Workshops and creative seminars

Zlin Design Week boasts a rich educational program for both professionals and the general public, whether in the form of closed expert workshops or a creative program for children, adults, and seniors. Creative workshops and public workshops are realized in cooperation with our partners, local studios, and the platform dedicated to the education of children – Designers for Children.

Workshops for designers or mere enthusiasts and cultural actors.

Wayfinding Workshop and How to Approach It

How to create wayfinding systems that are not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing? Join a workshop led by experts from Czechdesign and the creative studio Side2, who will guide you through the world of wayfinding – a discipline that helps people better navigate public spaces.
Together, we will explore the principles of visual navigation, the creation of effective signage, and the accessibility of information systems. We will discuss how a designer can contribute to better comprehensibility of urban spaces, hospitals, or other public buildings.

CZECHDESIGN

Czechdesign is a professional organization focused on the development of design in the Czech Republic. For more than two decades, it has been connecting design with the public sector and private companies, publishing the most-read online magazine on Czech design and architecture, and running an e-shop and physical store with Czech design. The organization’s goal is to improve the quality of public spaces and the standard of living through creative design and architecture.

Michaela Holubec – Czechdesign

Michaela Holubec has extensive experience in leading teams and executing international projects, collaborating with public institutions, creatives, and companies. Currently, she focuses on wayfinding design in hospitals. In the past, she has been involved in design consulting, public projects, and participating in international competitions. Her key skills include communication, project management, flexibility, and solution orientation. She continuously develops both soft and technical skills.

Pavla Pospíšilová – Czechdesign

Pavla Pospíšilová is a Marketing Communication student with a wide range of experience in various fields, from retail to gastronomy and telecommunications. She has long been involved in graphic design, creating visual identities, and working for non-profit organizations. She specializes in wayfinding systems in hospitals, having participated in several studies. She currently works as a Junior Researcher at Czechdesign, focusing on research related to inclusion and design.

Date: Saturday 10. 5. 2025 from 10:00–14:00
Location: Zlín Castle (Soudní 1, 760 01 Zlín)
Workshop duration: 4 hours
Capacity: 15
Entry: 400 CZK

Workshop  Exquisite corps – new organising at the end of a world

What can different ways and forms of “doing business” look like – that still make a living, yet in genuinely sustainable, meaningful or even inspiring ways? What if organizing itself became your design material?

Facing the spectre of the polycrisis, designerly intelligence is no longer best used in the invention of products that feed a socially and ecologically extractive system of production. We need us all in creating systems that regenerate rather than extract, in imagining and enacting new ways of organising that do not harm ourselves or our environments.

In a lecture and workshop format, we will introduce present models of economic, business and governance thinking, discuss existing alternatives to them, and engage in a collaborative experimentation based on the surrealist technique of cadavre exquis to breed new organising ideas and stretch our imaginative capacities in the space of organising.

Exquisite corps will be conducted in English and last 4 hours, with breaks. It will include a lecture part, a collaborative workshop part, and a sharing and discussion part. Participation is open to anyone interested in organisation as a design/designable space. No prior knowledge required.

Paul Mesarcik

Paul Mesarcik has over 10 years of experience in team leadership, strategy development, hardware and software development, and product management in a social innovation-focused startup. With a background in design and engineering, he knows how to bridge the ideals of art and the pragmatism of engineering. He specializes in product design, electronic engineering, co-design facilitation, and life-cycle assessment, and has experience in research on business models and social innovations. He is passionate about solving complex social and environmental problems through design.

Jakub Lanc

Jakub Lanc has a wide range of work experience focused on sustainability, regenerative economics, and digital technologies. He is currently researching new financial tools in the field of sustainability and is involved in developing educational games focused on regenerative economics. He also teaches at Masaryk University, where he focuses on the relationship between the concepts of common goods and distributed technologies. Additionally, he is a co-founder of the project Užitečné rozhovory (Useful Conversations), which focuses on mental health prevention through peer-to-peer support.

Martin Born

Martin Born is a curator, designer, and organizer who focuses on connecting built environments and political transmaterial spaces. He is active in research and design and has collaborated with significant institutions and networks across Europe. His experience includes curating, organizing public events, and teaching. He studied transdisciplinary design and industrial design.

Date: Monday, May 12, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Location: Arts Management Studio (Univerzitní 2431, 760 01 Zlín)
Accessibility: EN
Workshop duration: 4 hours
Workshop led by: Paul Mesarcik, Jakub Lanc, Martin Born
Capacity: 20
Entry fee: 200 CZK

Workshop NESEHNUTÍ (“NOT BENDING DOWN” in English)

Nesehnutí

The workshops for the general public focus on two areas. The first, titled “The City Belongs to All”, critically evaluates current urbanism trends. Participants will reflect on who shapes the city, what groups live in it, what their needs and expectations are, and, on the other side, who decides the forms of current cities in the Czech Republic. The workshop also focuses on the urban and social impacts of climate change. It includes practical and observational tasks, joint discussions, and finding solutions on how to get involved and positively influence the shape of the cities we live in.
The second workshop, called “City and
Nature”, explores the role and importance of water, water elements, urban greenery, flora, and fauna in our cities. Using examples from the Czech Republic and around the world, it highlights the often-overlooked role of nature in urban and rural environments and leads to a more sensitive and aware perspective on it. The workshop includes practical tasks for participants, joint reflection, and a debate on how to support and protect nature in the city at both the individual and local levels.

