Discover Estonian Design: Where Tradition Meets Sustainable Innovation

For the second consecutive year, the Estonian Design House is proud to return to NYCxDESIGN, presenting a carefully curated showcase that highlights the unique spirit of Estonian design. This exhibition illustrates how Estonia’s rich heritage of centuries-old craftsmanship seamlessly harmonizes with cutting-edge sustainable innovation, fostering a dynamic dialogue between tradition and the future. Throughout this exclusive event, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the remarkable achievements of Estonian designers who prioritize eco-conscious materials, circular design principles, and innovative technologies. From handcrafted textiles, glasswork, and jewelry to pioneering biomaterials and digital solutions, Estonia demonstrates how sustainable thinking can be integrated into every facet of creative expression.

This showcase not only celebrates Estonia’s artistic legacy but also emphasizes its unwavering commitment to fostering a more sustainable and responsible design movement. It stands as a testament to how a small nation’s cultural traditions can inspire global innovation, shaping the future of responsible, environmentally-conscious design practices. We are excited to bring Estonian design back to New York in 2025—where tradition meets the future in design, and where innovative ideas continue to inspire a more sustainable world.

Join us at The Canvas SoHo to experience this exciting convergence of heritage, creativity, and forward-thinking solutions.

Participating Brands: Reet Aus – Oksana Tandit – Xenia Joost – Kirill Safonov – Cärol Ott – Luxe Hapsal – Alpaka Design – Karlotta – Stella Soomlais – Helena Tikunova – Sandra Luks – HYTI – No(N)s – Anneli Tammik Jewellery – Nordhale – Franz Raver – TUUB – Tie & Apron – Sokisahtel.

The Canvas SoHo (456 West Broadway, NYC)

May 15 – May 21 (11:00 am – 7:00 pm)

OPENING PARTY (RSVP)

May 16 (6:00 pm – 9:00 pm)

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SPRING DESIGN SHOWCASE @ NYC Scandinavian House

XX Tallinn Design Festival September 29th – October 5th

The XIX Tallinn Design Festival takes place 16–22 September 2024

Make Room for Design! – Design Empowering Spaces.

The largest design festival in the Baltics opens its doors in the industrially infused Krulli Quarter. Attracting over 10,000 visitors from Estonia and abroad, the week-long Tallinn Design Festival showcases the achievements of Estonian and international designers and initiates discussions on design’s position in today’s society. The international festival is based on four pillars: debates and exhibitions on the future of design for professionals and students; community-engaging events; a rich satellite programme; and design commerce .

This year’s festival will again feature design industry’s top event: the Estonian Design Awards Gala, where the winners of the best product design BRUNO will be announced. BRUNO nominees’ exhibition is also part of the programme. Among the many other exhibitions and events from Estonia and abroad, the programme includes conferences, design talks and PechaKucha lectures, children’s programme and several workshops. Many visitors will be attracted by the Estonian design and architecture schools showcase, the Arts Thread Global Design Graduate Show, the poster exhibition of the Haapsalu Graphic Design Festival, and the product and material-focused exhibitions.

One of the main events of the festival, the DOM sustainable fashion and clothing design show will bring the story of local brands to the stage in the form of a conceptual performance. The festival weekend will see the opening of the hugely popular Design Street design market, and from Monday there will be the chance to visit the INTERIOR+ mini-fair. The festival will have over 25 satellites – museums, galleries and design studios – which will host tours, talks, masterclasses and other exciting events across the city.

Each year, Tallinn Design Festival concentrates on the most important themes in the design scene. The aim this year is to demonstrate how creativity and design can be employed to create a better physical and social environment. The focus is on small and deserted places that can be renewed and revitalised via creative design thinking. A dedicated conference will bring together architects, urban planners, designers and enthusiasts who share a common interest in creating sustainable, liveable and aesthetically pleasing environments. Discussions and workshops will consider a range of topics from urban design strategies to the unique challenges and opportunities offered by remote and small-scale communities.

Delegations of designers, urbanists, researchers from nine countries will visit Tallinn to present examples of transformations that have been implemented in peripheries thanks to the four-year EU project (“SMOTIES – Creative Works for Small and Remote Places”). The results of the project and methodology will be published in a book, which will be presented at the festival. One of the festival satellites is in Joaveski, where the Estonian design team has carried out a series of innovations on the site of an old paper mill. Back in Tallinn the international conference will feature inspiring presentations by sustainable development experts Cameron Sinclair (USA), Stephan Clambaneva (USA), Spyros Bofylatos (UK) and speakers from ten countries.

The XIX Tallinn Design Festival’s pre-event will take place in Helsinki on September 6.

Most of the events are free of charge for visitors. In case of a fee or a requirement for registration, the information is available online for each event. The festival area is wheelchair accessible.

www.tallinndesignfestival.com

SAVE THE DATE!

