Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency presents Budapest Select

Budapest Select, the brand that brings together the very finest of Hungarian design under one umbrella, lands in Milan at Alcova, in the spaces of the Mattatoio, with a major exhibition project commissioned by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency and curated by the talented young designer Gáspár Bonta. The exhibition sets out to provide a cross-section of contemporary design in Hungary, a country that is increasingly coming to the fore among the most interesting on the international creative scene. 

Thirty-seven designers whose collections tell stories from afar, in which tradition plays a key role in the production process, one characterised by significant traces of craftsmanship, contamination with art and a marked sense of belonging to both a territory and a community. Budapest Select showcases poetic yet familiar design, far removed from the logic of mass production. It is one that does not wish to forget its roots, but rather reinterprets them through an approach with a strong experimental imprint, coupled with technology and highly expressive innovation.

The exhibition path is split into six conceptual chapters: Earth, Wind, Fire, Tale, Writing and Abstraction. The solidity of the earth stirs up nostalgic memories, which fly through time and call on the warmth of fire, leading us back to the stories told in the domestic circle and rewritten over the generations. Tradition emerges from its static nature to become an abstract and dynamic tool with which to reinterpret the present. This is how design becomes a hotbed for experimentation and a meeting point between the stories of our past, the vision of the present and the intuition of the future, as well as providing the edge where it blurs with contemporary art.

Among others, this can be seen in the works of Julia Nema: a refined artist and designer of ceramics and porcelain, who uses a high-temperature wood-fired kiln in her studio in Budapest to create her works – the only one to do so in the entire country – and carries out research into natural materials such as clays, earth, rocks and minerals, underpinning her sustainable artistic practice. Designer Malvina Antal proposes sculptures with organic forms that alter the rigidity of interiors and float suspended in mid-air, made of both lightweight materials such as semi-transparent fabrics as well as Jesmonite and marble. Demeter Fogarasi, a multi-award-winning designer of conceptual furnishings, as he calls them, sees furniture as jewellery that inhabits spaces, proposing seating that seems to float on the breeze. Ádám Csanád Berkes’s installation takes shape and inspiration from industrial components, such as elements of engine pistons, thermostats, or train wheels, transformed here into colourful dystopian sculptures made of polystyrene. Dega Design, a duo formed by Ágnes Deli and Endre Gaál, proposes unique items or limited editions, favouring recycled materials such as wood, glass and fabrics which they endow with a new lease of life. 

“The creative industry – just like our built heritage, natural wonders or gastronomy – contributes to the shaping of the country’s image and offers a particularly original and innovative face of our country. We are proud that the designers presented at the Budapest Select exhibition space are inspired by Hungarian traditions, yet showcase a modern and contemporary freshness through their creations. We consider it important to make Hungarian creativity visible at all the most prestigious international events, since the HFDA’s main goal is to involve the domestic fashion and design industry in international professional circulation, and in the long term, to transform Budapest into a regional hub of the design industry,” stated Zsófia Jakab, CEO of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, emphasising the strategic importance of the Alcova exhibition.

The works of Hungarian designers can be viewed as part of the Budapest Select exhibition, during Milan Design Week: Alcova, between the 17th and 23th of April.