DESIGNBLOK in Prague, A design highlight not to be missed
Prague’s annual design festival
In October, MAD Brussels was invited to Prague to explore and visit the annual Designblok festival. The invitation, extended by the Czech Center in Brussels, served as an introduction to the local industry, offering a networking opportunity with international designers and emerging local talent. We give you a recap of our discoveries during Designblok in Prague.
Celebrating its 26th year, Designblok took place at historic locations across the city. These included Prague Castle, the Museum of Decorative Arts, and for the first time in the festival's history, Prague City Museum. The overall programme was themed Youth and featured a particular emphasis on up-and-coming design talent, as well as established practitioners. Each location had its own program and unique setup. This not only made it enjoyable to explore the city but also offered the opportunity to experience a different type of presentation at every venue. Superstudio offered spaces for established brands, manufacturers and shops, where as Openstudio platformed designers, studios, students and schools without commercial manufacturers. High Craft, the festival's main exhibition, celebrated over 30 designers whose practice combines traditional craft with environmentally conscious production methods.
Among all the presentations by both brands and designers, a great deal of talent stood out, such as the daring exhibition of the revived glassworks Květná 1794, designed by Klára Janypková and Tomáš Kučera. It was a playful and poetic installation that managed to attract the attention of visitors with a field of swaying glass pieces. Also the presentation of another glass company, Moser glassworks, caught our attention by the use of sand in their scenography, being the basic raw material for glass production.
An international jury, existing of amongst others Ben Hobson (co-director of the world’s most-read design website Dezeen), Yoko Choy (creative consultant, journalist, and head of Wallpaper China* magazine), as well as the Swedish multidisciplinary design duo Emma Marga Blanche and Fredrik Färg, was responsible for the Designblok Awards. These highlight the best works from hundreds of exhibitors across the festival in predetermined categories. For the best new designer studio, the jury awarded the brand two hundred tons by Adam and Monika Štok for their collection Unroll, which experiments with shaping metal profiles. It was one of our favourites together with the project Add Wood: Perspectives on Printable Timber, a presentation of objects made from the new material econitWood, composed of recycled wood waste, and technologies pushing large-format 3D printing beyond current possibilities.
Finally, our own Artistic Director, Dieter Van Den Storm, participated in a panel discussion on Collectible Design. Together with Liv Vaisberg from the Collectible fair, they discussed the characteristics of this type of design and the appeal of Brussels as an international hub for collectors. We were happy to be one of the 41.000 followers that visited this year’s Designblok in Prague.
The 27th edition of Designblok will take place from October 7 to 12, 2025. Looking for more information regarding Designblok? You can discover everything at www.designblok.cz.
