Transylvanian Design Week is one of the largest design events in Transylvania, connecting regional designers with the public interested in this area of art. The mission of Transylvanian Design Week is to become the meeting place for the design community in Transylvania and to identify opportunities based on economic or social demand, as well as to establish a kind of value system.
The first edition of TDW was organized in 2023 with the aim of bringing together designers from Transylvania. The question that was sought to be answered was: "What is Transylvanian design? Is this design scene sustainable?" "They anticipated that questions and answers would emerge—sparking discussions through design and engaging both the general public and experts in the field.
The 2025 edition of TDW will be organized between March 20 and April 20 at the Szekler Museum of Ciuc, with the theme "The New Middle Ages," which analyzes the effects of today's visual culture. TDW expects again this year thousands of visitors to discover the work of nearly 100 local designers, to explore the most defining creations, and to participate in creative programs.
The exhibition presented at Romanian Design Week reflects the paradoxes of the 21st century, where digital technology coexists with traditions, and globalization with isolationist identities. The works on display, through design means, seek order in an oversaturated visual world, exploring tensions between tradition and modernity, local and global, material and metaphor, dissonance and harmony – the curatorial concept is built around this duality. It is a focused selection from the Transylvanian Design Week exhibition, offering an overview of the curatorial selection.
The exhibition includes the following designers, artists and projects.
Czirják Adorján – Letters in Flagrante – The Visual/Image-Based Existence of Text
Botond Csiby-Gindele – BESTIA Card Game
László Hajnalka Csíki – Trans Branding
Mihai Gâdei – Symphony of Letters
Mátyás Róbert – Kinetic Poster of an Enlarged Label
Temesi Apolka – SoundWool – Rock
Catrinel Săbăciag – Noosphere
Szalai Veronika – Bodies and Symbols
Vass Krisztina – Susli
Csató Adél-Éva (Muzal Porcelain Jewelry) – Layers of Time
Márkus Hannah Gizella – "Hacked"
Fabian Kis-Juhasz – Chastity Bag
Vajda Emőke (photo credit: Onodi Fruzsina-Dóra) – SEED IN SOIL
Darius Iova – “I don’t know what you looked like…” / installation, hand-spun hemp, wood
Crina Bulprich – Camouflage
Burján Zsolt – Archaeological Discoveries from the Future
Simon George – Nut in the Wall
Esztány István – Sportlux
Dávid Erika – The Early Music Festival of Miercurea Ciuc
Szökrön Eszter – Community Space
The event's curator is Oláh Gyárfás.
The Szekler Museum of Ciuc is a public collection supported by the local government, being the largest museum in Harghita County. We consider its main mission to be the exploration, collection, conservation, processing, and presentation of the cultural heritage of the Ciuc Region. In addition to its scientific activities and the conservation of the historical and ethnographic values of the area, Mikó Castle, which hosts the Szekler Museum of Ciuc, is also an important tourist attraction in the region.
The ”New Middle Ages” exhibition is part of the RDW Exhibitions format, presented by Rompetrol and co-produced by the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB.”
For over 20 years, Rompetrol has been supporting education and culture through initiatives that make a real impact in local communities. At Romanian Design Week 2025, Rompetrol joins the RDW Exhibitions format, which highlights collaboration and the support of local creativity.