Cube shelves, knife hangers, club tables and couch tables made of bent sheet metal in black-powdered colours are just some of the products with which two promising designers, Lana and Kaja Strle (3sDesign) presented themselves at last year’s Top Ideas exhibition - and struck a business deal. Their line of metal furniture “Steelline” is sold today in five stores in Slovenia. For several years they have also had special business ties with a Macedonian manufacturer of multifunctional furniture called FEYDOM, which offered them a helping hand at the fair and in establishing themselves on the Slovenian market. "Of course many regarded our work as just simple 'student design work', however if you know how to present yourself you can engage in dialogue and may even strike a business deal," is what the designers say.
There are not many opportunities or events for young designers in Slovenia to showcase their work. Apart from the Ljubljana Month of Design one of the rare opportunities for presentation is taking part in the Top Ideas - Exhibition and exchange of young mostly not-yet-established designers and architects. It is organized for a sixth year in a row as part of the Ambient Ljubljana - Furniture, which opens its doors on Tuesday (running from the 17th until the 22nd of November). Last year it was visited by some 25.000 people at the Exhibition and Convention Centre in Ljubljana. It is intended for innovative and creative young designers, architects and those interested in design.
Ernest Nograšek, an industrial designer and the head of the Top Ideas project, especially stresses the importance of connecting young designers with the economy. "The Top Ideas project was drawn up to enable young designers to present themselves in a broader context, connect them with the industry and integrate them into the economic structures. For them to get employed in companies which are in need of design work, as part of their industrial processes," says Nograšek, who is aware that a designer cannot rescue a company, "but can only be a part of its essential processes."