For the first time ever in New York, experience the rich heritage and contemporary flair of Estonian design at UPMADE IN EE NYCxDESIGN .

Top design leaders from Estonia will attend and explore with you the minimalist foundations and unique visual language that has propelled Estonia to the forefront of innovation. Learn about the unique blend of timeless tradition, bold modernity and innovative sustainability that defines the ethos of Estonian design!

Join us at UPMADE IN EE, a Highlight of NYCxDESIGN 2024.

May 16-22, 2024

Lafayette Gallery, SOHO, NYC

Stay tuned for more information and event schedule coming soon! 

#upmadeinEE #NYCxDESIGN #estoniandesign

The 18th Tallinn Design Festival will take place from 18 to 24 September 2023 in the premises of the Krull plant. The choice of location is based on the festival‘s concept of furnishing abandoned and scarcely visited architectural sites and industrial buildings, enlivening them with design and culture. The aim of the festival is to improve design awareness; to introduce new design from Estonia and abroad; to raise current design issues; to launch discussions with internationally renowned design experts and to create networking opportunities for  designers.

The term “Industry 4.0” was introduced in Davos in 2011. At the heart of the fourth industrial revolution are the ‘smart factories’, where ideally less than 10% of production processes require human intervention to operate; these smart factories combine analytics, big data and cognitive and predictive methods to be fully automatic. Despite the fact that automation is possible in many areas, human oversight of the entire process must remain in place.

Why should Industry 4.0 matter to designers? Does everyone even know what the aforementioned terms mean? Do new times call for innovative designers? What is Design 4.0? Can designers compete with artificial intelligence? Are designers at risk of unemployment? Can digital culture also help reduce our environmental footprint?

EXHIBITIONS:

www.tallinndesignfestival.com

“Material II: Shifting Ground” is the third in a series of exhibitions focused on materials, shedding light on how materials are developed and created in Estonian universities, enterprises and creative practices today. The exhibition is curated by Stuudio aine in cooperation with Estonian Association of Designers and Estonian Academy of Arts and brings together the work of 26 artists, designers and researchers to show how the notion of resources and material development is undergoing changes due to the environmental crisis. Divided into three categories – Baltic Sea, Shifting Ground and Underwood – the works on display are invitations to a discussion around the changes in our habitat and the kinds of materials and material systems that we envision for the future.

In a world of abundance, understanding the origin of things becomes increasingly difficult. The variety of existing materials is vast; we are exposed to thousands of different substances on a daily basis. One of the objectives of “Material II: Shifting Ground” is not only to present materials in an exhibition setting but also to introduce their origin, ingredients and manufacturing technologies. The featured authors explore, across disciplines, what the future of materials could be: how regenerative design methods can add value to waste materials, what can we learn from local heritage technologies and which functional materials can be made on nanoscale.

Senior researcher Reet Aus, Kärt Ojavee and Juss Heinsalu of the Laboratory of Sustainable Design and Materials will give lectures. The textile repair workshop is conducted by Marta Konovalov and Riina Õun teaches how to make bioplastics. A video showing how Reet Ausi’s industrially upcycled product is made in the Beximco factory in Bangladesh is also shown.

SCHEDULE 

11.06 15:00 Opening of the exhibition Private view

  17:00 Workshop: Textile repair – Marta Konovalov

12.06 16:00 Design Talks – Reet Aus; Kärt Ojavee, Juss Heinsalu

17.06 13:00 Workshop – Bioplastics – Riina Õun

PARTICIPANTS

Reet Aus, Airi Gailit, Erik Heiki Veelmaa, Juss Heinsalu, Geidi Hein, Annika Kaldoja, Astri Kaljus, Katrin Kabun, Madis Kaasik, Siim Karro, Katarina Kruus, Karl Kukk, Marta Konovalov, Karolin Kärm, Merlin Meremaa, Juulia Aleksandra Mikson, Erki Nagla, Kärt Ojavee, Cärol Ott, Riina Õun, Maria Kristiin Peterson, Sander Õun /Suckõrs, Tiia Plamus, Sirje Sasi, Indrė Spitrytė, Oksana Teder, Marie Vihmar, Ines-Issa Villido.

Curator — Stuudio Aine

Exhibition Design — Annika Kaldoja

Graphic Design —Mirjam Reili

Stuudio Aine (Annika Kaldoja, Kärt Ojavee and Marie Vihmar) is a materials design and development studio whose research and creative work focuses on environmentally sensitive materials, materials awareness and cross-domain networking. (www.studioaine.ee)

The exhibition project is supported by the Cultural Foundation and Erasmus+.

