XIV TALLINN DESIGN FESTIVAL
16.09.—22.09.2019 
FUTURE MATERIALS
The XIII Tallinn Design Festival will be held from 16 to 22 September 2019. For a week, the unique festival which centres on different parts of Tallinn will be revived. Read More...

Main events

Exhibition: FUTURE MATERIALS 

International exhibition “Future Materials 

showcases new materials created by designers of Holland, Hungary and Estonia. 


Materials’ Future Life

Dutch designers, artists, scientists and manufacturers took the subject as a challenge and demonstrate a variety of materials and products recreated from natural materials as well as leftovers and by-products. Each with their own new aesthetics. 

Curator: Simone de Waart



Hungarian Designers in Search of Sustainability – Textile and Fabric Innovations

The aim of Hungary’s exhibition is to introduce high-tech clothing, intelligent clothing design, plant raw materials, textile innovations and trends shaping the future fashion industry. The range of innovative technologies is constantly increasing, and its field of application has apparently invaded the tools of designers in Hungary. 

Curator: Fanny Fazekas


Material I

Estonian exposition brings together new materials developed by scientists, enterprises, designers and architects. The exhibition shows how the notion of resources and material development are going through changes due to environmental crisis. The authors explore across disciplines how in the future waste materials could be used, drawing knowledge from heritage technologies and nature, how to make use of biotechnology and what kind of high-tech materials are made by using nanoscale.

Curators: 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗸𝗮 𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗱𝗼𝗷𝗮, 𝗞𝗮̈𝗿𝘁 𝗢𝗷𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗲, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 (Stuudio Aine)



CONFERENCE "Future Materials"


International Conference "Future Materials"

 presents talks about how science, design, art and production are intermingled in today’s life. To maintain sustainable environment on the planet, society needs to rethink and revaluate the qualities of materials and their impact on the life around us. So research and development of new materials as well as recycling and processing of existing ones hold great importance. Conference presents innovative design experts with long-term practical experience from Holland, Great Britain and Estonia. Simone de Waart, Zoe Powell, Pirjo Kääriäinen, Riina Õun and Kärt Ojavee introduce methods of developing new bio-based materials like mushrooms and alga, as well as designing new products, whereas Reet Aus introduces in addition to the method of upcycling the products made of yarn from old clothes. 

Speakers:

Simone de Waart has a background in industrial design and design management. She graduated as materials designer at Design Academy in the Netherlands. In 2002 she initiated the company Material Sense, where she is responsible as materials experts and creative director. In 2005 followed by Sister Foundation Material Sense LAB. Material Sense functions as a catalyst to connect design, research, education and industry and inspire materials innovation. She advocates the selection of materials and their performances as a starting point in the design process to create value for new applications within a sustainable society. Education is one of her tasks she finds of great importance in the emerging field of materials in design.


Riina Õun is a leather accessories designer and maker, the head of Riina O brand specializing in hand-crafted luxury leather gloves made to measure. Curiosity towards the new materials brought Riina to the Material Futures course in Central Saint Martins. Since early 2019 Riina has been the material researcher in residence at the Green Lab in London.


Reet Aus is a PhD-qualified fashion designer and environmental activist, a human rebel who founded REET AUS COLLECTION® and THE UPSHIRT®. She is a pioneer in the field of industrial upcycling for fashion, and has developed the UPMADE® certification in order to pass on her knowledge to brands and factories.


Zoë Powell is a Researcher and Workshop Facilitator of Textiles and Biomaterials. Since 2008, she has been working on commissions and projects internationally for a variety of industries including art, fashion and interiors. The focus of her work is centred around creatively using resources, circular design strategies and production techniques both digital & hand crafted. 

Pirjo Kääriäinen is a design professional and facilitator, working as a Professor of Practice in the intersection of design and material sciences. She has been developing interdisciplinary CHEMARTS collaboration between chemical engineering and design at the Aalto University since 2011, focusing especially on research and design of bio-based materials. 

Bastian Beyer is a London-based Architect and Researcher. His work investigates fibre-based material systems, their structure and manufacture, in the context of architecture and design. He studied architecture in Munich (University of Applied Sciences) and Berlin (Universität der Künste). As part of the ArcInTex Marie Curie Research Fellowship, he recently finished his PhD at the Royal College of Art in London. In his research, he investigated the structural and reactive properties of biofilms and bio-derived materials on fibre-based substrates. The focus of his interdisciplinary work is to localise synergies between research and practice and to use this potential for new materials and design strategies. 

Material I compiled by Annika Kaldoja, Kärt Ojavee, and Marie Vinter form the studio Aine. Joint creative research work focuses on environmentally sensitive materials, materials awareness and cross-sectoral networking. The studio is a further development of a jointly developed subject focused on bio-based materials at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

One day prior to the conference there will be held 2 workshops on materials, hosted by the speakers.

1) Workshop: Future biomaterials
18.09, 12.00-15.00

2) Kombucha workshop
18.09, 15.30-17.00 

environment on the planet, society needs to rethink and revaluate the qualities of

materials and their impact on the life around us. So research and development of

new materials as well as recycling and processing of existing ones hold great

importance. Conference presents innovative design experts with long-term practical

experience from Holland, Great Britain and Estonia. Simone de Waart, Zoe Powell,Riina Õun and Kärt Ojavee introduce methods of developing new bio-based

materials like mushrooms and alga, as well as designing new products, whereaReet Aus introduces in addition to the method of upcycling the products made 

on materials, hosted by the s

Workshop/Talk: Living the Modernist City - WWA*

The workshop will be held as part of the exhibition
"Living
the Modernist City - WWA", curated by Kolektiv, a gallery and group of curators devoted to Modernism, established at Le Corbusier's Housing Unit in Marseille. This event will launch a series of events around the same theme, bringing together designers, graphic designers, architects, photographs, visual artists and scholars from different Central and Eastern European countries, to take place in 2019-2022.
On the 17th afternoon, we will first introduce the work of our Kolektiv, largely devoted to Central and Eastern European design scenes in relation to 20th century architecture, and how the project Living the Modernist City emerged. Following this introduction, our guest speaker will be Edgar Bąk, a major graphic designer in Poland, who left his print on a number of venues of Warsaw contemporary cultural scene, and witnessed the massive changes experienced by the polish metropolis since the late 1990s. He will share his own vision of the polish modernist city and of its considerable visual impact on contemporary design and creation. In relation to the festival's core theme, we will explore the following questions with the audience:

How signs can shape a city and ultimately be one of the materials a city is made of?
What is the experience of Warsaw and other modernist Eastern European cities to that regard?
How specific landmarks such as wall paintings, neons or key public buildings do contribute to create a sense of belonging that is specific to cities or districts built after 1950?

These themes could interestingly resonate also in the Baltics, where modernist landscape from the 1960-80s, although much present, is not fully perceived as autochthonous urban fabrics, but as the footprint of the former USSR rule. Attendance and participation is opened to anyone interested in (or inspired by) modernist aesthetics.


Full program

FESTIVAL VIDEOS and photos

Tallinn design festival main partners