Operating for years in challenging conditions in the Balkans with achieving results in foreign markets, prominent representatives of furniture manufacturers from the region have proven extraordinary resilience and ability to represent the creative and production capacity of the region, and become leaders in European creativity in the context of emerging challenges. Selected representatives of the vibrant furniture manufacturing sector in the region were among the first to support initiatives for regional exchange, upskilling and mobility of young design talents, such as the Young Balkan Designers platform. The panel discussion “Made in the Balkans” aims to map the broader needs for joint strategic and long-term action of manufacturers, educational, professional and economic institutions to strengthen the link between the design sector and the economy, as well as to establish more effective cooperation with state institutions to enhance investments in the creative potential of the Balkans and its concrete settling by the economic sector. The panelists will try to answer the question of whether it is possible to establish a sustainable and systematic platform to support regional cooperation, joint international promotion and affirmation of contemporary Balkan design with a recognizable identity, modeled on the strategies of Scandinavian countries.

Panelists:

Bojan Radovic, Executive Director of GIR (Serbia)

Nenad Djurdjevic, Advisor to the President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (Serbia)

Orhan Niksic, Executive director and co-founder of the Zanat (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Petar Borovic, Founder and CEO, Boreal (Serbia)

Moderators:

Maja Lalic, Founder and Creative Director of Mikser

Aleksandar Velinovski, Founder and CEO, Skopje Design Week (North Macedonia)