8 things I liked at Romanian Creative Week 2023

Alina Aliman| June 16, 2023

More than 50 individual or collective shows, 19 high-profile designers, 26 emerging designers, the Fashion Design departments of the four most important universities in Romania and for the first time the one from Chișinău, 11 exhibitions, light installations, six monumental buildings opened for the public, thousands of viewers and a lot of fun: this was, for short, the summary of Romanian Creative Week 2023. The 8 things I liked at Romanian Creative Week 2023 are…

*** #FashionBlogger #FashionTrend #RomanianDesigner #English

More info & videos about the runways & exhibitions from Romanian Creative Week on https://romaniancreativeweek.ro/.

Romanian Creative Week 2023 was structured on six parts: Arts & Crafts, Content Creation, Creative Entrepreneurship, Design, Innovation & Digital, New Media.

1. The “Wonderlands” exhibition curated by Ovidiu Buta – a cool installation that includes flowers, accessories, fashion books, plants and mini sculptures. Some spaces become so personal that they themselves can be considered a tool for understanding the designer’s creation. In “Wonderlands” the creative universes of six designers were approached – Lucian Broscățean, Ioana Ciolacu, Alexandru Florea, Octavia Chiru, Lucian Alexandru Arsene, Andreea Bădală – reinterpreted, together with architect Elena Viziteu Ionescu and architect Anda Zota, and grouped them in a surprising installation hosted by the Palace of Culture in Iași.

2. The “Diacronia” exhibition, curated by Marian Pălie, at Baia Turcească (beautiful renovated space in Iași). I was happy to rediscover works from Miruna Radovici (read here about her works displayed at Galeria Posibilă – here), Ancutza Sarca shoes, the Silver Thorn by Ovidiu Toader, the installations by Radu Abraham, the enormous eye by Gloria Grati, the paintings signed Codruța Cernea.

3. From “Waste to Experimental Couture” – a mini-gallery of accessories, garments and ceramics made from plant based and sustainable materials. Making an impact on our planet requires realizing that not all trash is waste, and we should view it as a raw material that can be used to (re)design something new and wonderful. Noticed – the works of Ruxandra Gheorghe – read the interview with the designer about her work and her constant attention to recycling and reuse of the materials – here.

4. “Heritage Re:coded 2.20” – The exhibition showcased the latest collection of designs by Foraeva Studio, focused on re-imagining the tradition and crafts of the future through the advances of technology and computer science. Each design achieves new forms of expression materialised through the latest 3D printing technologies on fabric, carefuly crafted in collaboration with Stratasys. FORÆVA is a multi-disciplinary design lab co-founded by fashion designer Lana Dumitru & architect Vlad Tenu (www.foraeva.com @foraeva_studio).

5. “Finally Together” exhibition – presented by the Ami Amalia team (see the beautiful knityings signed by Ami Amalia at https://amiamalia.com/) at Braunstein Palace (another beautiful building restored in the city) .

6. Open doors – an initiative of OAR – the Romanian Architects Order – 6 monumental buildings and their beautiful yards were opened for the public and enriched with some very cool installations. My favourites: “As Above As Below” made by Corina Giorgescu & Iuliana Damir and the white moorish by APlusNoima studio.

7. Universities selection of young designers and collections. UAD Cluj has a cool & actual selection, UnArte București surprised the public with their theatrical outfits, MDVTM Timișoara had a nice row of young designers. And, for the first time in Romania, the collections of the students at Design Department from University from Moldavia Republic was supergood & coherent – shirts transformed and reinterpreted, an all white collection with some traditional elements of Moldavia.

8. The designers’ collections (in no particular order).

I’ve just loooved the Murmur collection (no surprise here, right?). I liked Irina Schrotter cool collection (and the choice of the models) and Lucian Broscățean architectural with a Japanese vibe clothes (and, of course, his choice to use models over 50, women that inspired him).

Sura Susara had a very nice runway (and I was happy to see some of my friends there in the line of models), as well as Oana Lupaș and her BOL (read here an interview with the designer).

Well, I would wear every piece from Bianca Popp collection (an interview with the designer – here) and I dar you to try Tudor Halațiu sequin pieces (here – an interview with Tudor after his graduation collection in Cluj).

Ioana Ciolacu had a very actual, hip & extremely wearable collection (thumbs up for that!) and Kiss Gyöngyvér brought again his pleated pieces origami-style (an interview with the designer – here).

I saw was a beautiful rockish collection signed Laura Lazăr, an interesting collection by Cristina Lazăr and some eye-catching pieces from Renata Mihaly. I also put on my shopping list some things from Smaranda Almășan, some black & white items from Chic Utility, The Cabin, Post-Scriptum or Scapadona.