7. 10. 2014
The international furniture fair Ambient Ljubljana officially opened its door today. Until Sunday, it will host 206 companies from 20 countries. The 25th fair is this year united with the Month of Design, for the first time presenting a common brand, Design Week; visitors are invited to attend both events, focused on the significance of design, by means of a reduced ticket and free city bus transfer between the two locations. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is the partner country of this year’s fair.
Design is also a common thread of awards and prizes which were granted this morning at the ceremonial opening. The absolute favourite of all juries and the winner of most awards is the kitchen Spruce Fir and Terrazzo by Pohištvo Potočnik, Aleš Potočnik, s.p., designed by Julijan Krapež.
The fair was officially opened by Jelka Žekar, Deputy Mayoress of the City of Ljubljana. As director of the GR-Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, Iztok Bricl, M.Sc., pointed out, the organizers of the Ambient Ljubljana fair strive for outstanding designers’ achievements to become recognized by a widest circle, and the awarded products are presented at a special exhibition. For the fifth time, young, not yet established designers and architects are enabled to present their work at the Top Ideas exchange and exhibition. “The Ambient fair also opens the door for intercultural inspirations and connections with other exhibitions; this year, in addition to the Embassy of the Netherlands, there are again the contributions of the Italian and Polish embassies. Each in its own context, the exhibitions emphasize typical but at the same time unique highlights of these three national designs. Their common denominators are tradition, knowledge, creativity and innovation as consideration and challenge of creating new products or brands. Every one of us needs good design, highly developed industry of furniture and furnishing with a well-conceived concept of entrepreneurship, which is able to successfully adapt to new market challenges. All of these are the characteristics of the 25th Ambient.”
The favourite of the 25th Ambient: Spruce Fir and Terrazzo, Pohištvo Potočnik, Aleš Potočnik, s.p., designer Julijan Krapež.
For the first time in the history of Ljubljana furniture fair, juries agreed about design surpluses. The kitchen Spruce Fir and Terrazzo came among the TOP 5, became the winner – TOP OF THE TOP and got the award for the most beautiful exhibition space – all awards granted by the GR-Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre. The kitchen was granted a special prize by the Designers Society of Slovenia. Aleš Potočnik and Julijan Krapež with their kitchen are also this year’s winners of the Golden Plaque by the magazine Naš dom at the newspaper Večer.
A special internationally jury TOP 5 with members Barbara Delucca, Italy, Rianne Makkink, the Netherlands, and Janez Koželj, Jure Miklavc and president of the jury Vladimir Pezdirc, Slovenia, explained their decision for kitchen Spruce Fir and Terrazzo as follows:
“The product clearly shows that it is a result of close collaboration between designer and manufacturer. They chose a primary Slovenian wood - spruce fir, which hasn’t typically been used for kitchen furniture. They proceeded from Slovenian tradition and successfully integrated it in contemporary living environment. With imaginative combination of wood and terrazzo they created playful and ergonomic work surface. In spite of reduced details, the end result evokes a feeling of incredible quality. The elements are exceptionally accomplished not only on the outside but also inside. Regardless of that, the price is reasonable.”
Pohištvo Potočnik is a company with tradition, which has developed and affirmed its value since 1895. As director Aleš Potočnik said, the awards from this year’s fair “show the affirmation of our ideas and an encouragement to develop these ideas into manufacturing of a useful product with a designer’s signature. This year we especially wanted to emphasize the choice of available, reasonably priced materials.
The kitchen is a combination of two autochthon materials: solid spruce fir wood and terrazzo. Both are rarely used in nowadays interiors and we wanted to revive them in a contemporary kitchen. Spruce fir wood comes from Slovenian Savinjska region, and terrazzo is modelled on famous architect Plečnik's terrazzos from the first half of the 20th century. The emphasis is on the selection of available Slovenian materials with reasonable prices.”
The fair is open from Tuesday till Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., on Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.