September 21, 2021 - Zagreb Design Week 2021 in partnership with the Netherlands promises a rich program to celebrate resilience.

From Austrian architecture in the center, 20th century hard but beautiful brutalist buildings, and modern contemporary buildings from the beginning of the 2000s, Zagreb is a lovely city design-wise.

And with the new edition of Zagreb Design Week (ZGDW), there is no better place for designers and design lovers as the event started on September 21 and will continue to September 26.

„The theme of Zagreb Design Week 2021 is Resilience. The topic reflects on the specific circumstances that have marked our lives in the past two years. Pandemics, isolation, earthquakes, fear, and insecurity, have prompted us to address resilience. We want to look positively into the future, take the opportunity to change things, build better, more stable, more sustainable, greener, more humane, smarter things and systems, which will help us become more resistant to all the disturbances in the future“, says the Zagreb Design Week official website.

This year's edition is significant with several venues in Zagreb (such as the Museum of Arts and Crafts, Botanical Garden, Museum of Contemporary Art, Planet, Kvazimoda, and Buqele House of Fashion), but also in Velika Gorica too in Mediteranart venue.

Exhibitions, lectures, music programs, and parties are the motive to go. Both for learning and having a good time.

This year's edition is also special due to the Netherlands being a country partner.

„The concept of ‘Dutch Design’ has become known all over the world. It started in the 90s when the movement and brand of Dutch Design took off as a reaction to the traditional design culture of that time. Characteristics of this now iconic movement are the conceptual, experimental, and innovative approach, often with a humorous twist. Led by designers Hella Jongerius, Marcel Wanders, Jurgen Bey, and Tejo Remy, they paved the road for a more unconventional approach to design.“, ZGDW explains the importance of this year's partnership.

This year, just like before, the best designers will be rewarded in one of six categories: Textile and Fashion Design, Product Design, Social Innovation Design, Digital Communication Design, and Interaction Design, Interior Design, and finally, Graphic design.

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From 7 to 12 May, at this year's Zagreb Design Week, a prototype of the mentored work “Small Home - Place of Provisional Living in Nature", created by design student Luka Palestrina Mazić, will be presented. The work was created under the mentorship of professor Mladen Orešić and Andrea Hercog, and it will be implemented this year thanks to the joint forces of the festival and the Design Studies in Zagreb. It will be exhibited in the design park of the Hall V of the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum. It is an innovative modular system of prefabricated elements that also has the possibility of rotation and upgrading of the basic module depending on the needs of the user, the location and the climate.

“The project has emerged as a solution for the ever-increasing need of people to return to nature, as a place of regeneration and isolation from mass tourism and an escape from the saturation of the fast pace of urban lifestyle. However, in returning to the natural environment, people are still striving to meet the standards of their habits and needs. With the surface of 15 square metres, I have designed basic functional rooms – kitchen, living room and bedroom and a toilet, while outer walls are made of wood and large glass surfaces, connecting the interior with the natural environment. I believe that design can offer Croatian tourism a new vision different from living in the “concrete tourist cages," and closer to the innovative design and architectural solutions that preserve the natural heritage and affirm it together with cultural heritage," Mazić said.

The award was decided by an international jury composed of: Michael Ani (United Kingdom, Makkina, director), Tomislav Bobinec (Croatia/Austria, FH Joanneum, lecturer), Sara Ferrari (Italy, Domus Academy, head of Master Product Design Programme), Andrej Filetin (Croatia, Filburg, designer) and Davor Grünwald.

The ZGDW Award has been conceived as an incentive for the development of Croatian design and is the only such award with a financial element in the country, and now the festival has also decided to create a model of the best work. The recent developments are a good incentive for all competitors who will apply for this year's competition by March 31st. The topic is "New Future / Changing the Game".

During the festival, the Hall V will host the ZGDW Awards exhibition of the works of all the finalists and award-winning authors, selected by the international jury.

More news on the Zagreb Design Week can be found in the Lifestyle section.

More than 30,000 visitors passed through the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum which hosted this year's Zagreb Design Week.