9th International Industrial Design Contest: Primal Chair 2023

The Festival of Wood invites open applications to the International Contest (Primal)Chair. The grand jury will select 3 authors or groups of authors who will be presented at the award ceremony during the Festival of Wood 2023.
Participation in the contest is open to all designers, students, and authors worldwide and above 18 years.
When thinking about Kočevsko a picture of a magnificent forest landscape with intact nature and a diverse animal world with bears, wolves, and lynxes emerges in one’s mind. But Kočevsko has another special secret hiding in endless forests as a precious pearl. These are silent in secret remnants of primeval nature in Europe, in fact, the few rare virgin forests. Slovenia has 14 virgin forests, 6 of which are in the region Kočevsko on the surface of almost 219 ha. The largest is the virgin forest Krokar which was put on the UNESCO world heritage list in 2017.
The Festival of Wood invites open applications to the 9th International Industrial Design Contest of a wooden chair as a tribute to the primeval forests of the Kočevska region.

By taking part in this design competition, you get a chance to materialize your design idea in the primeval forest – contemporary human relations. The aim is to create a simple, functional, and ergonomically designed chair, which will, in addition to its primary function, raise awareness of the user (contemporary person) about the importance of coexistence between man and nature.

Awards

First award:
Money prize 1000 euros (pre-tax) prototype production + free board costs at the Bearlog hostel during the Festival of Wood 2023 (4 nights) + guided tour to the brink of the virgin forest of Kočevsko+certificate.

Second award:
-prototype production
-certificate

Important dates

Call for entries: 22nd May 2023
Deadline for entries: 28th August 2023
Selection of winners by the grand jury: 7th September 2023
Award ceremony: Festival of Wood 2023, 5th October 2023, Kočevje

Judging criteria

The entries will be evaluated according to the following 4 aspects:
1. design aspect; (innovativeness, functionality, aesthetics, feasibility
2. material selection; taking into account the use of wood as a primary material
3. marketing stance; usefulness and market applicability
4. presentation; clear and high-quality presentation of entry presentation)
Every member of the grand jury will evaluate each entry according to one of the five aspects by the individual judging criteria. The jury’s decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

The Grand Jury members

Prof. Janez Suhadolc,
architect, designer, and carpenter, a retired professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana,

Prof. Salih Teskeredžić,
architect and product designer, a professor at the Sarajevo Academy of Fine Arts, cofounder and creative director of the Gazzda brand, winner of multiple international design contests,

Nikola Radeljković
founder and member of the Numen/ForUse group, artistic director of the brand Nunc and a guest teacher at numerous design schools,

Prof. Rok Kuhar
architect and product designer, Head of the Industrial Design Department at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, cofounder of Studio Raketa works in the field of graphic and product design,

Primož Jeza
architect and designer, assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, founder of the design studio PRIMOZJEZASTUDIO, author of the book Interior Primož Jeza 9+1, winner of many design contests,

Miha Klinar
designer, assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, cofounder and creative director of the design studio Gigodesign, leader of design research in the field of design strategies in studio Sito, leader of Competence centers for design management,

Doc. Mojca Perše,
architect and interior designer, assistant professor at the Department for Interior Design and Vice-dean for Artistic activities at the Faculty of Design in Ljubljana, Head of the Laboratory for Creative Industries at the Faculty of Design in Ljubljana,

Natalija Lapajne,
museum counselor at The Museum for Architecture and Design, member of the interdisciplinary workgroup for adding the works of Jože Plečnik to the UNESCO list, author of exhibitions (Ne)uresničeni parliament, Igra igrače, and Niko Kralj,

Albin Škalič,
carpentry engineer, CEO of the company Murales,

Andrej Palman,
carpentry engineer, an expert associate of Business incubator Kočevje.