Design Week in Skopje is a festival that has been treating industrial design and product design for years, and after a break of several years the festival is again part of the cultural scene from November 6 to 10 in "Public Room" and "Literatura.mk" in "Diamond" mall".

The ambitious goal of the Design Week in Skopje is to raise awareness of the functionality of design and the creation of innovative product solutions, but this time with the sign of eco and circular economy. The festival was announced with a conference on the development of creative tourism, and continued with workshops, panel discussions, a pop-up exhibition, expert lectures on design, workshops for children, as well as a program where the emphasis is placed on music.

After a break of several years, we met again with Aleksandar Velinovski from "Public Room", who is responsible for the entire organization of the Design Week in Skopje.

For what purpose did you announce the new edition of Design Week in Skopje with a conference on the development of creative tourism?

- The entry of the tourism sector into the Ministry of Culture was a novelty for us and opened the question of what will happen next. We, as the organizers of the Design Week in Skopje, have a close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, but also with other funds and with the local administration regarding issues related to culture. Now tourism is emerging, which is an economic branch, and is entering the culture sector, which in itself is a novelty that should be observed. This means that the culture sector itself, that is, the creative industries, will have to change the performance and add an economic component, or simply put, economic thinking in relation to the cultural product.

Until now, the culture sector functioned by requesting funds for support, but without going to the market and selling products. Now we will have to change our way of thinking. This is a unique chance for the culture sector and creative industries to come up with a product that they would market through the tourism sector. I look at that moment as a "golden chicken", because if we get a new audience, which will come to Macedonia subsidized, we will have to use those people to spend their money in the culture sector. That's why we decided to hold the conference for the development of creative tourism, in which the people from the Ministry of Culture found their benefit and were part of the participants in the conference.

On the other hand, the operators were also included in the conference. Because of their experiences, among the participants of the conference were the "fielders". We didn't need the academic scene with strategies and bright examples from the world, but we needed those who are already working in Macedonia, who have real problems in both the culture and tourism sectors.

After the two held panels, one got the impression that these are two parallel worlds. What does it take for those worlds to come together?

- I asked Minister Zoran Ljutkov that as a question, that is, is it an "organic relationship" or is it an "imposed marriage"? The answer was that tourism organically belongs in this sector, because it is closely related to culture, they support and carry together. Personally, I think it's an organic connection, but it comes from a different path for us. If we provide good conditions, that organic relationship will revive and experience development that will bring benefit to both culture and tourism. Furthermore, in ten years we will probably talk about one sector and not separate them as we do now. Then we will discuss a "marriage" situation, not a "groom" and "bride" as we do now.

The conference was an introduction to the Design Week in Skopje, which after a break of several years is being held from November 6 to 10 in "Public Room" and at several other locations. What were the reasons for the break and with what motives are you bringing Design Week in Skopje back to life?

– We had one unsuccessful attempt with the last edition that took place during the covid pandemic. Many obstacles have occurred, and Design Week is a festival that must be physically attended to be experienced. Everything else without physical contact is difficult improvisation. At the festival, you learn and work. This is a working festival, a place where new experiences are learned and participants network. In this way, they are upgraded and come out richer with knowledge and experiences.

The whole program is designed so that everyone leaves the festival richer and bolder so that tomorrow they can continue working and creating in life. The festival is oriented towards design, but it does not exclude other activities, such as architecture, fine arts, crafts.

The break that occurred was also a reflection of the 2017 end of support for the creative industries. We survived for two years after that to organize the festival without state support, but if "your mother" doesn't love you, your "uncle" from Brussels can't love you. If the state decides that there is no need to further develop the creative industries, it should be clearly stated, and that would be a clear indication for us in which other sphere to orient ourselves. We are flexible, we have proven it, we are elastic, we are even plastic, at the end of the day, and we have reformed and reorganized a hundred times in "Public Room". That is not a problem for us. We are business-oriented and act quickly. We see the problems, find the opportunities and adapt.

It seems that you used the break for good and entered the new edition with a slightly expanded format in terms of the concept of the festival. What is the motto of the Design Week in Skopje these days?

