More than 85,000 people admired the exhibition in Piața Amzei and explored the more than 100 related events
The largest multidisciplinary festival dedicated to local creative industries, Romanian Design Week, a project of The Institute, powered by UniCredit Bank, with the support of Bucharest City Hall, through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest, had a record number of visitors at this year’s 11th edition. More than 85,000 people enjoyed the festival experience between May 12 and 28 and visited both the central exhibition in Piața Amzei, made by the District 1 City Hall, together with The Institute, and the more than 100 related events that took place everywhere in the Capital City.
40,000 visitors to the RDW Exhibition in Piața Amzei
RDW Exhibition, the central exhibition in Piața Amzei, presented to the public 162 works of design and architecture, which were admired by over 40,000 people, in the building in the centre of Bucharest thus reintegrated into the urban circuit. The design of the RDW Exhibition was signed by Attila Kim Architects.
The exhibition attracted a record number of visitors on the occasion of the Night of the Museums when around 3,500 visitors came to the space in Piața Amzei to see the RDW Exhibition, open for extended hours until midnight.
Among the festival's attractions: an installation that offered a multi-sensory experience and the RDW's party program
Among the main attractions that brought a peak of visitors to Piața Amzei during the festival was the interactive installation "Echoes of Presence", developed by Alina Rizescu, Bogdan Ștefănescu, Alin Tatu and Denis Flueraru and made with the support of IQOS, which offered the public a spectacular multi-sensory experience.
Also, the RDW Social program, which offered parties and contexts for relaxation and socialization to participants, enjoyed an important audience. The parties signed by UniCredit Bank (May 20) and IQOS (May 27) attracted a large audience, over 3,000 people, who enjoyed the music of Norzeatic and Quintă Spartă, respectively HipHop La Feminin, MC Yallah and Debmaster.
The other formats of the festival completed the experience in Piața Amzei. In a first for RDW, the public also admired the exhibition Young Design powered by Diploma, which brought together the new generation of Romanian artists, architects, and designers in a dedicated multidisciplinary exhibition. And in the Creative Corner, visitors enjoyed the Circular Catalysts exhibition, the result of collaboration between designers, artists and craftsmen from Romania and Great Britain, carried out by the British Council Romania, in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute. The arrangement of the pedestrian space, but also of Young Design powered by Diploma, RDW Market and Creative Corner was made by BAZA. Deschidem Orașul.
Last but not least, the design gallery in Piața Amzei, RDW Market, attracted Romanian design enthusiasts and buyers. Among the objects most sought after by them were: author's jewellery, stationery products, architecture books, art prints from Romanian graphic artists and illustrators, respectively locally made ceramic objects.
"We are delighted with how well this year's Romanian Design Week formats took shape and were received, if we look at the record numbers, we are happy to have achieved them for each of them. We will continue to invest in their development, in the presentation of the most relevant works of design and architecture, but also in the expansion of the festival through related events that put more and more creative neighbourhoods on the map of Bucharest and that show us an extremely talented and effervescent living urban universe ", said Raluca Mirel, Project Director of Romanian Design Week.
45,000 of Bucharest residents visited the creative districts of Bucharest on the occasion of over 100 related events
This year, the RDW Design GO! included over 100 satellite events from which the public could choose. From exhibitions to workshops, workshops, open doors, debates, or bazaar-type events, over 45,000 Bucharest residents were able to explore the cultural-creative events and various initiatives in 4 design districts of the Capital City: Dorobanti-Floreasca, Ioanid-Icoanei, Cotroceni, respectively the Creative Quarter (the area around Cișmigiu).
Among the attractions of RDW Design GO! from this year are:
- Dorobanți-Floreasca: Kukeri Exhibition at Mobius Gallery, Workshop at Amalin by Andreea Raicu, Connecting Horology Exhibition at Albini Prassa, Doro 16 (Zagreb Design Week), Jazz Concert at the National Museum of Old Maps and Books, design talk at the Italian Cultural Institute, exhibitions, and open doors at AlbAlb, SSAB Ambientare&Design, Paris14A, Intro or Șura Şuşara and many others.
- Ioanid-Icoanei: exhibitions, talks and open doors at Aparterre, The Edit, Calea Victoriei Foundation, Cărturești Verona, Mugshot, PointHub and others.
