where climate action meets the future of design

Month: June 2026

Save the Date – NEXT GEN DESIGN Vienna 2026

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23 September – 4 October 2026
designforum Wien

As part of the anniversary programme celebrating 20 years of designforum Wien and 20 years of Vienna Design Week, designforum Wien presents the NEXT GEN DESIGN exhibition.

NEXT GEN DESIGN is a three-year European programme of design competitions, exhibitions and events that supports—particularly young designers—in creating and adopting sustainable design practices. It aims to foster the transition towards a circular economy and contribute to the European Green Deal.

The project brings together five leading European design platforms and festivals: Skopje Design Week, Mikser Festival (Belgrade), designaustria at designforum Wien (Vienna), What Design Can Do (Amsterdam) and Barcelona Design Week.

The exhibition presents selected works and concepts by a new generation of designers addressing today’s environmental and societal challenges and developing innovative approaches for sustainable future.

Guided Exhibition Tour with the Designers
25 September 2026 | 3:00 pm CET

The participating designers will guide visitors through the exhibition and offer insights into their design processes.

Free admission.

Programme details coming soon.

Anja Djordjevic

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Anja (born in 2003 in Pirot, Serbia) is a graduate engineer of architecture and a master’s student in architecture at the University of Belgrade. She has participated in workshops and projects organized by Next Gen Design, Design Link, and the Mikser Festival, collaborating within an international academic environment. This year, together with colleagues Lara Đolović and Dušan Jevtić, she exhibited at the Salon of Architecture a realized project for the atrium of the Faculty of Forestry, which is also one of the winning projects of the Next Gen Design program.

AMINA HASANBEGOVIC

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Amina Hasanbegovic is an established fashion designer based in Novi Pazar, Serbia, recognized for her distinct high-fashion aesthetic that balances bold, dramatic silhouettes with subtle, elegant femininity.

Since launching her career, she has specialized in unique evening gowns, custom-made couture pieces, and bridal wear. Her design philosophy rejects passing fast-fashion trends, focusing heavily on craftsmanship, intricate details, and genuine emotional expression.

In addition to running her fashion atelier and dressing prominent regional music and style icons, Hasanbegović incorporates her creative expertise into education, balancing entrepreneurship, family life, and her role as a professor. Deeply influenced by the rich culture of her hometown and an early admiration for classic style icons like Audrey Hepburn. While she continues to scale her brand internationally, she does so through conscious, sustainable growth, remaining deeply rooted in the local ecosystem of Novi Pazar.

The Next Gen Design Virtual Exhibition “Futures Worth Living”

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We are thrilled to launch the DIGITAL EDITION of the NEXT GEN DESIGN EXHIBITION: “Futures Worth Living”, celebrating the forward-thinking visions of a new generation of European designers.

To bring these incredible ideas directly to your screen, our virtual exhibition features two interactive parts:

The Video Showcase: Watch the winning concepts come to life on screen! Please note: This video compilation specifically features the winning projects that provided a video submission; not all the winning projects are displayed here.

The Digital Exhibition: Explore all 50 winning projects. Browse project visuals, read full conceptual overviews, and meet the creators behind the designs.

ALL PROJECTS

About the Exhibition

Out of more than 190 bold ideas from 29 European countries, an esteemed International Jury selected 50 outstanding projects that challenge existing systems and reframe our relationship with the world around us.

The exhibition is structured around nine key themes reflecting the urgencies of this emerging generation: Designing Care; Matter Matters; More Than Human; Food Futures; Spaces We Share; Trust, Signals and Noise; Everyday Life, Reconsidered; Undesigning; and Learning To See.

Following its premiere at Mikser Festival in Novi Pazar, the physical exhibition will continue its journey across major European design weeks – designaustria at Vienna Design Week, WDCD at Einthoven Design Week, Barcelona Design Week, Skopje Design Week – while selected designers move on to local Next Gen Design Residency Programs.

Bojana Nikitovic

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Bojana Nikitović’s work in costume design spans theatre, opera, ballet, and film.

She graduated as Valedictorian from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade in 1989 and began her career in theatre, designing costumes for more than 100 productions, including productions of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Dickens, and Molière. Her contribution to the performing arts has been recognised with numerous awards, including an EMMY NOMINATION for Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes for her work in Dune Prophecy, a winner of the Costume Designers Guild Awards for Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Television for her work in Dune Prophecy, four Sterija Awards, two Ardalion Awards, and the Grand International Award for Spectacle Design at the YUSTAT Biennial.

Since 2001, she has worked internationally, collaborating with Academy Award-winning costume designer Milena Canonero on films such as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Marie Antoinette, and The Wolfman. Her film credits include Coriolanus, A Good Day to Die Hard, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and numerous other international productions.

Richard van der Laken

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Laken practice advocates for designers’ responsibility to engage with societal issues and contribute to systemic change.

Richard van der Laken is a designer and creative director, and co-founder of the international platform What Design Can Do (WDCD). Through WDCD, he has led numerous campaigns, conferences, and design challenges that bring together multidisciplinary communities to rethink the role of creativity in urgent global challenges such as climate change, inequality, migration, and the transition to circular systems.

Recently, he founded Laecken, a contemporary fashion label that explores men’s self-expression through clothing, accessories, and textiles. Rooted in global craft traditions from regions such as Mexico, Japan, Ghana and India, the brand draws on geometric simplicity and the traditional menswear.

Henriëtte Waal

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Artist and designer known for her interdisciplinary work in artistic research, environmental design, and community engagement.

She is the artistic leader of Veenweide Atelier and the co-founder of Atelier LUMA, LUMA Arles’ biodesign lab dedicated to bioregional practices and material engineering. Henriëtte has led fieldwork in Mediterranean wetlands, collaborating with remote wetland communities from Southern Europe, Africa, and West Asia. Her work spans co-fabrication systems for beverages, footwear, colors, crafts, and spaces, as part of an ongoing search for new ecosocial balance. Her projects have been exhibited internationally.

In her recent book Water Works (Waal & Driessen, 2025), she outlines ecosocial design as a method, in which the relationship between humans, ecology, and systems is central. The book positions water infrastructures as socio-ecological systems that require new forms of ecological imagination, storytelling, and alliances between human and non-human actors. 

Ivan Kucina

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Kucina’s research explores urban transformation through informality, participatory design, and community-led development.

Professor at the Dessau International Architecture Graduate School (DIA), Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, where he leads the Master Thesis Studio and elective courses. Previously, he taught at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade (1996–2014), and has held visiting professorships at institutions including Parsons School of Design in New York, Polis University in Tirana, KTH Stockholm, and the German University of Technology in Oman.

Alongside his academic work, Kucina has maintained an architectural practice spanning urban design, architecture, exhibitions, and furniture design. He co-founded the Belgrade International Architecture Week (2006) and founded the School of Urban Practices (2012).