After more than a decade of urban and cultural processes out of control, the conditions are now ripe to start strategically positioning Serbia within a wider political, economical and social context. Open to global cultural currents while simultaneously retaining specific ‘Balkans’ modus of communicating with the world, Belgrade stands a good chance of becoming the regional center of free creative thought. Owing to its perpetual existence between counterpoints – cosmopolitan and provincial, universal and authentic – Belgrade is an ideal polygon for researching answers to the questions of:
In conditions prevailing in the global economy, how to preserve an idea of cultural, regional, national and personal identity? How can design contribute to reanimation of positive image of the post-Milosevic Serbia?
Let us face up to the fact that Serbia is in a cleft – there are ideas and a potential for developing strong brand concepts, but managements of local companies still fail to see the power of contemporary design as a catalyst for business success in local and global markets. Underdeveloped local economy is an excuse too often pulled for lack of investment in technical innovations, experiments in design, testing new materials and production of prototypes, all of which directly interferes with development of industrial design as a separate discipline, decreases competitiveness of a product and confines companies to the local market.
By accepting design as a form of business and diplomatic communication, and utilizing it as an efficient tool for shaping up the physical and metaphysical image of the society, domestic companies would in a short span of time contribute to Serbia becoming a relevant tourist and business destination in global terms. Alongside quality, original design can be the crucial factor determining placement of domestic brands in a competitive global market, giving local economy the role of the ambassador of homemade creativity.
The enthusiastic participation of several most prominent international industrial designers at the first Belgrade Design Week clearly reflects interest of the global public in Belgrade as a potential creative and business centre. Relatively young companies such as Pesce, Lovegrove, Rashid, Grčići Velchovsky will use their projects to prove themselves in international markets, illustrating a symbiotic relationship between a quality product and well-thought out brand strategy rendering double the good results – it builds a recognizable image of the company which then proceeds to reflects on its profit making, and at the same time it promotes the social importance of design as a discipline, as well as of the cultural process whereof the design originated. As the lead actors in several hundreds of ‘success designer stories’ claim, consumers no longer care where the product physically derived from, but where the company that launched it comes from, where the idea is born, who undersigns the design and what message is sent out to the world.Due to the local tendency to negate each preceding ideological system and its attributes, we are among countries without a tradition in design. Like other segments of society, design in Serbia needs rehabilitation as well. Products with a “designed in Serbia” label, echoing an objective relationship with the past through an analysis of heritage, interpreting local elements through new forms and materials – can offer something new to the global market, always hungry for diversity, and thus contribute to construction of a recognizable cultural identity of the region even outside its borders.
Activities of Serbian designers in leading creative positions at established international companies already undermine the ‘bad genetic code’ taboo which is present in these parts. Their works will reveal to us how important is the thread that links cultural heritage, brand platform, industrial and printing design, interior design and architecture in an integral creative process. Through experiences of Sasa Lakic, Branko Lukic, Jelena Mijanovic and Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss we will divert attention to many processes that indirectly or directly marked the last decade in the development of Serbian creative thought, from intellectual exile to successful establishing of our creatives in the international scene.