- Cotroceni: Bazar de Cotroceni, with 190 courtyards and 70 local businesses (creative workshops, design and architecture studios, showrooms) that opened their doors to the public on the weekend of May 27 and 28
- Creative Quarter: The Vitra Prouvé Roadshow exhibition at the Mezzanine, Kitsch or kult: THE BASE. We open the City, Weekend Sessions (National Art Museum of Romania), exhibitions, installations and workshops at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, ALTRNTV, Primitiv Plants, the Galateca Gallery and others.
- Other areas of Bucharest: workshops, exhibitions, talks and parties at Showroom Aer Wear, the Romanian Peasant Museum (Ivan Patzaichin's Heritage Exhibition – Creative Traditions), OTOTO stores, Nod Makerspace, Assamblage and others.
Another important attraction of Romanian Design Week was the Night of Architecture Studios, when more than 3,000 people animated the city, entering the 16 profile studios in Bucharest that opened their offices and workspaces to reconnect with colleagues, friends and the public, in a relaxed and informal context.
For example, the Romanian Order of Architects (OAR) invited its visitors to interact with an informative installation about the activity of the OAR and to participate in guided tours of the former Ion Mincu residence, restored by the team of the architect Ștefan Sturdza. And Nod Makerspace presented a collection of design objects from its creative community – from wooden furniture pieces to unique ceramic objects and living decorations – and offered visitors the opportunity to walk through all the stages of an object's production, from ideation to prototyping, realization, finishing and optimization.
Romanian Design Week: preparations for the 2024 edition
Romanian Design Week is already preparing the next edition, which will take place in May 2024. As in the case of this year's edition, the works presented in the central exhibition of the festival will be selected following a call for projects, which will be announced starting in September of this year.
In addition to the possibility of presentation in the RDW exhibition, the best projects will be selected to be promoted in the online gallery of best practices, on the festival website, in an effort to recognize the milestones and significant evolution of the local creative industries.
"We continue to wish that, by consolidating all the forces surrounding such a large festival as Romanian Design Week has become, we will contribute to the development of partnerships - between the public sector, the private sector, civil society and entrepreneurs - that will lead to change for the better of the Capital City, to increasing people's attachment to the city and, finally, to a better quality of life for each of us. This is our stake and what we aim for with each RDW edition, in the end", explained Andrei Gavrilă Borțun, CEO of The Institute.
More details about the festival and the next edition will be announced starting in September, on the Romanian Design Week communication channels: website, Facebook and Instagram.
A project of The Institute
Powered by UniCredit Bank
Partners: IQOS, Cemacon, Kozel, Electrolux, Globalworth, Urban Monkey, Fru-Fru, Jidvei
Cultural project funded by the Ministry of Culture
With the support of: Bucharest City Hall, ARCUB - Cultural Centre of Bucharest City
Cultural partner: District 1 City Hall, Romanian Cultural Institute, British Council
Strategic media partners: Pro TV, Euromedia, Rock FM, Hotnews, YOOH
Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Igloo, Zeppelin Magazine, Arhitext, Designist, Molecule F, Modernism, Lovedeco, B365.ro, aiciastat.ro, feeder.ro, munteanurecomandă.ro, Atelierul Magazine, IQads, Zile și Nopți, Glamour, Happening, The Woman, Inspirationist, Contemporary Lynx, World Architecture Community
Communication partner Black Rhino Radio
Creative team: Radu Manelici, Claudia Draghia, Sebastian Pren
Monitoring partner MediaTrust
About The Institute
The Institute promotes the creative industries in Romania, aiming to contribute to the modernization of Romania. The Institute has been initiating and organizing events for over 25 years and has built a community that brings together entrepreneurs, professionals, and the public of the creative industries in Romania.
Through everything it does, The Institute contributes to building a strong infrastructure for the development of creative entrepreneurship in the country, it develops and diversifies the audience of workshops, designers, small businesses, agencies, and manufactures, it promotes entrepreneurs and creative professionals nationally and internationally. It is the founder of Romanian Design Week, DIPLOMA Festival, Civil Society Gala, Internetics, Creative Quarter, combinat.ro and initiator of ASAP Romania.
About UniCredit Bank
UniCredit Bank is part of UniCredit, a simple and successful Pan - European commercial bank with an integrated system of corporate and investment banking services, offering its client base a unique Western, Central-and Eastern-European network. The Group is present in Romania through: UniCredit Bank, UniCredit Consumer Financing, UniCredit Leasing Corporation, UniCredit Insurance Broker, UniCredit Leasing Fleet Management and UniCredit Services.