Friday, 5 September 2025

9:30-17:00

Venue: Center Rog

The Future Legacies Conference marks the conclusion of the three-year international platform, MADE IN: Contemporary Crafts & Design, which has connected designers, craftspeople, scientists and cultural institutions across six European countries.

The conference will bring together participants, partners, experts and the wider public for a day of panel discussions, workshops and presentations reflecting on the achievements of the platform and the future of crafts and design. Themes will include the reinterpretation of craft heritage, hybrid environmental practices, knowledge mapping, and innovations rooted in local resources.

PROGRAMME

9:30 Registration and coffee 

10:00 Welcome and Introduction 

Renata Zamida (Center Rog) and Maja Vardjan (MAO)

10:15 Panel 1: CRAFT HERITAGE REINTERPRETED

The MADE IN platform fosters collaborations between contemporary designers and craftspeople. Using their know-how and fluency in contemporary technologies, designers and artists often reinterpret traditional skills, giving them new purpose, placing them in a contemporary context and developing new concepts, while at the same time highlighting the exceptional value of the knowledge that is gradually disappearing from our fast-paced world. Knitting expert Cécile Feilchenfeldt and designer Žan Kobal will talk about their encounters and experiences as collaborators and participants in MADE IN residencies, while social entrepreneur Alina Serban (co-rizom) will discuss efforts to promote and distribute crafts from communities and artisans in remote areas. The panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by these kinds of collaboration and the ways in which heritage can inform future production and consumption.

Panellists: Cécile Feilchenfeldt; Alina Serban, co-rizom; Žan Kobal

Moderator: Thomas A. Geisler, Kunstgewerbemuseum/Design Campus, SKD

11:25 Panel 2: HYBRID ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES

A conversation with guests Debra Solomon (Urbaniahoeve) and Davor Mišković (Drugo more) on the environment and biodiversity in urban settings and marine ecosystems. The discussion will cover the more-than-human concept, the multispecies right to the city, the importance of knowledge transfer, methods of enhancing biodiversity and how contemporary crafts can contribute to the “more-than-human” shift. What can creators such as designers, craftspeople and artists learn from nature? And, above all, how can caring, nurturing, symbiosis and solidarity become fundamental ways of functioning and living for all living beings?

Panellists: Debra Solomon; Davor Mišković, Drugo more

Moderator: Cvetka Požar, MAO

12:45 Panel 3: KNOWLEDGE ATLAS

Maja Kolar of Oaza will moderate a discussion with Claire Warnier (Unfold), Astrid Suzano (Passa Ao Futuro) and Giulia Bellinetti (Future Materials Bank) on how mapping, preserving and transforming material knowledge can foster sustainable cultural and ecological futures. The speakers will share their experiences of the MADE IN Knowledge Atlas, re-materialising lost artefacts through craft and digital innovation, activating intangible heritage through collaborations between designers and craftspeople, and creating open archives of sustainable, non-toxic materials. The discussion will explore the ways in which contemporary design increasingly draws on both traditional and emerging knowledge systems, tracing the evolution of these practices through collaboration, technological exchange and the creative reimagining of resources.

Panellists: Claire Warnier, Unfold; Astrid Suzano, PAF; Giulia Bellinetti, Future Materials Bank, Jan Van Eyck Akademie

Moderator: Maja Kolar, OAZA

13:55 Lunch

14:25 Panel 4: INNOVATING WITH HERITAGE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

A conversation with designers Henriëtte Waal, Rok Oblak and Kim Cordes exploring the ways in which cultural heritage and natural resources can inspire contemporary creativity. The speakers will share their experiences of working with local and bio-regional materials, revitalising traditional techniques and developing design solutions that cross disciplinary boundaries. The discussion will cover the ways in which contemporary designers are increasingly returning to local and bioregional resources, and track the evolution of material-sourcing in particular places over time. 

Panellists: Rok Oblak, Kim Cordes, Henriëtte Waal

Moderator: Maruša Ramšak, Center Rog

15:35 Book Presentation and Promotion

Ivana Borovnjak, Cvetka Požar, Koraljka Vlajo

16:00 Guided Tour of the Exhibition at Center Rog

Co-guided by Kim Cordes, Rok Oblak, Astrid Suzano 

*9.30-17.00 A clay tile workshop will be available to all attendees 

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The event will be held in English.

*A day before the conference, on September 4, seminars within the MADE IN platform will take place at the Museum of Architecture and Design and at Center Rog.

September 4, 12:40–16:00
Seminar: Contemporary Approaches to Materials in Craft and Design (Center Rog)

September 4, 16:30–19:30
Seminar: Crafting Biodiversity (MAO)