HOLD
THE
PLACE
16th
international
design
contest
trieste contemporanea
General Theme
The 16th edition of the Competition invites designers to explore the relationship between object, memory, and place by proposing an original concept for a small functional object that preserves a personal experience of Friuli Venezia Giulia, either lived or imagined, through the designer’s perspective.
This is not about describing this territory of north-eastern Italy in a literal way, but about capturing its character in the form of a device for use: an object that, through its use, evokes the cultural, historical, social, or landscape context that inspired it.
Functionality, formal clarity, and conceptual strength must converge in a coherent and conscious proposal—an object in which use becomes a vehicle for storytelling and in which material houses identity (an encouraged option). The project must be accompanied by a short text that effectively conveys the essence of the object. Sustainability and practical feasibility are not secondary requirements, but expressions of design maturity and responsibility toward the context.
Special Theme
Fifty years after the Friuli earthquake, a Special Prize is dedicated to Venzone, a town that symbolises reconstruction after 1976. Through a functional object connected to this place in accordance with the Competition’s general principles, participants are asked to interpret the themes of resilience and community, transforming them into a project of continuity and renewal.