We say farewell to 2023 to celebrate the end of an inspiring, transformative, and prosperous year. Before stepping into the next one, we share a quick overview of the past 12 months - busy and filled with brilliant achievements. All of this fills us with joy and gratitude. We are thankful for the collaborations and meaningful projects we managed to accomplish, for the generous support, trust, and encouraging words in this eighth year of Komplekt’s existence.
Wishing you a happy and joyful holiday season! See you in 2024, charged with new strength and energy for creative work.
RENEWED KOMPLEKT
2023 was a special year for Komplekt. After 8 years as Studio Komplek, we had the opportunity to refresh our visual identity, once again entrusting the work to Poststudio. We’ve been using our new website and visual transformation for half a year now with pride and joy.
DESIGN PODCAST
In the summer of 2023 a long-standing dream of ours came true as we entered the recording studio for the first season of our very own podcast. Listen to the uploaded 8 episodes of Komplekt on Design on your preferred platform or on the webpage here. Our guests come from various creative fields, enriching and advancing the culture of design and its value through their work.
DESIGN RESIDENCY
For the first year, we managed to include in the program of the sixth edition of the MELBA Design Festival a design residency organized by us in partnership with the Hungarian Cultural Institute Liszt in Sofia. The residency program is committed to creating more space for exploration, thinking, and criticism in the field of design by providing conditions for the creation of a new design project inspired by Sofia as a base, a working environment, and a laboratory for new ideas.
After a careful selection of young, contemporary Hungarian designers from various fields, Komplekt chose the illustrator and graphic designer Kata Moravszki (Budapest). In October 2023, within three weeks, she immersed herself in researching the local context. Her stay concluded with the exhibition "Hello, Sofia!" as part of the MELBA Design Festival. The exhibition, including a detailed culinary diary, 13 posters, and a series of instant photos from Kata's stay, offers a different perspective on Bulgarian cuisine and eating as a means not only for physical but also spiritual nourishment.
MELBA DESIGN INITIATIVES
In 2023, we marked the 20th edition of the MELBA MEETINGS format in partnership with Fashion Days. Launched shortly after the introduction of the dynamic bilingual MELBA ARCHIVE, which continues to grow with new names of Bulgarian designers, the series has established itself as a beloved and meaningful occasion to discover the achievements of local design heroes in live events four times a year. You can see recordings of the editions on YouTube. In September, Marta Cerdà, а Spanish illustrator, typographer, and world-renowned art director, joined us in a special edition of Melba Meetings in Sofia.
In 2023 we also successfully continued our series of educational MELBA SCHOOL classes. Led by professionals for designers and visual artists, the classes aim to create sustainable knowledge and skilled approaches in students, young or established professionals and visual artists with an inclination towards acquiring new qualifications. Among the invited presenters this year were the successful Bulgarian fashion designer Ivanka Georgieva, the founder of the multidisciplinary cultural platform and festival Mikser Maja Lalić (Serbia), the furniture and interior designer Jelena Matić (Serbia), Réka Szentesi and Kinga Csengő, mentors of some of the most significant projects of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency. They are all recognizable names in their field, with proven track records and pulling the discipline towards contemporary interpretations and important speculations about its footprint in the development of society.
For ten days in November, the Melba Festival in Sofia focused on the theme of design as a way to develop awareness of the discipline in service of society, a visual-aesthetic provocation, and a means of artistic self-expression. We are proud to have produced engaging content for diverse audiences for the sixth consecutive time: an international symposium featuring great names in contemporary design, the now-traditional Review of Bulgarian Design exhibition, this time with the title Object of Relationships, and 10 other program elements (exhibitions, workshops, and presentations). Check out our special short video overview here.
BAUMIT: Facade of the year 2022 - 2023
This year we had the honour of organising the lavish Baumit Façade of the Year 2022/2023 ceremony for the second time. As part of the project, we conceptualized and realized the event, combining opera performances by Mila Mihova (soprano), stylish hall design by Venelin Shurelov and impressive digital accents by Phormatik. In just one evening in Hall 3 of the National Palace of Culture, architects, developers and contractors of various buildings were honoured for their work and approach. We would like to thank Havas and Baumit Bulgaria for their cooperation. You can learn more about the project here.
A particularly meaningful and positively received task for the urban environment was entrusted to us by the Sofia Development Association. In the final stage of their InnoAir project, for the first time in Bulgaria, the On-Demand Transport service was launched. Manastirski Livadi neighborhood in Sofia was chosen for the test rides and materials. Citizens had the opportunity to request and track the movement of electric mini buses through schedules and a mobile application. Our role as consultants and collaborators in "packaging" and promoting the service to the citizens of Sofia was to create clear and sustainable materials over time, as well as replicable ones. We involved in the process a designer experienced in data analysis to format the information into attractive and easily readable graphics.
COLLABORATIONS
The usually dark and cold February actually dazzled us with a special task - to present the VARMBLIXT collection by IKEA as a several-day exhibition and event with a lecture on the role of light in the interior. Designed by the rapidly gaining popularity designer Sabine Marcelis, VARMBLIXT includes lighting fixtures, furniture, textiles, and table accessories.
For several years, our colleagues from MD magazine have persistently pursued the idea of collecting in a book a selection of achievements of Bulgarian product designers from the beginning of the century to the present. The editorial team invited us to write the introductory essay for the book Bulgarian Product Design 2000/2022 and to present together in an exhibition some of the participants’ objects, prototypes, and realized ideas during ExpoMebel 2023.
A provocative and captivating invitation was extended to us by Vera Mlechevska, from the Art Affairs and Documents Foundation, namely - a joint curation of an exhibition on art and design. The intertwining of the two spheres was achieved by combining works by Bulgarian designers and artists in a shared space, transformed into an interior with a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and toilet. Wth the title Dream Home, the bold experiment included the works of 40 participants who raised the question of function and provocation in specific objects, arranged by scenographer Eva Ventova.
TRAVELS
This year we had the chance to present the exhibition Local Beauty, produced for the Melba Festival 2022 with Bulgarian product design, in the wonderful space of the gallery of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Paris (February - March 2023), as well as part of Zagreb Design Week in October.
Komplekt participated with a lecture on the development of Bulgarian design at the Network Eastern European Design conference in Warsaw, and thanks to our partnership with the Czech Center, we were special guests at the superbly organized and content-rich 25th anniversary edition of the Designblok festival in Prague.
WITH GRATITUDE
It is an honor for us to collaborate with some of the most significant cultural institutions, organizations, commercial brands, studios, and designers in Bulgaria. We note with special gratitude the vital support from the National Culture Fund, along with the special prestige of being part of the Calendar of Cultural Events of Sofia Municipality.