From October 6 to 10, the city of Prague will be buzzing and (besides amazing Czech beers) design will be on tap.
This year’s Designblok will feature more than 200 Czech and foreign exhibitors, this time, unusually, in two central locations: within the walls of the former convent building, Gabriel Loci, and the Museum of Decorative Arts, in the Old Town. The lobby of Gabriel Loci turns into a real DIY oasis, thanks to the designers of Hermann&Coufal, where anyone will be able to do handicrafts—we can even create the designer duo’s “Tension” lamp. You will also want to visit the exhibition “RENESANCE 21” of the Museum of Decorative Arts, where 25 Czech brands—including František Jungvirt, Jan Plecháč, IHOR, Janja Prokić—will present their objects based on handicraft traditions.
And what else is worth seeing? We think these!
Simple, functional, memorable
The stand of the Master & Master is clearly unavoidable—we have previously interviewed the founders, Zita Ondřej and Luděk Šteigl, and we look forward to finally seeing their minimalist-style, practical pieces of furniture live, including the latest, which was presented in the Maison&Objet exhibition in Paris: the chair, named “Mistra”, was designed for the brand by award-winning Lucie Koldová.
Extras for minimalists
On the fashion accessory front, we will be paying attention to the Alexmonhart brand, and we also recommend this to lovers of stylish leather accessories and extravagant glasses. At the stand, we will try out the limited collection designed together with Lucie Koldová, but we will also take a look at the latest pieces, which were made in collaboration with Jiří Krejčiřik.
Cool tradition, enclosed in glass
We were already admiring the stand of David Valner, or Valner Studio last year in front of the screen, and it probably won’t be any different this year, on the spot: in their beautiful objects, traditional glasswork and contemporary design meet. Our personal favorite is the “FUNGUS” collection made in 2018, inspired by the world of various mushrooms and molds.
And when it comes to glass, we can’t miss Anna Jožová either. We love the designer, who we recently introduced in more detail, for her particularly suggestive, highly rustic pieces, which she also presented at the Venice Biennale. At the Designblok, we also take a look at the vases and lamps from the “Kombo” collection, which was created together with designer Vlastimil Šenkýř.
Crafts at the highest level
Those we fell in love with at first sight at last year’s Designblok and have been following them ever since (and we wrote about them—the Ed.) are the IHOR team: the Sára Matysová and Ihor Sabadosh duo are already impressive in themselves, but the real superpower of the brand is hidden in their products, which are made in cooperation with traditional Czech manufacturers (carpet-weaving factory, porcelain factory). They are represented within the walls of both the Gabriel Loci and the Museum of Decorative Arts, and we can’t wait to meet the designers in person and touch the pieces of the fluffy “Piet” collection.
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