Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny
slovakia
Currently living and working in Rotterdam, through his art, Tomáš Libertíny continually explores the beauty and intelligence of nature as well as probing into the existential questions of the human mind. He was awarded George Soros’s Open Society Institute Scholarship to study at The University of Washington in Seattle, where he focused on painting and sculpture. After receiving the prestigious Huygens Scholarship, he enrolled in the Masters program at the Design Academy Eindhoven where he received his MFA in 2006. While embracing today’s advanced methods of design and latest technology to explore and realise his art the works are still marked by the hand of the artist. His use of industrial precision is merely ‘”a means to an end” which enables him to set-up conditions for controlled randomness.
Tomáš comes to Eastern to talk about his art and how he manages to walk the line of industrial and natural approaches to creation.
Veronika Rút Fullerová
CZECHIA
UX designer that studied in Zlin and Belgium with a focus on commercial branding as well as comfort for city users. Freelance since 2011, the last 3 years she leads a design studio. She has created the first Czech complex manual for outdoor advertising in the city commissioned by the city of Brno. This material has become a template and an inspiration for cities across the country. Another use of her focus on public spaces is seen in the Manual for cultivated train stations created for the rail authorities. This work dives into the use of advertising across the train stations in Czech Republic. In cooperation with Pilsner Urquell she has also created a new system for work with their brand elements and advertising used by individual restaurants and pubs across Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Veronika comes to talk about her work in public space and what influence a system used in advertising can have on the quality of life of a common citizen.
Vladimir 518
czechia
Founder of the label and publishing house BiggBoss, one of the longest-running rappers on the Czech scene, member of the band PSH, a legend of the graffiti scene, artist, author of scenography for the experimental theatre group TOW, author of the book and documentary series Kmeny, author of the most extensive publication on the stigmatized pre-revolutionary architecture Architektura 58–89.
518 comes to Eastern to talk about drawing driving energy from the local context of the 20th century in Czechoslovakia when creating popular projects in the music, film and publishing industries.
Kickie Chudikova
slovakia
Kickieʼs designs are bold, striking an emotion, yet are aesthetically pleasing, resonating with a broad audience. Having a strong eye for detail, Kickie believes things that are well designed and easy to use have a lasting value, since those are the ones to be kept and passed on to next generations. Trained as an Industrial Designer, Kickie founded her eponymous studio in 2020 in New York. She does commissioned work for International companies as well as designs collectible objects with the aim to elevate peoples experiences and bring a spark of joy into everyday life.
Kickie comes to Eastern to talk about balancing her expertise in between Industrial Design & Craft and her captivation by the timeless beauty of raw materials and empowering of cutting-edge technology.
Oficina
Czechia
Oficina studio is a pioneer of motion design in Czech Republic. Its founding members are Lukáš Fišárek, Marek Cimbálník a Vlaďka Cimbálníková with Jan Netušil joining later. In 2016 the studio started Muovo - an international conference on motion design and visual communication in Prague. Since then the city annually attracts the best creators of motion design and related disciplines from all over the world. They meet, inspire and create a global network of artists. Oficina creates visual systems, brands, TV brands, 2D and 3D animations, explainer videos, websites, interactive games and even installations.
Jan & Marek come to Eastern to talk about how a pioneering studio becomes one of the most recognised creators of motion design in the country.
Michal Slovák
slovakia
Michal Slovák is a graphic designer that specialises in creating visual identities and packaging. He’s worked on more than hundred projects with companies from all around the World - from Honduras through New York to Melbourne. His designs can be found on at least 40 million products. Some of the designs created for Lyra chocolate have received international and local recognition in form of various awards.
Michal comes to Eastern to talk about his success in creating recognisable and successful brands through distinct designs that move bring products closer to consumers.
Peter Olah
slovakia
Peter Olah is an industrial, product, and interior designer with plenty of experience of collaboration with international companies such as Škoda Auto, Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Ford, Adidas, Davidoff, MontBlanc, Heineken, or glassworks as Preciosa and Lasvit. His designs have received many international awards, among others multiple Red Dot Award, ICSID Design Excellence award and the Slovak National Prize for design. He currently works as Head of Interior Design at Škoda Auto and as well as Associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Design, Slovak Technical University.
Peter comes to Eastern to talk about the future design development processes in the automotive industry demonstrated on the latest Showcar ŠKODA VISION 7S.
Peter Olah
slovakia
Martin is a typographer, book designer, blogger, publicist, and the author of Books and Typography. He designs books for tens of thousands of readers as well as various bizarre marginals for only six people in the world, fairy tales for kids, etiquettes for limited-edition spirits, as well as poetry collections, with which he subsequently harasses his friends or Czech public. He replaces the lack of talent with diligence and not-so-very witty mystifications on social networks.
Martin comes to Eastern to talk about reducing the number of fonts, colours and projects – to have more peace and more time to wait for death.
Studio Najbrt
czech republic
Studio Najbrt is a legendary Czech graphic design studio. The studio’s longtime collaborations with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Ambiente group, the City of Prague, Footshop and many others established its bold and playful approach, decorating its imaginary mantelpiece with awards and features in publications from all over the world.
Aleš comes to Eastern to talk about …
Erik Sikora
CZECHIA
Currently the most famous Slovak illustrator, that remains unknown in Slovakia. Martina Pauková is represented by one of the most known illustration agencies in the world—Agent Pekka. Her work has skyrocketed in popularity in the last couple of years. Creating humorous, jam-packed images in a trademark palette and Memphis-inspired patterns have built her an increasingly impressive list of clients like Google, Apple, New Yorker, Cannes Lions, Washington Post and many more.
Martina comes to Eastern to talk about her journey: from serving coffee at Starbucks to the Mount Everest of the illustration world.
Crafting plastics
slovakia
This year's Slovak Design Award laureate, design teacher and one of the leading Slovak typographers, Samo Čarnoký, teaches visual communication at Technical University of Košice. As a designer, he focuses on type design, book and editorial design. He significantly helps to spread the awareness of Slovak design internationally as author/co-author of publications about Slovak temporary typography (Fonts SK), and its tradition (NEONa).
Samo comes to Eastern to talk about the strongest generation of Slovak typography so far, and its unexpected connection to graffiti.
