For the 16th time Łódź Design Festival has the honor and great pleasure to invite students and graduates of art and design faculties to take part in the international design competition make me!. 

Recruitment for the new edition started on 22.11.2022 and will close on 22.03.2023. The prize pool is 50.000 pln.

Innovation is a driving force of development, while youth is an embodiment of unlimited imagination and freedom in design. If we join these two elements, we can revolutionize the existing image of the world. The best example of that is the international design competition make me! organized within Łódź Design Festival – open to designers from the new generation, with innovative ideas and designs that can bring a good change. It allows for great freedom to create and is dedicated to all young pioneers of design, whose designing process is initiated by the recognition of a specific need or a problem. Therefore, if you are between 20 and 35 years old, a designer or an entrant of art and design faculties and creativity is your middle name, this competition is for you!

Sign up for the competition before 23rd March 2023!

Recruitment to the new 16th competition make me! starts on 22.11.2022 and will last until 22.02.2023. It is dedicated to young, creative people, who, through designing, want to change the world for the better. There is no subject by definition, which allows for great freedom to create, experimenting, and most importantly for innovativeness. It is a unique opportunity for the young generation to show what is most important by designing outside the industry and commerciality – not only to face socially vital issues and new materials but also to interpret the functionality of existing products. The organizers point out that the ultimate goal of make me! is to forecast impending trends and brave ideas, and support young designers, who are ready to take off.

Open the doors to further career

Submitted works are evaluated in two stages by a carefully selected jury, which includes experts from various fields. These are, though, closely related to broadly defined design. The projects awarded in previous editions distinguished themselves by social responsibility, environmental awareness, or innovative function. They were an answer to the needs of changing world and overcame barriers and taboo subjects. Those designs were created primarily with the thought of people and for people, yet with respect for the surrounding world. In addition, they have always responded to current issues and needs, which allowed them to be repeatedly put on commercial sales. In fact, make me! is more than a prestigious competition with attractive prizes! Thanks to open to the audience presentation of rewarded designs in an exhibition and contact with experts, it can be a springboard for further professional development. As emphasized by the finalists from former editions, it opens up new career possibilities. It allows you to become known in the design environment and to promote yourself through numerous publications or subsequent exhibitions. All that makes the planned prize pool of 50.000 pln just the icing on the cake.

Recruitment of applications lasts from 22.11.2022 to 22.03.2023. Winners will be announced during the following edition of Łódź Design Festival, which will start in May 2023. Prize pool of make me! Design Awards 2023 amounts to 50.000 pln!

If you are still not convinced if the competition is just for you, read what the former finalists of make me! have to say about it: 

Julia Sulikowska, a designer and author of Urban Coolspot Project who was awarded 1st place in the competition make me! on Łódź Design Festival 2022.

"Participation in the competition make me! gave me, first and foremost, motivation! The project arouses a great interest, which drives me to develop the idea further. Urban Coolspot Project has met with the interest of the AG.URBAN - a Berlin office, where I'm employed. The project has been published as one of fifteen ideas for local climate adaptation for one of Berlin's districts. Moreover, I'm in contact with Paradyż company - the patron of the festival".

Maciej Głowacki, a designer, who was awarded 2nd place in make me! competition on Łódź Design Festival 2022 for Wymazówka CRN_01 "Koliber" project. 

"Make me! is such a prestigious competition, with the jury experienced in the field, that even the fact of being recognized gave me much self-confidence. People with authentic authority have chosen my idea and decided that it's worth showing to the world – I took it as a message that my designing activity makes sense. I confirmed my conviction that it was the right life decision and that it is worth following this path further. What is left, if not a search and attempts to create values?".

More information and the application form can be found here.

Top image courtesy of make me!. 

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