A central feature of the Mikser Festival during Belgrade Design Week is the competition Young.Balkan.Designers. Conceived as a platform for young designers from across central and eastern Europe, Young.Balkan.Designers also aims to help build better networks and opportunities for Balkan designers. Since it’s inauguration in 2009 Konstantin Grcic has served as head of the international jury.
Ahead of the 2011 Mikser Festival we spoke with Konstantin about the Young.Balkan.Designers competition and his relationship to Belgrade and Belgrade Design Week.
designeast: You are a regular guest at Belgrade Design Week, what for you is special about the design festival?
Konstantin Grcic: Firstly there is the personal relationship to Serbia; my father is from Serbia and so I have a sentimental connection to both the country and to Belgrade. And through the design week, and for all the people who organise it, I have rediscovered this connection to Belgrade and Serbia. I hadn’t been in Serbia for many, many years and now through the design week I have a reason to return and have also become friends with the organisers and can see how they work in the interests of the designers, educators, local industries etc. And so that makes it all more interesting and enjoyable.
But I think for everyone who goes Belgrade it is more than just “another design week”, because you are brought into a world that you don’t know, that somehow is still exotic. Serbia is not only on the outer edges of Europe but through our ignorance here in Western Europe remains on the edge of our field of vision. But what is happening there has an energy and vibrancy that we have long since lost.
designeast: We’re guessing we don’t need to ask but, why the decision to head the Young.Balkan.Designers jury? What do you see as your role?
Konstantin Grcic: I have always said to the organisers that when I can be helpful, just to ask. And the head juror role is a small, simple role, but one where I can use my experience, and of course my name, to help them.
designeast: And general, in terms of the 2011 entries, was there anything that especially caught your attention? What was your overall impression of the quality?
Konstantin Grcic: That is a very good, but also very difficult question. Naturally with such an assignment you’re looking for numerous things at the same time. On the one hand you’re looking for a fantastic piece of work. And at the same time you ask questions such as what can a young designer from Bulgaria, Romania or Serbia produce? How do they think? What are they doing that a French, Swiss or Italian designer couldn’t? And so I have to say that for me there was no especially brilliant winner, but what there was an indication that the designers are finding their own form of working, a form beyond what one sees in all the design blogs. They know the references, they know what is happening, what their colleagues at ECAL Lausanne or the Royal College of Art in London are doing, or what the Bouroullecs and all the other big names are doing, but they are finding their own interpretations, their own form. And not simply producing bad copies.
designeast: From your experience, and in your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing designers in east/central Europe?
Konstantin Grcic: I think one has to be careful with generalisations or misplaced sympathy but for me the biggest problem is the education. Which is generally bad. On the one hand obviously because the resources, in comparison to institutes in Western Europe, aren’t there, for all equipment and the possibilities to realise their ideas. In Serbia and other Balkan lands these resources aren’t available. And then of course the teachers. Many of the teachers are from an older generation who had it even harder and who were more isolated than the current generation. And one senses that. Which all means that while the current generation have access to the Internet and are well connected globally, they don’t always have the support and resources they need. And then there is also the fact that in many cases the industry isn’t there, and so consequently there are no markets. But I think most young Balkan designers don’t think so much about their local markets but rather look elsewhere, to where the markets are. The world is very open today, and even myself as a German designer I barely work in Germany, rather I travel to Italy or America. And in that sense a contest such as Young. Balkan.Designers is important as it offers the designers a platform and the possibility to show their work in, for example, Milan.
designeast: And do you learn from such a role? Or is it for you more simple interest?
Konstantin Grcic: Interest yes, but what I principally get from the process is the contact and the chance to observe and understand what is currently happening. And then there is the fact that I can give something back, or better put pass on my experience. One senses that the young Balkan designers are ambitious, they want success, and they want to be considered as part of Europe. And they are part of Europe. And so for me, if my name or my presence helps them achieve what they want, then that’s good. And so in that sense judging such a competition isn’t purely work, or casual interest but something that I enjoy.
designeast: And will you be in Belgrade?
Konstantin Grcic: Sadly not this year, I have so many other commitments at the moment. But I will be going to Sofia later in the year for their design festival. It’s a city that I’ve never been to and I’m interested to see what is happening there.
More information on Young.Balkan.Designers and this years winners can be found at www.mikser.rs
