The 28th edition of DesignBlok, Central Europe’s largest design and fashion festival, showcased over 300 designers, studios, and brands in Prague this autumn. Held across several venues, including the Functionalist Trade Fair Palace of the National Gallery Prague, the festival highlighted local craftsmanship, honest materials, and creativity.
The festival’s main hub, the Trade Fair Palace, was a focal point for innovation, featuring the Czech street furniture and urban design brand (read about it in Issue 174). This brand presented Rider, a galvanized steel bicycle stand that doubles as a modular system, offering both practicality and visual appeal in street furniture.
“What makes Czech design particularly rich is that we still produce glass here. We still produce porcelain. You can experiment, and you do not have to search for production in some other countries. You have the tradition, you have the crafts,” said Jana Zielinski, the festival director.
One standout was a modular seating system designed by Adéla Bačová for Arqsit, a Czech family-owned manufacturer. The system features organic-shaped cushions fitted into a light metal frame made from bent steel tubing. This versatile collection includes various types of sofas, lounge chairs, and tables, allowing for numerous configurations suitable for waiting rooms or receptions.
Manual Ritual, a collaboration between Profil Nábytek and Prague-based studio Schwestern, offers a flexible collection of elements that can be rearranged into coat hooks, benches, or shelves. Profil Nábytek, a Czech family-owned company known for its adaptability, embodies the tagline “the art of being flexible,” making this collection ideal for dynamic office spaces.
The S-Tool, designed by Paris-based Index Office, draws inspiration from bicycle handlebars and tube bending, reminiscent of the Wassily Chair from 1925. Its deceptively simple tubular design offers a refined seating option for commercial interiors.
Tomáš Král’s Materra table lamp, crafted using traditional slip-cast ceramic techniques, was awarded the festival’s Best Launched Product by a Producer.
This year’s theme, light, was celebrated through various installations honoring Czech glassmaking and the continuity of generational craft. Notable works included Lee Broom’s spectacular Symbol, executed by Brokis, the Splash installation by Lasvit, and Jílek 1905’s monumental luminaire, which reimagined traditional crystal chandeliers for contemporary settings.
