The 12th edition of Romanian Design Week, a project by The Institute and presented by UniCredit Bank, will run from May 24 to June 2 in the historic building located at George Enescu Square, formerly known as CINA restaurant (10 Benjamin Franklin Street).
This year’s festival has seen an unprecedented number of entries for the RDW Exhibition. Over 150 local specialists, part of the RDW Community, evaluated 670 projects in the initial selection phase. Subsequently, six teams of local and international curators curated the projects for RDW Exhibition 2024.
The RDW Exhibition received a total of 670 entries this year, spanning six categories: Architecture (61), Interior Design (189), Graphic Design (125), Illustration (88), Fashion Design (86), and Product Design (121). All entries underwent validation by the RDW Community – a team composed of the previous year’s exhibition participants within the festival. The validated entries represent the basis for an online archive of best practices in design, architecture, and illustration called Community Vote, aimed at elevating industry standards.
Raluca Mirel, Project Director of Romanian Design Week, noted, “Starting from the previous edition, we made changes to the RDW Exhibition format to make it more relevant to the local creative industries. The increase in the number of entries this year indicates that the new approach has been effective. This enhances the exhibition and provides a comprehensive online archive for design and architecture in Romania.”
A panel of Romanian and international curators finalized the selection of projects for the exhibition, drawing from the validated list by the RDW Community. The curators for this edition are:
Architecture: Andrei Șerbănescu – founding partner of ADNBA, Irene Pérez și Jaume Mayol – TEd’A arquitectes studio,
Product Design: Alexander Manu – professor at OCAD University, strategist, consultant, and author, and Matthias Hillner – professor at the SCADpro Department within the Savannah College of Art and Design,
Interior Design: Bruno Andreșoiu – architect and architecture journalist, and Stella Nikolakaki – senior architect and associate at UNStudio,
Fashion Design: Mihai Pălie – philosopher, master’s and doctoral student at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, and Andrew Ibi – fashion practitioner, educator, and co-founder of BOLD,
Graphic Design: Raymond Bobar – graphic and letter designer and James Goggin – British/Australian graphic designer and partner at Practise,
Illustration: Maria Surducan – illustrator, comic book author, screenwriter, and Yuko Shimizu – multi-award-winning Japanese illustrator.
The curators selected more than 200 projects for the showcase at the RDW Exhibition, which will be held from May 24 to June 2 at the former CINA restaurant near the Romanian Athenaeum. The exhibition will provide a platform for professionals, enthusiasts, and the general public to come together and engage in a dialogue while presenting a comprehensive view of current local projects. The portfolios of the RDW Exhibition 2024 participants, along with the projects from the Community Vote, can be accessed by visiting this link.
The theme of Romanian Design Week 2024: Unlock the City
The 2024 edition of Romanian Design Week aims to investigate the methods by which creativity and innovation can shape the cities of tomorrow and also contribute to the exploration of Bucharest and the discovery of its potential and layers, creative spaces in the city, and the organizations or cultural projects that animate and define them. The edition invites Bucharest citizens to discover the creative particularity of certain city areas, to discover unique design projects and multidisciplinary approaches, and to contribute to defining spaces for dialogue, thus demonstrating the importance of collective imagination processes and co-creation of a more friendly city.
The general theme of the RDW2024 festival aims to contribute to reconnecting Bucharest citizens to the city and especially to its communities, rediscovered from the perspective of the potential of local creative industries.
The Romanian Design Week festival takes place this year between May 24 and June 2 in the former CINA restaurant building (10 Benjamin Franklin Street), and access tickets to the festival can be purchased here. The students and retirees have free access.
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