ART DEPOT BIRI  Venice Design Biennial

@ Cannaregio 5415, Venice 30121

11/06 – 18/06 2023

11:00-19:00

Estonia and México have been finding a new partnership in envisioning a sustainable future through biodesign projects and circular economy initiatives. The Estonian Association of Designers and the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana have been collaborating in a profuse cultural exchange. They found a common ground in the subject of biodesign, noticing that the initiatives of green design or preservation are not enough. Biodesign offers a deeper collaboration with nature, a shift of vision from the Anthropocene to the Ecocene. Biodesign has been proving to work on a new scenario of connecting formulas, developing life-affirming strategies in an ecology of affection.

During the 2022 Tallinn Design Festival, a Mexican delegation of design students led by professor MoA Sergio Dávila working on biodesign projects at UAM Azcapotzalco were invited to display their BA final Projects. During the festival they found that many students and designers in Estonia had great initiatives on the matter and therefore decision to organize a well of Estonian Design in Mexico was born. “Two countries that are so distant and seemingly apart have so much in common, I guess that at the end an urgency to change our social practices is crucial, and the work that is showing new ways to produce goods, to solve needs, that promotes a shift in culture, is the work that we should promote as institutions”, says Sergio Dávila.

The Estonians Design Days in cooperation with Estonian Association of Designers and Estonian Art Academy will be held at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. In the design faculty at Azcapotzalco Estonian designers will have workshops like the one from Reet Aus (PhD), upcycling second hand object to repurpose them into a new meaning, or working together with Phd Student at Tartu University Marie Vihmar to explore hygromorphic robots made with organic residues. Moreover, the students will have the chance to collaborate with Riina Õun in making biomaterials from food waste, and finally joining a workshop that will explore techniques to mend fashion with designer and Phd Student Marta Konovalov. The university will display 30 works from Estonian designers, curated exhibition by Kärt Ojavee (PhD), Annika Kaldoja and Marie Vihmar and hold some conferences that will explore the future of making thinks win a deeper bond with nature.

The results from the workshops and a ceremony with the president of the Estonian Association of Designers, Ilona Gurjanova, will be displayed at the gorgeous Gallery “Casa del Tiempo” at the heart of Mexico City on the 8th of March.

MoA Sergio Dávila hopes this cultural exchange will be fruitful, and that the conversation about having some new response ability towards our environments permeates the classrooms and gallery spaces. “We hope a seed of change flourishes in the professional practice of future designers.”

#estoniandesigndaysinmexico

Contact: Ilona Gurjanova, edl@edl.ee

The best of Estonian sustainable design innovations will be shown in Valencia.

The exhibition of Estonian sustainable design “Second Chance”, organized by the Estonian Association of Designers and the Estonian Academy of Arts, will be opened in Palacio de Colomina in Valencia, on May 9th, featuring innovative sustainable design solutions from more than 20 Estonian designers. The curator of the exhibition is the President of the Estonian Association of Designers, Ilona Gurjanova, and its scenography, based on the principles of recycling, is done by Leonardo Meigas. The exhibition will remain open till May 19th and is being organized within the framework of Valencia_World Design Capital programme.

The design exhibition „Second Chance“ demonstrates how the creators’ innovation and smart technologies in recycling can turn used items into new products, thus safeguarding limited resources and protecting the environment. The topic has become especially prominent during the last years’ crisis, giving rise to design thinking and sustainable solutions oriented design approaches across the world. 

Estonia, a small country at the crossroads of East and West, has a distinguished culture of innovation and design, combined with a Nordic mindset, leading to sustainable development in many areas. The country is famed for its digital and e-culture, from IT & mobile technology solutions to nomad visas to the rich arena of successful startups, having the highest number of unicorn companies per capita in the world. The recent years have also witnessed a rapid international expansion of its product, textile, graphic and fashion design field, resulting in numerous international exhibitions, cultural exchange projects and prestigious innovation & design awards. Magazines like Elle Decoration, Dwell, Avantage, AD, Newsweek, Wallpaper, Monocle, New York Times etc have published feature stories about Estonian designers and their accomplishments.

„All Estonian design solutions featured in Valencia are handmade and crafted with great care and love. They have their own unique stories to tell, stories that go beyond the environmental aspect to cover also the design thinking and the innovative creation process behind. Each of them has noticeable, very often amusing details, typical of design products. We have been been featuring the „Second Chance“ exhibition at Tallinn Design Festival and last year in Venice at the Design Biennale, where it received a very warm welcome. For Valencia we have further developed the concept, adding together with the Estonian Academy of Arts even more innovative design solutions to it,“ introduced the exhibition its curator, Ilona Gurjanova, the President of the Estonian Association of Designers and the main organizer of the Tallinn Design Festival.

The exhibition features design solutions from well-known Estonian designers, among them several winners of international and local design awards: Marit Ilison, Reet Aus, Kairi Lentsius, Angela Orgusaar, Urmas Lüüs, Sille Luiga, Kalli Sein, Raili Keiv, Margot Vaaderpass, Tarmo Luisk, Sirli Ratasepp, Igor Volkov, Kalli Sein, Eva-Karlotta Tatar, Leonardo Meigas, Laura Saks, Marta Moorats, Piret Puppart and many more.

