Meyto, Jelínek and Javorina, new lights from Brokis and Bomma, an update of the traditional scooter from Čezeta, interior glass accessories from Rückl, and Renault’s special concept car – DeZir.
Opposite in the left wing of the Industrial Palace, Openstudio will host a total of 148 exhibits by individual designers, design studios and schools. Visitors will be able to purchase items from the latest exhibitor collections at the venue itself. As part of the Diploma Selection competition, a selection of the best European graduation work will also go on show, while each day the Reflex Stage will offer an accompanying programme full of debates and lectures.
Art House – which celebrates art design – will be staged at the Lapidarium of the National Museum. Highlights include designer and artist Philippe Cramer’s latest lights collection Randogne, which combines the ancient symbolism of anthropomorphic icons with laser cutting; a special installation by Jiří Pelcl entitled Home, Sweet Home; DOTEKY, a collection of new objects from Liběna Rochová; and the newest collection of glass products from Glassbrothers, an expression of their enthusiasm for the world of biking. In total, the Lapidarium will house 20 art installations, all by leading Czech designers and international guests. Homage to Beauty is the Art House theme this year, with Danica Kovářová the head curator.
This year, fashion will once again play a significant role in the event, with shows by leading Czech fashion designers such as Liběna Rochová, Klára Nademlýnská, Hana Zárubová, Pavel Brejcha, Monika Drápalová, Miro Sabo and many more. The catwalk programme offers 32 fashion shows in total. Elsewhere, a series of installations will go on display at Designérie, Výstaviště’s exterior grounds, as well as participating galleries and pop-up stores all across Prague.
Jana Zielinski, Director of Designblok, adds: “The list of participants this year celebrates all that is positive about Czech design. Not only are we showcasing international stars, we’re also introducing the brightest new talents to the scene. We believe it’s important to strike a balance between promoting and supporting the upcoming generation of designers while maintaining a link with the generation that Designblok grew up with, all of whom have gone on to become well-established designers. So, this year, vistors will be able to see the latest offerings from world-renowned designers alongside exciting new work by Czech students. We invite everyone to join us for Designblok, a celebration of the best contemporary Czech design has to offer.”
