Belgrade Design Week 2010
The fifth edition of Belgrade Design Week was held from May 31th to Jun 5th 2010 in Theatre Atelje 212. It transformed Belgrade again into a true epicenter of creativity, where leading international design superstars lectured at the BDW’s centerpiece, the international conference “SMART SQUARED”. At the same time, BDW as always occupied the entire territory of the City of Belgrade, with workshops for professionals and students alike, a dedicated designWeekend for design aficionados to discover showrooms and galleries, central city shopping windows dedicated to new talents, DesignPremiers featuring exhibitions, vernissages, movies and cocktails, while the end of the day was traditionally reserved for Belgrade’s famed desigNights, featuring the likes of Thievery Corporation, Federico Aubele, Lemon Jelly, Cineplexx and other protagonists of finer “design sound”.
BDW 2010 was offcially announced by the German Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Wolfram Maas, at the gallery of the National Bank of Serbia. Belgrade Design Week kicked of with a spectacular fashion show presenting the best of Serbian fashion design, in organization of MTD Forum.
Smart City, the final panel of the conference “Smart Squared”, gathered 10 most successful private and state initiatives that had marked the previous year with their contribution and by giving the impulse to the creative industry of Serbia and region. At this panel, delegates had the unique opportunity to directly learn and hear from the greatest business experts in Serbia about planning, production and results of the most important projects that are about to mark or already represent parameters for the future of the entire society.
BDW organized 6 workshops with useful themes and eminent global and local moderators, within the program Smart Labs, with several key partners such as The Embassy of the Netherlands, Bells and others in the Small hall of the city Administration, kindly donated by the Secretariat of Culture of the City of Belgrade.
At the workshop named "Smart Start-Up" , BDW and some of the most relevant governmental institutions: The Business Registers Agency (Mileva Petrovic), The Serbian Chamber of Commerce (Vera Veljanovski), The National Agency of the Regional Development (Milena Vasic), Studio Pure (Mane Radmanovic) and Studio Membrane (Marko Macura), tried to encourage young people, participants of the workshop, in the brave attempt to effectuate themselves professionally, by presenting necessary information about their rights, obligations and opportunities in the situation of starting their own businesses. Also, two case studies were presented, of running architecture and design offices. The workshop was organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development.
The workshop "Smart Architecture" introduced participants to the importance of sustainable architecture as a particular way of designing and building, seen as a standard by the most developed societies. Promoting the methods, models and benefits arising from environmental design, as well as seeding the idea of renewable and energy-efficient constructing is one of the most important missions of BDW - the engine of the creative industry, and its workshop partners "Environmental Ambassadors" - the pillar of sustainable changes in Serbia. Moderators were Aleksandra Knez Milojkovic (BELLS), Jasminka Pavlovic ( The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning), Milos Petrovic (Novi Beograd Municipality), Dragan Stunjas (dia), Sandra Bozic (dia). This workshop had been made possible by kind support of the Embassy of the Netherlands.
In front of some of the most important representatives of Belgrade's and Serbia's cultural, academic, creative, public and governmental sector, Cees Donkers, one of the founders of the famous Dutch Design Week and representative of the Eindhoven city council, had shown and discussed brilliant projects which changed the city of Eindhoven, as a result of fruitful cooperation among private initiatives and public institutions. He showcased urban regeneration projects like SMALLEHAVEN and particularly highlighted the methodology with which the city of Eindhoven came to such brilliant results over a carefully planned course of time.
The cutting-edge workshop "Smart Kids - Thinking Munari" was about the famous Bruno Munari and his creative methodology. The energetic and tireless Yaffa Gaon, a fine Israeli intellectual who had the opportunity to work with Munari for 20 years, brilliantly moderated this workshop, introducing more than 60 participants to the design and creativity as a way of thinking.
"Smart Fashion" workshop, moderated by the most successful global fashion designer of Serbian origin Dusan Paunovic, gathered about 20 fashion designers, who had a great chance to take a first-hand advice about the smart business approach to ready to wear high-couture.
In the workshop called "Smart Light" the world’s superstar of lighting design, the charming Zeki Kadirbeyoglu from Istanbul managed to gather almost 100 Serbia’s top architects, lighting designers and producers.
Behind the vivid atmospheres and relaxed cocktail receptions of "designPremieres", lies BDW's important business initiative to promote Belgrade's design related industries that are heavily affected by the economical crisis. The project's attention goes to trade, exhibition and HoReCa industries related to design and the creative industries, by bringing fresh and professional visitors to their showrooms and focusing media on their offers, forming a premier annual framework for design-presentations in Serbia.
Not only did hundreds of local visitors come to see each one of the openings, vernissages and enjoy the cocktail parties offered by "designPremieres" each night, but also high profile international speakers, stakeholders and important global journalists, who were able to see and experience the best Belgrade can offer. Next to numerous coverages in local media and followed closely the feedback in international media, jointly with our partners from the Tourist Organization of Belgrade, who kindly supported their visit to BDW 2010.
The highly coveted Belgrade Design Grand Prix, provided by vote of the conference delegates, was awarded to the Spanish designer Jaime Hayon.
In collaboration with MTV, BDW presented contemporary urban club festival of "design" music and creativity. Almost legendary "desigNights" in some of the best clubs of Belgrade, was BDW's another initiative of support and promotion for the capital's lifestyle scene in crisis.
The joint MTV PRESENTS official Belgrade "desigNights" opening party was in the Light Plastic club. After the energetic Sevdah Baby band’s live performance, Belgrade was the proudest city in the world – it hosted the premiere of an incredible virgin-DJ trio-performance. The charming KiBiSi boys from Copenhagen – Bjarke Ingels, Lars Larsen & Jens Martin, founders of Kilo design, Big Architecture and BIOMEGA bikes, had their incredible DJ debut with what they called Funkyzeit with their favourite mixtapes.
BDW Awards Ceremony was organized in Hotel BAH and the legendary closing party in Magacin club. After having slept for a week, the BDW team organized one final THANK YOU party for all our supporters and delegates in the garden of the famous Belgrade restaurant Klub knjizevnika, with one special condition: all in white.