- The motto is "For the new generation of Skopje!", which means that this year the orientation of the festival is more aimed at young people. That "Generation Z" (Gen Z) that everyone is looking for, we already have in "Public Room". Our intention was to offer enough quality content that they would accept, and for this purpose the young people were involved in programming and marketing in the conception of the program.

Our goal is to attract the coming generations so that they don't get lost along the way, don't end up at bars with turbofolk, but learn that at the festival they can discover beautiful and smart content that will be useful in their lives tomorrow. From the festival, I am sure, that they will come out richer with knowledge and experiences. So the experience isn't just about eating and drinking, but what you learn at Design Week is the treasure that stays. That's how we conceived the program to offer something innovative and to offer examples that are close to us.

At Design Week in Skopje, the best designers from Great Britain, the USA and Europe have been present so far, but I have always tended to present examples that are closer to our way of thinking and working. When designers came from countries with a large market, I got the feeling that they were frustrating our young generations with the opportunities there, which we don't have here. Instead of getting encouragement, they got frustration.

That's why I slightly changed the profile of the designers who gave lectures at Design Week. It's a different feeling when, for example, you invite Nikola Radeljkovic from Sarajevo, who succeeded in the field of design and became known worldwide with a huge number of international awards, including the Red Dot. It's a different feeling when you learn that Nikola from Sarajevo has become a world-famous designer. This encourages our young people from Bitola, Tetovo or Skopje to try to do the same. In this way, I want to encourage our young creatives to really engage in design, and not for design to be a hobby.

Which of the world's designers are present at the festival this year?

– Severin Filek, director of the Austrian Design Association, came. He held a workshop that is necessary, and it refers to the methods according to which every freelancer will learn to calculate his working hours. Based on that knowledge, he will be able to correctly value his own work and make a good offer to a potential client, that is, how to value yourself so that you can charge for your work.

There is also the world-famous designer Zoran Jedrejčić, who was born in Split and lives and works in Belgrade. His workshop answered the question of how to produce a branded design.

Partner and regular collaborator of Design Week in Skopje is also Maja Lalic from "Mikser" in Belgrade, who discovered the possibilities for young designers in Europe. With Maya, we had previously established the platform "Young designers from the Balkans" in 2015, and now we are taking a step forward with the platform "Next Gen Design", which we expanded to not only be for Balkan designers, but to also include designers from all of Europe. There is also Ana Šilović from Croatia, who presented the possibilities for financing the cultural and creative sectors from European funds.

How are the program contents distributed by location where they are held?

- Lectures and workshops are held during the day at "Literatura.mk" in "Diamond Mall". The pop-up market will take place during the weekend in the Public Room, while the music concerts take place in the evenings in the attic of the Public Room.

What are your expectations as organizers of Design Week in Skopje? What results are needed to open opportunities for the development of the design sector?

- As for the return of the festival to the cultural agenda of the city, it is enough to have a significant attendance at the workshops, lectures and in the exhibition space. It is important for us to see interest in order to gain the will to prepare an even better program next year.

Right now I have to be critical and point out that the gap that until 2019 we were filling with the non-formal education we offered, I see that now it has become even bigger. In fact, filling that hole is the job of the design faculties, but it is not visible on the ground. We hoped that the methodologies and models we developed at the Design Week in Skopje would be taken up by educational institutions and that they would continue the practice we established. Unfortunately, this is not the case and the gap in design education among young people is much larger than before.

For example, if one cannot distinguish between what is aluminum and what is steel, then one cannot do design. You need to know what is wood and what is plywood. So, some basic knowledge of materials is missing, and without that you cannot deal with design. All that should be learned at design faculties through practical work. We do not plan to work on retraining young designers, and some of them already have degrees in design. If we wanted to do that, we would open a design academy, but that is not our goal.

That's why I appeal to the professors to pay a little more attention to the practical education of design students. We cannot, do not want and should not be someone who takes the role of formal education. The demonstration exercises we have at the festival are only guidelines in which direction modern design education should move. Our goal is to develop the sector, but we cannot be educators, but we position ourselves as catalysts of development. So, the solution is in education. We can help, but we cannot take over the role of formal design education.

(The interview was published in "Kulturen Pechat" number 255, in the print edition of the newspaper "Sloboden Pechat" on 9-10.11.2024)