Reimagined Traditions, Experimental Forms – Exciting Hungarian Creations in Milan

Works by 24 outstanding Hungarian designers showcase the uniqueness of Hungarian creativity to an international audience at Milan Design Week. The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s Budapest Select – A VVoven View collective exhibition features 65 objects that faithfully reflect the diversity of contemporary design, its progressive approach and experimental nature. The ceramic, furniture, textile designers and visual artists selected by a professional jury place a strong emphasis on sustainability, material research, and the contemporary reinterpretation of traditional techniques.

Year after year, designers, experts, brands, and collectors from around the globe gather at the key professional events of Milan Design Week. At the international showcase held from 7 to 13 April, the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, drawing on international best practices, once again presents the most progressive actors in the domestic creative industry under the Budapest Select umbrella brand. The collective exhibition, displaying works by 24 designers, will be held in the heart of the 5VIE design district, a renowned art, design, and cultural hub in Milan.

The works chosen by the professional jury reflect the latest advancements in Hungarian product design and applied arts. These creations share a contemporary outlook, a commitment towards environmental and cultural sustainability, and a creative attitude rooted in experimentation with materials and forms. The creators featured in the exhibition include ceramic artists, furniture designers, textile designers, visual artists, and interdisciplinary creators, all of whom showcase the rich visual language, philosophy, and versatility of Hungarian design through their works.

Bori Segesdi’s unglazed porcelain vases become both sculptural art pieces and functional tools through their stone-like surface treatment. Daniella Koós’s HILO crystal vase collection pushes the boundaries between industrial mass production and uniqueness, where the wear and tear of glass-blowing moulds becomes an integral part of the aesthetic concept. Dávid Szauder presents AI-generated, folkloric-patterned humanoid figures in his series Folkloric Robots, which reflects both on the future of culture and the emotional expressiveness of technology. Demeter Fogarasi’s Cactus Table furniture features aluminium sculpted to create space for both conceptual and functional object design. Dorottya Sinkó-Kalocsai's Hidden dinnerware examines the relationship between cultural representation and sustainability through the visual language of ceramics, within the context of diplomatic gastronomy. Éva Anna Gulácsi's EVAANNA brand's door handles and knobs are based on the ancient technique of sand casting – the material's imperfections and organic forms give them a distinctive presence even in everyday use. The joint project of freeform.ourcollective and Dávid Szauder, Thermosphere Wallpaper, evokes a cosmos created with artificial intelligence, exploring the intersection of natural and digital universes.

Gábor Góbi’s Throne side table, crafted from recycled wood and marble, and the Wild Rose candlestick draw attention to the aesthetic potential of salvaged materials from urban waste through creative reinterpretation. The steel chairs of HENIBARA, the brand of Henriett Barabás, build on the formal possibilities of tube bending, playfully combining geometric design with functional stability. In his textile artwork FORMA V3-2 (Distortion Series), István Dukai uses digitally distorted patterns of natural linen and acrylic to illustrate the fusion of handcraft and machine techniques. József Kovács, founder of Juszuffceramics, offers a new approach to the spatial and technological reinvention of ceramics with his light-transmitting 3D printed lamps. Móni Kovács, creator of KOMONKA Textile, crafts handwoven copper-thread textiles that harmoniously blend light, softness, and structural tension.

The DEGA BV - bioverz-glass designed by DEGA Design is made from recycled glass blown into a uniquely assembled bark form, merging small-scale production with nonstandard technology. Each piece takes on a different shape, and the design not only experiments with form and material but also builds on the principles of sustainability. Máté Horváth’s Stretch chair is born from the fusion of solid ash wood and recycled PET. Its suspended seat and robust structure respond to the contrasting dynamics of modern life. Dóra Tarcsi’s Bouy lamp collection is made from repurposed sailcloth, combining conscious material use with a distinctive aesthetic inspired by Japanese paper lanterns and the forms of buoys from Lake Balaton.

The Maniko furniture system, created by Lili Pammer and Tamás Boldizsár, features modular elements that can function as pet beds, storage units, or coffee tables, adapting to life’s changing situations. Mátyás Zagiba’s GEMERSKE pour-over set reinterprets the form and material use of Gömör pottery through a contemporary lens. Orsolya Horváth’s two-seater bench, Faith in Strangers, reimagines the metaphor of trust through a steel structure wrapped in merino wool. Sarolt Sógor’s bowls, formed from red brass, place the relationship between the human hand and the object at the forefront, showcasing a unique aesthetic through hand-hammering and patination.

Apol Temesi’s Your Nature / Winter project, presented under her brand SoundWool, repurposes waste from the Hungarian textile industry and reinterprets natural resources through a modular, reconfigurable wall covering created using a unique manufacturing technology. The Tektonika mosaic by SUSU Keramika artists Szaffi Asbóth and Flóra Bodnár is characterised by an abstract landscape composition, hand-painted gold contours, and a nature-inspired colour palette. Anikó Szabó’s Wheat Carpet, part of the Fields collection, weaves the surface richness of nature into textile form, while Szabolcs Baranyay’s Tower series brings biomorphic shapes and lens-like details to life through traditional glassblowing techniques. Designers of VUUV Works, Eszter Kunos and Liliána Mészáros, present two distinctive pieces of furniture at the design event: the Lāni Chair, which features a striking formal contrast between its steel frame and oak elements, and the Cherry Herd Nightstand, a marquetry bedside table with a colourful veneered surface and uniquely turned wooden feet resembling animal paws.

The selection was curated by Attila Ledényi, founder and director of the Art Market Budapest international fine arts fair; Judit Osvárt, editor-in-chief of ELLE Decoration magazine; and Dr Judit Horváth, head of the Contemporary Design Department at the Museum of Applied Arts.

Read more about the event at the link: https://hfda.hu/hu/cikkek/budapest-select-5vie-design-week-2025.