Partners Quotes
Partners about BDW
Design is a product of human creativity, it is the first thing to bring change or adopt the changes already made, and with its best creations it defines society, a state, and even an era. Good design has surpassed itself and become a metaphor, a hallmark that defines a nation: Italian design, French design – this evening we will see Israeli design – are global brands which bring benefit the entire nation. This is my understanding of this extraordinary event – Belgrade Design Week – and I support it as an opportunity to present our accomplishments and exchange experiences with international designers who came here to exhibit.
TOMISLAV NIKOLIC, President of the Republic of Serbia
This is a high quality event, which is what we expect of Belgrade Design Week, a young and creative event, which has an important educational aspect, both in the field of fashion, food and comics, and in graphic design and information technologies, and has the ability to promote investment and increase employment.
H.E. MICHAEL DAVENPORT, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia
BDW is an important event for our country for multiple reasons. First of all, I am grateful that this building is opened after six years. The second very important thing is bringing global creatives to Serbia. Our economy desperately needs creative individuals. They need to be in contact with leading creatives from all over the world, in order to be able to develop their own creativity. I thank BDW for making this possible. It feels good to be in this inspiring and creative environment.
GORAN PETKOVIC, State Secretary for Tourism at the Ministry of Finance, Serbia
Belgrade is today a vibrant city with a lot of creative people. I was very impressed of Belgrade Design Week – of the very high quality of presentations and such a strong and numerous audience. The practical arrangements and the venue was perfect. To anyone interested of Serbia’s potential on design and architecture, participation in the Design Week is a must. BDW is an important tool to harness creativity to foster wellbeing in Serbia and to build connections with the rest of the world.
PEKKA ORPANA, Finnish Ambassador, Serbia
The Netherlands Embassy is proud that it could cooperate with BDW to make the visit of the famous Dutch innovator Daan Roosegaarde to Belgrade possible. Daan Roosegaarde mixes poetry and technology with a focus on light, thus creating interactive products with a social element. We are extremely happy that we had a chance to hear Daan’s innovative ideas during the BDW 2013 conference.
DOUWE BUZEMAN, Head of Media and Culture Department, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
It is the very first time that high profile representatives of the Swiss modern design scene were participating and sharing their experience with a distinguished audience in Serbia and it was great honour and pleasure for the Embassy of Switzerland to show this support.
STEFAN KLÖTZLI, Chargé d’affaires a.i., Embassy of Switzerland in Serbia
The British Embassy supports Belgrade Design Week as a very important event in the field of creative industries in Europe and it is a very good opportunity for our companies and for our people who are interested in this area to see what is happening not only in Serbia but in other countries in the region and the world.
MICHAEL DAVENPORT, British Ambassador, Serbia
We support BDW since five years now, because it manages to bring the cream of the German creative industries. I am particularly happy because of symbiosis of innovation, creativity and economic development, which is the foundation of every society, in the work.
MARKO CADEZ, Spokesman of the German Embassy in Belgrade
Creative Space Serbia is a concept presenting and promoting Serbia’s potential in creating innovative furniture design, and in cooperation with BDW SIEPA continues to promote the success of the Serbian creative sector in Serbia, as well as worldwide.
MILOS CURCIN, Public Relations, Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency SIEPA
I am delighted that Belgrade Design Week as a powerful design platform in the region has joined BEDA and I am very much looking forward to working together on big policy challenges and learning more about Serbian design.
DEBORAH DAWTON, President BEDA
Mercedes-Benz Serbia and Montenegro, through the partnership with Belgrade Design Week, tried to enable young people in Serbia to meet great world designers, learn from the best, and to together with their idols find their own creative expression. We are glad that we were able to present to Belgrade audience the creative expression of the designers from the auto industry.
MILOVAN DEVIC, Director Mercedes Benz Cars, Serbia and Montenegro
Audi collaborates a great deal with institutions such as Belgrade Design Week. It is present in some of the best events of this kind, primarily in Miami, in Basel, and due to kindness of the Belgrade Design Week hosts and organizers, we managed to establish a mutually beneficial relation- ship. For us, as a leading brand in the automobile industry, in terms of design, it was only natural to partner with BDW, and we hope we will contribute to the success of BDW in the future.
SLOBODAN PESIC, AUDI
We support Belgrade Design Week because of its outstanding quality. It is even beyond similar conferences that exist in the world, especially concerning the resources at its disposal. We are proud to have succeeded to bring the European Design Awards in 2013 to Belgrade, thanks to the cooperation with BDW, competing against Barcelona and Vienna. We have proven that we can be the center of Europe for design, thanks to BDW.
MILOS MILOVANOVIC, National Tourism Organization of Serbia
This is the second year that we have been cooperating with the Belgrade Design Week, because we honestly believe it is a significant cultural event for our city, for our country, because once a year, it brings to Belgrade the greatest contemporary artists in all fields we are generally interested in – whether it’s design, architecture or advertising.
MAJA KOLAR, Marketing and Communication Director, Banca Intesa, Serbia
Gorenje and Belgrade Design Week think alike and that is, art and culture are representative of things to come, and who knows maybe one day, Serbian young designer will create the next Gorenje appliances just like Ora Ito.
ALENKA MRZEL, Director of Corporate Development Department, Gorenje
This year we decided to take our collaboration with BDW to the next level, because we found a common interest in trying to set up Belgrade Design Week in a different venue. We became owners of this building several years ago. Gorenje always collaborates with different designers, and we invest a great deal in design, trying to produce things that are both practical and beautiful.
STEFAN KUHAR, Gorenje
