#34 Designmonat 2021

Imagine a year without Designmonat…

That´s not gonna happen. Despite all the difficulties, there is a Designmonat in Graz again this year, small but nice. The fact that this year you can go to the most important places in Graz in a relatively short time, we feel almost as a relief, but the years before you often had the feeling to miss most of the design events for lack of time and because of too many overlaps. We have summarized 4 points in Graz for you, Hollenegg Castle is still on our “to do list”.

Designmonat 2021:

Designforum This year, at the Designforum on Andreas Hofer Platz, you can admire the ideas behind one huge work of art, namely the interior design of the new Merkur Campus. This fact surprised us at first, as there has always been room for many designers and their products here. The many ideas and the attention to detail in the planning of such a large project finally convinced us. Rightly so much space was given to this building and the designer duo SelfSightSeeing Company. DIY fans will likely find many of the objects and upcycled furniture familiar, and we've also seen many Reuse ideas elsewhere, but clearly never on such a scale. Each meeting room was designed according to the wishes of the employees. The office furniture was put together from discarded airplane parts and wood from other furniture in a social project. Vintage industrial lamps and retro sports equipment give the campus a homey atmosphere.

Design in the City 27 stores in Graz invite again this year 27 designers to present their designs, sometimes in very unusual surroundings. There are among others: Sneakers for women by Mockery Mia at In Optik, jewelry by Julia Pengg at Mangolds and skate boards by Häng Luis in Offline Retail. This and many other design ideas can currently be found during a city walk through downtown Graz. And don't forget: Designmonat also includes tasting the Designmonat wine at the wine bar Klapotetz and trying the Designmonat ice cream by Charly Temmel.

Fantastic Plastic In the former Stiefelkönig store in Herrengasse you can find the exhibition `Fantastic Plastic`. It shows quite simply and vividly how great the material plastic itself is when you reuse it. Recycled plastic can be used to make everything from swimwear and kimonos to shoes and furniture. Unfortunately, for people who are a little concerned with the issues of our time, this in itself is nothing new. If you think about it, many businesses in Graz have been committed to sustainable design for years. For many entrepreneurs, the idea of sustainability has already become a matter of course. That's good! But we would have expected more innovation from Designmonat in this respect.

4th Block The biggest surprise for us is the poster exhibition at Andreas Hofer Platz. For this you have to go underground, to the, we must be allowed to say, `ugliest` underground parking garage of the city. This is in full operation and also not specially cleaned up, but between the parking spaces on the walls one finds the internationally shown poster exhibition `4th Block`. The angles, the place, the light, the gloomy corners and dirty walls and the critical posters convinced us. Our conclusion: Exhibitions in unusual urban locations make Graz the `City of Design`.