16th International Design Contest Trieste Contemporanea

16th International Design Contest Trieste Contemporanea is now open for entries!

The Trieste Contemporanea Committee is pleased to announce the 16th edition of its International Design Contest: HOLD THE PLACE, with the aim of showcasing the most original design offerings from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Short description

The Trieste Contemporanea Committee announces the 16th edition of the International Design Contest Trieste Contemporanea, the biennial design competition, with the aim of showcasing the most original contemporary design offerings from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

The 16th edition of the Competition is structured around two themes, each inviting designers to explore different aspects of the relationship between object, memory, and place.

GENERAL THEME
Participants are invited to propose 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.

For the 2026 edition, participants are asked to develop an original concept for a small functional object that preserves a personal experience of Friuli Venezia Giulia, whether lived directly or imagined. The brief emphasizes use, formal clarity, conceptual strength, and practical feasibility, and asks entrants to translate the cultural, historical, social, or landscape character of the region into a coherent design proposal. A special theme is also attached to the Venzone Special Prize, which specifically invites projects connected to Venzone and its symbolic role in post-earthquake reconstruction, resilience, and community.

The panel of judges, consisting of international experts and representatives from the Central European Initiative and Trieste Contemporanea, will select a number of best designs and award the contest’s prizes.

The awards ceremony will take place in Trieste by 15 of September 2026.

Submission requirements

➜ The project of the original design object, which should be unpublished and containing all the information required for its production, saved as .pdf file, max 5 MB.
➜ A narrative capsule (a short text that effectively conveys the essence of the object), max 100 characters, and a rationale (a thorough account explaining the concept behind the new object, and design and production choices), max 2,400 characters.
➜ A candidate’s descriptive CV text, max 1500 characters.

Eligibility

This competition is open to designers of any age born in Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, or Ukraine, entering individually or in groups, with one original and previously unpublished project per individual or group.

Prize

The 2026 awards include the Gillo Dorfles Prize of €4,000 for the best overall design, the CEI Prize of €3,000 for the best design from a non-EU CEI country, the Venzone Special Prize of €2,000 for the project that best represents the special 2026 theme, and the BEBA Prize of €1,000 for the youngest individually participating designer among those selected.

In addition, selected projects will be exhibited in Trieste and published in an online catalogue, and the winning designers will be invited to the award ceremony in Trieste with travel and accommodation expenses covered by Trieste Contemporanea.