HFDA design SPEED X HYPE | KOMONKA

HFDA launched its mentor program titled design SPEED together with the renowned Italian Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) at the end of the summer, for six stable Hungarian designers possibly having some foreign experience who are committed to the further development of their companies. Each week until the end of January, you can get to know another protégé a little closer here, at HYPEANDHYPER – this time it is Mónika Kovács and the KOMONKA brand.

Mónika Kovács’s attraction towards arts, and, especially, towards textiles became obvious quite early. She started her studies on the textile specialization of the Secondary School of Visual Arts, then continued her journey at the department of woven textile design at MOME. Although it did not belong to the most popular directions, Mónika still felt that this was the field that offered the most opportunity for creating something new and original. It was a good choice: nowadays there is a new Renaissance of woven fabrics and tapestries.

In the second semester of her MA studies at MOME, she studied at the School of Design in Copenhagen as an Erasmus student. In 2016, after her graduation, she won the Moholy Fellowship, which allowed her to further develop her experiments with metal thread as part of her “metal-textile project.” She founded her own brand, KOMONKA in 2017. The first S/ALON Budapest organized in 2018 as well as the 2019 Milan Design Week brought the big breakthrough for this unique textile brand, to which the designer was invited by the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency.

Modern ancient essence

Mónika creates hand-made textile pictures that pass on the traditions of tapestry art in a modern form. Her work is characterized by the use of special materials and a unique finish: she creates each and every textile piece manually herself. She also has ready-made pieces, but in the majority of the cases she creates her textiles also taking into account the needs of clients – this way, each and every KOMONKA piece is unique and unrepeatable.

“If one looks at them, something truly ancient unfolds before their eyes. Thousand-year-old traditions manifest in tapestries, while they can also remain absolutely relevant for today” – adds Mónika.

Her METAL TEXTILE collection includes every essential element that is characteristic of the brand. The textile pictures interwoven with metal threads work with light and the deliberate application of randomness. The compositions are created by a flaw of threads hidden in the structure as well as the soft shimmering of metal threads.

Her latest series is the MOMENT collection. Its first piece debuted at S/ALON Budapest 2019 and is already traveling to an international fair in January. Mónika has been organizing the debut campaign of the series full steam ahead, so you will be able to learn more about the new pieces soon. She will continue to focus on project-based orders, and she would love to work on orders of higher volume in the future, too.

KOMONKA and design SPEED

The designer received an invitation to the design SPEED mentor program after the fair in Milan. Based on the experience and feedback received at the fair, the team of the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency (HFDA) felt that the KOMONKA brand was worth further development and it was time for it to enter the international market.

“For me, the program was a great challenge. It highlighted many areas that I need to develop, and they drew my attention to some issues that I need to fine-tune so that my brand can become more stable. I will be able to represent what I have been doing based on my instincts up until now in a more conscious and concentrated manner, and my new textile collection will already be prepared in this spirit” – told us Mónika.

“The Italian mentors inspired me immensely. The program allowed me to meet truly professional and renowned experts. On top of that, there was a quite friendly atmosphere with the other protégés, too, and there are already several exciting projects that are starting to unfold” – she added.

In our article series titled HFDA design SPEED X HYPE published each week on HYPEANDHYPER, you can read about the design works of the six protégés of design SPEED and their experiences related to the mentor program.

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