Hungarian designers and industrial artists at the gateway to international fame

The world’s largest design event, organised every year, the Milan Design Week, has ended, where Hungarian product designers and industrial artists could introduce themselves between the 17^th and the 23^rd of April. 40 domestic design brands appeared with their special creations under the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s umbrella brand, Budapest Select, at two venues, Alcova and Rossana Orlandi’s Gallery.

The goals of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA) include raising the profile of domestic designers, promoting exports, and developing professional knowledge. To reach these goals, the Agency represented our country during the Milan Design Week considered the world’s main design event and furniture expo. The event is held yearly at different venues in Milan, where thousands of exhibitors display their furniture and interior design accessories to design-enthusiast masses flocking to the city.

The appearance at the Milan Design Week is an extraordinary opportunity for Hungarian creators to debut on the international scene. The design week’s cool and fresh venue, Alcova, focused on emerging talents and hosted 121 objects by 37 Hungarian designers and industrial artists, with a 150 square-metre area dedicated to the Budapest Select exhibition presenting a cross-section of Hungarian design. Gáspár Bonta, the exhibition’s curator dreamed up a six-part concept, with the key message that contemporary objects have traditional stories connected to them and the combination of innovation and technology with traditional material use may be the future of Hungarian design.

“The Milan Design Week is one of the world’s largest design exhibitions and expos where Hungarian designers’ works raised the international profession’s attention, several world-famous showrooms were interested in the Budapest Select collection. It is a great honour and professional recognition for us that we could collaborate with Rossana Orlandi whose gallery has become one of the most determining platforms of avant-garde and eclectic design in the last 20 years, whose stylistic features are not far from Hungarian designers either” - said Anita Forintos-Szűcs, Deputy CEO of the HFDA, adding: “The Agency created the Budapest Select umbrella brand to provide Hungarian brands with more extensive visibility by strong and unified communication while retaining the brands’ unique characteristics. The international appearances during the design week are especially valuable for us since they offer a broad insight into the world of Hungarian design and they also support sales incentivisation.”

Alcova is a place for experimentation and innovation, channelling different historical venues into Milan’s flow with the help of design every year. The audience of the venue attracting over 90 thousand visitors this year included showroom representatives, interior designers, architects, individual buyers and journalists, many of whom were also curious to see the Budapest Select exhibition along with the public interested in design. It is excellent feedback and a promising sign for the near future that many on-site negotiations were started with interested professional parties. The bustling space incentivising connections fit well the objects of Hungarian designers and industrial artists, where they piqued the attention of the international press as well; the Italian Corriere della Sera, Vogue, Domus, Repubblica, Elle Decor and Artribune all reported on the Budapest Select umbrella brand exhibition bringing together Hungarian products.

Those interested could also meet Budapest Select and Hungarian designers’ works at another important venue during Milan Design Week. Eight products by three designers chosen personally by Rossana Orlandi were on display in the Rossana Orlandi Master Gallery, an outstanding place of contemporary design, as part of the RoCOLLECTIBLE DESIGN exhibition. Rossana Orlandi’s name is well-known both in the world of fashion and design; she worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years before switching to design. For instance, she discovered Sebastian Wrong, the designer of “Spun Light” but besides working with emerging talents, she has collaborated with big guns such as Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders, or the Studio Job. In light of this, the fact that the selected Hungarian designers’ products will continue to be available in Rossana Orlandi’s Gallery is a notable and positive recognition.

“A coordinated professional appearance at the determining international design and fashion events and trade fairs is among the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s main strategic pillars. We regard it a great success that this year we established a professional collaboration with Rossana Orlandi so we can jointly continue working on putting Hungarian product designers in the spotlight in front of a broader audience while preserving our cultural heritage and yet developing. The Milan Design Week and similar international appearances promote valuable and active professional dialogue which contribute to further strengthening Hungary’s regional central role and that tourists visiting the country will consciously seek Hungarian design and fashion products” - emphasised the event’s significance Zsófia Jakab, the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s CEO.

The Agency aims to provide debuting possibilities for Hungarian designers at further large international design events and fairs in the future.

Hungarian product designers and industrial artists debuting at the Milan Design Week:

Alcova:

• Ádám Csanád Berkes
• Anikó Rácz x Timbart
• Annabella Hevesi
• annakatalin
• Atelier Kas
• Bernadett Hegyvári Carcassné
• Bettina Bessenyei x Gránit és Márvány
• Bori Segesdi
• Co&Co Designcommunication x Multifelt Factory
• Dávid Godzsák
• DBE.FURNITURE
• DEGA design
• Demeter Fogarasi
• esstre
• Fanni Hegedűs
• HORA
• Judit Grünfelder
• Julia Nema
• Kyra László
• M Kovács
• MALVINA
• Márton Sápi
• Meander
• NORNA
• Organic Porcelain Manufactura
• PAPER UP!
• Petra Szondi
• POSITION Collective
• Róbert Szél
• Sainstan
• sarakele studio
• Teo Studio
• Tünde Ruzicska ceramics
• VPI x Fruzsina Fülöp
• Zsuzsa Formanek
• Zsuzsanna Deák Design
• Zsuzsanna Sinkovits

Rossana Orlandi Gallery:

• sarakele studio
• Anna Szőnyi x Timbart
• Márk Cselovszki x Timbart

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About Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency was founded in 2018 to support every actor in the Hungarian fashion and design industry in an efficient and structured way, following predetermined strategic pillars: professional coordination, enhancing Hungarian brands’ availability and trade opportunities, educational and manufacturing development. To realise its goals, the HFDA organises domestic events each year, such as the region’s major fashion event, the Budapest Central European Fashion Week, or the international award-winner 360 Design Budapest exhibition. The HFDA also takes part in major international design events such as Maison&Objet, Dubai Design Week and the London Design Week. In Milan it was featured at the Fuorisalone in 2019 with a sizeable project in the Brera Design District.

About Budapest Select

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, considering the best international practices, created the Budapest Select umbrella brand so that Hungarian products can be more easily identified abroad. The brand aims to provide greater visibility for domestic brands during international appearances through strong and unified communication while retaining individual characteristics as well.