Around 90 online meetings took place at the second Design LAB Speed Dating event

In 2021, the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency launched the second Design LAB Incubation Program, for which domestic manufacturers and creative design professionals could apply in pairs. This year, the networking process was once again supported by the highly successful Speed Dating event, which enabled online meetings between 18 manufacturers and 24 designers – with almost twice as many people compared to last year. Although there were designers who attended the virtual meetings with specific, tailor-made visual plans for manufacturers, in most cases, the event was about brainstorming together.

The design LAB Incubation Program supports the creation of entirely Hungarian designed and manufactured furniture, lighting, home accessories and textile products. The project brings together the professionalism of manufacturers and the creativity of designers in new collaborations, where finding the right partners is essential. The online event called Speed Dating, facilitated by HFDA, contributed to the successful new collaborations between the participants. Overall, 24 designers and 18 design manufacturers met during these sessions, which resulted in a total of 87 meetings.

The companies open to the idea of joint product development held 20-minute meetings exploring the potential of collaborations in the different areas of the design industry, from woodworking to plastics and lighting technology. 

Among many other topics, they discussed such important issues as timelines, roles and responsibilities, sales opportunities and preferences, production site options, manufacturing technology, as well as machinery and equipment needs.

The event was an outstanding success amongst the participants, as many of them have already taken part in last year's Speed Dating event, however, there were also a number of new manufacturers and designers present this year too.

Collaborating pairs can apply for the second Design LAB program until the 13th of June, following the steps and information published on the official HFDA website.

Full details of the Design Lab program can be found HERE.