The exhibition “Young Balkan designers: Here and Now” – in cooperation with Mikser organization and furniture manufacturer Nunc from Slavonia- was opened in the Faculty of Forestry in Belgrade hall!
The competition received more than a hundred innovative, sustainable, flexible solutions for spaces where the worlds of living, working, playing and interacting increasingly overlap and change dynamically, and the international jury consisting of Marva Griffin, Henriet Val, Nikola Radeljković, Jelena Matić, and Maja Lalić, selected 60 projects from 14 countries of the region, which were given the chance to cooperate with the business.
Photos: Vanja Piroški
The expert team of the Nunc company chose five projects among the exhibited works that they will develop into products in the coming months and will present the most successful of them at the International Furniture Fair in Milan in April 2024 as part of their regular production program. Nunc owes its witty and refreshing approach to design to collaboration with new designers from the entire region, many of whom made their debut on the international stage precisely through the Young Balkan Designers platform.
This is the Nunc’s selection of five projects and authors:
COCOON – Amina Pilav from Bosnia and Herzegovina
FLIP – Berin Spahić from Bosnia and Herzegovina
3M – Dunja Kovačević from Serbia
KOZLIK – Ekaterina Vagurina from Russia
PINNA, Dora Vučemilović from Croatia
The president of Mikser association, Maja Lalić, emphasized on this occasion how valuable the opportunity is for young creatives to connect with colleagues from the region, and then Europe, but also the opportunity to develop their ideas into real products through direct work with the business.
In addition to a large number of young talents, the opening was attended by prominent representatives of the profession, as well as business and diplomacy, who had the opportunity to see the full potential of the regional creative scene.
This unique example of cooperation between the creative, educational and economic sectors in the region compensates for the lack of institutional support for young talents for further training and employment in the sector, but at the same time significantly contributes to the regional exchange of young professionals and their visibility on the international stage.
As part of the opening of the exhibition, about a hundred interested citizens had the opportunity to walk through the arboretum, a natural botanical treasure in the middle of Belgrade, with the expert guidance of associate professor of the Faculty of Forestry, Marko Perović. Its value and exceptional scientific and ecological-educational importance are reflected in the preservation of autochthonous and allochthonous tree species, the function of general and special education and complex scientific research work.
The exhibition is open until October 18, 2023 in the main hall of the Faculty of Forestry, ul. Kneza Višeslava 1, Belgrade.