12.12.2012—17.3.2013
Lower Exhibition Hall
In 2006, inspired by their city’s rich heritage of local manufacturers and craftspeople, Tulga Beyerle, Thomas Geisler, and Lilli Hollein, founders of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, began a special project, called Passionswege, which matched young designers with traditional workshops, manufacturers, and retailers in Vienna. By focusing on the transfer of knowledge and skills between the invited partners and carefully guiding the process—yet leaving the potential for results quite open—they generated a series of encounters that worked quite differently
from usual design collaborations.

Here it is not the product that is at the center of interest, but people, knowledge, attitudes, and the process of working together. This exhibition, curated by Sophie Lovell and designed by Studio Makkink & Bey, mixes centuries of craft skills with new design thinking and shows that design can be inspiring to everyone—producer and consumer alike. It is about the soft and hard values of design as a facilitator for bringing people together and enhancing the commercial and creative profile of a city at the same time.

First presented during World Design Helsinki 2012 this extended
exhibition at the MAK also draws on the museum’s rich collection and archive material of works by Viennese manufacturers, some of which have been in business for generations.

An exhibition of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK in cooperation with the MAK. Special thanks to all companies involved.

Guest Curator Sophie Lovell, Berlin
Curator Thomas Geisler, Curator MAK  Design Collection
Design Studio Makkink & Bey, Rotterdam

Designers Tomás Alonso (ES), Mark Braun (DE),  breadedEscalope (AT), Uli Budde (DE), DanklHampel (AT), Daphna Laurens (NL), Marco Dessí (IT), Patrycja Domanska (PL), Martino Gamper (IT), Megumi Ito (AT), Steffen Kehrle (DE), Tomas Kral (CH), Matylda Krzykowski (PL), Max Lamb (GB), Julia Landsiedl (AT), Tina Lehner (AT), LucidiPevere (IT), Philippe Malouin (CA), mischer’traxler (AT), Nicolas Le Moigne (CH), Polka (AT), Daniel Pošta (CZ), Adrien Rovero (FR), Robert Rüf (AT), Soda Designers (AT), Charlotte Talbot (FR), Walter Thaler (IT), Kim Tien (AT), Vandasye (AT), Maxim Velcovský (CZ), Adam Wehsely-Swiczinsky (AT), White Elephant (AT), Marei Wollersberger (AT)

Under the design> new strategies. cooperation between the MAK and departure, the creative agency of the City of Vienna, the exhibition will be accompanied by an interdisciplinary supporting program which addresses the importance of local production facilities for the creative industries and explores potentials for innovation and spaces for experimentation.

Catalogue WerkStadt Vienna. DESIGN ENGAGING THE CITY, available at the MAK Design Shop