On May 9th at 5 PM, a conference introducing Estonian design landscape and its development into one of the world’s unique design hotspots, will be taking place in Palacio de Colomina (Carrer de l’Almodí 1), featuring as keynote speakers Ilona Gurjanova, Reet Aus, Piret Puppart and Marta Moorats. The festive opening of the „Second Chance“ exhibition, with the participation of the Embassy of Estonia in Spain, will be starting at 6.30 PM.

Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) is striving to be among the leading international centers of innovation in the field of visual culture, collaborating with more than 100 partner universities in the world.  For the “Second Chance” exhibition, several innovative recycling and sustainable design projects of EKA have come together. 

The Sustainable Design and Material Lab exhibits practical examples of textile waste circularity, based on local upcycling, industrial upcycling and recycling design methods. The QUICK SILVER experimental design project series main goal is to inspire fashion, textile and accessory design students to make art from the most unexpected materials, turning, for instance, leftover metallic ice-cream packaging, discarded marine rescue equipment, thermal bags, ropes, life jackets etc into sculptural fashion design and design items. The two projects came together to investigate how designers can contribute to emotional durability instead of creating more durable waste. Additionally, the first phase of the research project Repair and Regenerative Textile Design by Marta Moorats, investigates and shows the concept of repair, and the experimental tableware designed and prepared in a sustainable manner for the restaurant of Tallinn Fotografiska museum by the students of ceramics, glass, jewelry and blacksmith departments of the Estonian Academy of Arts, are shown.

The Association of Estonian Designers (EDL) unites more than 170 well-known Estonian designers and its activities are focused on raising the society’s awareness of the efficiency of design and of developing user-friendly environment, as well as on organizing different design competitions, seminars, workshops and exhibitions. It collaborates internationally in the projects focusing on the issues like circular design, inclusive design, healthcare design, human cities, design management etc. Over the past 22 years curated exhibitions have been organized by EDL in more than 20 cities, striving to boost cultural exchanges and to promote the achievements of Estonia as a rapidly developing design country. In doing so, the Association creates networking opportunities for Estonian product designers and production companies who want to reach the international arena. The Association has its own design stores and showrooms under the umbrella brand of the Estonian Design House, representing more than 120 remarkable Estonian product designers, ranging from interior design items to fashion. For 17 years, EDL has also been organizing the Tallinn Design Festival Disainiöö.

Exhibition “Second Chance”

9th – 19th May, 2022

More information!

Conference: “Everything you didn’t know about Estonian Design”

9th May, 2022 / 17.00-18.30

More Information!

Address: Palacio de Colominas (Carrer de l’Almodí 1, Valencia)

Contact for additional information:

Ilona Gurjanova

President of the Estonian Association of Designers (EDL), the curator of „Second Chance“, organizer of the Tallinn Design Festival.

E-mail: leart@estpak.ee

Mobile: +372 55 573 687

The exhibition of Estonian sustainable design “Second Chance” organised by Estonian Association of Designers will be opened on June 11 at 6 pm within the framework of the Venice Design Biennale. The Design Biennale has been open since 2016. A design culture forum has been created which connects Venice with an international network of designers. 

In parallel with the exhibitions of the Architecture Biennale, Estonian design is represented in Venice for the second time. The issue of the environment, which came to the fore during the crisis, has given rise to the content of this year’s exhibition. The exhibition demonstrates how recycling turns used items into new products, which saves limited resources and protects the environment. 

The exhibition features design solutions from well-known Estonian designers: Marit Ilison, Reet Aus, Kairi Lentsius, Angela Orgusaar, Urmas Lüüs, Sille Luiga, Kalli Sein, Raili Keiv, Margot Vaaderpass, Tarmo Luisk, Elmet Treier, Igor Volkov, Kalli Sein, Eva-Karlotta Tatar, Laura Saks, Leonardo Meigas and Mihkel Mölder. Experimental tableware for the restaurant by Fotografiska will be shown by Estonian Art Academy. 

The curator of the exhibition is Ilona Gurjanova and the scenography based on the principle of recycling is by Leonardo Meigas. 

A small pop-up shop is also open in the gallery on Garibaldi Street, where most of the exhibition’s products can also be purchased. The gallery is open until June 20.

The Estonian Association of Designers (EDL), which unites more than 160 well-known Estonian designers, has undertaken to actively introduce the achievements of Estonian design also outside Estonia. Over the past 20 years, curated exhibitions have been performed in more than 20 cities. The association has its own store, the Estonian Design House, and for 16 years EDL has been organizing the Tallinn Design Festival.

Online catalogue!