BELGRADE DESIGN WEEK 2014 Overview

The international PKS DIZAJNLABS™ workshops are one of the key segments of the Belgrade Design Week, with the main purpose to provide free educational sessions for creative professionals and training for business people in Serbia, initiate cooperation and introduce Serbian designers with entrepreneurs, and to promote values and opportunities that creative industries generally bring to the Serbian economy. The PKS DIZAJNLABS™ took place on 7^th and 8^th October in the old Staklopan factory in Strahinjića Bana Street 7 -9 in Belgrade. They were produced in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Serbia, demonstrating an important new step in collaboration between the Chamber and the creative industries.

Bojana Drača / Germany opened the PKS DIZAJNLABS. The focus of her master class Ethical fashion  was informing and educating consumers about the origin of their clothing and the production chain, as well as finding solutions to change their behavior. After that, Satya Sheel / Metro Valley / India held a master class titled Democracy & Urban Planning, which was intended for architects, urban planners, sociologists and economists. Topic of the master class:Culture management by Galit Gaon, Chief curator of Design Museum Holon / Israel, intended for professionals in the field of culture, was the financing and successful management of museums, from the business perspective. The focus of the workshop Digital Design by Gavrilo Božović / Switzerland was the cooperation between designers and engineers in the fields of art, which significantly increases the range of media available for expression. At the Serbian Architecture master class, i.e. 100 Creative Playgrounds for the Children of Serbia, BDW and MADA Architects from Belgrade explained how they built the first Serbian designed playground in Belgrade, Kalemegdan, and showed the plans for another 99 new playgrounds. Other speakers at the master class were the City architect Milutin Folić, Director of the Belgrade office of the company LAMDA development, Boris Tancabelić, and representativeof the Finnish Embassy, Outi Isotalo.

  

 

On Wednesday the 8^th October, Belgrade Design Week visitors attended the workshops: Business of Design, about the link between design and branding, held by Astrid Feldner from Bleed studio / Norway. After that, Saša Vidaković /UK spoke about Branding & Entrepreneurship and communication strategies, intended for creative directors and brand owners. On the same day, three more master classes took place – How to realize your potential by teacher at the Belgrade branch of the famous School of Life, Ivan Živković. After that, it was time for the unforgettable master class by Ido Garini / Studio Appetit / NL – Food Design – where the visitors could heat and taste how design is used to raise appetite and create a sensational gourmand experiences. At the very end, the master class Design Entrepreneurship was held by Marc Viardot, Head of Marketing of the famous Swiss designed sanitary ware manufacturer, Laufen,for aqua boutique owners, entrepreneurs and designers.