Date: Monday, May 12 from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM and from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Location: Míru Square (náměstí Míru, 760 01 Zlín)
Workshop duration: 90 minutes
Accessibility: CZ
Workshop led by: Independent Social-Ecological Movement Nesehnutí
Capacity: 15
Entry fee: Free

WORKSHOPS IN GALLERY G18 – PART OF THE EXHIBITION “BEST OF ’25: WHERE WE MEET.”

Linocut workshop with Pavla Baštanová

Graphic workshop with illustrator and animator Pavla Baštanová will introduce the technique of linocut-printing from above. Visitors will have the opportunity to design their own motif, try out the linocut technique, make the actual print and take home their own series of original prints at the end of the workshop.

Date: Monday, May 12, 2025, 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Location: Gallery G18 (Štefánikova 5670, Zlín)
Capacity: 10 people

Admission free. Registration is required through an online form, the registration is binding.

Keychain-making workshop with Katarina Nemcova

Workshop with Katarina from rara things. Come and make a multifunctional chain that you can use as a key ring, clip to your bag, pants or whatever you want. In the 2-hour workshop you will be able to make a chain from durable wooden beads made in the Czech Republic and satin cord according to your own ideas, colour combinations or lengths, and learn how to tie split knots between the beads so that they stay in place and the colour of the cord stands out.

Date: Saturday, May 20, 2025, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location: Gallery G18 (Štefánikova 5670, Zlín)
Capacity: 15 people

Admission free. Registration is required through an online form, the registration is binding.

Workshops and Creative Workshops for Schools and the Public

Creative Workshop ROBOTA

The Creative Workshop ROBOTA is operated by Tomas Bata University in Zlín. The workshop fosters and develops creativity and artistic potential, aiming to create a space where education, creation, and inspiration intersect. Simply put, ROBOTA is a technological workshop where creativity knows no limits. For Zlin Design Week, the workshop has prepared several events.

Creative Workshops for Primary and Secondary Schools

The Creative Workshop ROBOTA will open its doors for 1.5 hours for primary and secondary school students. The program will be tailored to the specific class and students. Participants will be able to try out a range of new technologies and will take home something they have created themselves.

When: Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM and 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Where: Building 44, Svit Complex (Vavrečkova 7029, Zlín)
Capacity: One class (max. 26 people)
Entry: 150 CZK / student
Reservations: You can book a workshop by emailing the education manager at jana.jagosova@zlindesignweek.com or robota@utb.cz.

Designers for Children Platform

The entire world is designed. In order to navigate it and become more mindful of ourselves, our surroundings, and our planet in the future, we need to understand design. The Designers for Children platform aims to connect designers with children, as they believe that design is a powerful creative tool that can develop children’s competencies towards critical and creative thinking, visual and media literacy, imagination, and participation. Design can be an enriching experience not only for children but also for parents, beginners, and schools, helping to open their horizons.
The goal of the workshop is to perceive waste as a resource for creative work and to learn new artistic techniques (recycling, upcycling) while creating functional and artistic objects.
Creative work with materials and items that would otherwise end up as waste. The workshop is designed to help you perceive waste as a resource for creative work and learn new artistic techniques (recycling, upcycling) in creating useful and artistic items. The workshop is for creative children and adults, as well as beginners.

Come and create a simple moving object on the theme of DIALOGUE. We will introduce you to the basic principles of mechanical movement, and the rest will be up to the flow of your imagination. Whether it’s a dialogue between the creator and their work or the material that dictates what it should become, we are also interested in the dialogue between people, animals, nature, galaxies, and other ideas that we will apply in our work. It can be a character, a specific object, or even an abstract creation. Either way, you’ll enjoy creating something that not only brings joy but moves easily too! For dialogue, you need movement and interaction, and that’s the kind of work you’ll take home. You can animate it further or start another story elsewhere and in another place. Children from 8 years old can attend on their own, but adults are welcome too.

When: Sunday, May 11, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Where: Komenský Park, Bistro & Bar Brothers
The workshop will be led by Kateřina Přidalová and Martina Hamouzová
Entry: Free

Making Notebooks and Journals with Reformát

Do you want to create a notebook according to your own ideas? Or perhaps make a unique gift for your loved ones? Reformát will guide you through the creation process, where you’ll gain experience in bookbinding, try simple V1 binding, and use old papers saved from disposal.

When: Sunday, May 11, at 12:30 PM, 14:00 PM and 15:30 PM
Where: Tržiště Pod Kaštany
Capacity per session: 15 people
Entry: 250 CZK

Educational Programs for the Main Exhibition DIALOG for Primary and Secondary Schools

The main festival exhibition presents projects focused on future issues and reflecting current needs for the positive development of our environment and life. Educational programs will be held for 8th and 9th-grade primary school students and all secondary school years. The educational program will be led by experienced instructor Robert Spurný, who works at the Moravian Gallery in Brno, where he creates and leads educational programs in the field of design and art. The program will last 1.5 hours.

Dates: Monday, May 12 and Tuesday, May 13, at 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM, and 1:00 PM
Location: Zlín Castle, Soudní 1, 760 01 Zlín 1
Capacity per session: 20 students
Entry: Free for students and teachers

Reservations: You can reserve the educational program by emailing jana.jagosova@zlindesignweek.com.

WHAT DID THE WORKSHOPS LOOK LIKE LAST YEAR?