On April 4th at 1:30 pm in the Giraffe Hall at the Museum of Humor and Satire in Gabrovo, the publisher, engineer, and designer Bistra Shishkova will present the book “Bulgarian Product Design 2000/2022” and a discussion on “The Future of the Forest and the Second Life of Wood” will be held. The discussion will be attended by the chairman of the Branch Chamber of Woodworking and Furniture Industry (BCWFI), Prof. Dr. Vasil Zhivkov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgi Kostov, lecturer at the University of Forestry and chairman of the Board of Directors of North Central State Enterprise (NCSE), Engineer Georgi Nedkov, director of NCSE – Gabrovo, and Engineer Petar Dishkov, representative of “Kronospan Bulgaria” Ltd. – a company that utilizes waste wood.
A total of 50 Bulgarian designers and studios with over 350 developed products participate in the book – a representative bilingual edition prepared by a team of established professionals. Furniture, lighting fixtures, vehicles, appliances, tools, toys, household items, dishes, and many other products made by top Bulgarian designers are presented on over 400 pages. Many of them have received prestigious international design awards. The special selection aims to build a representative image of contemporary Bulgarian design. The publication is oriented towards both the Bulgarian and foreign audiences and aims to popularize the achievements of Bulgarian designers.
Space in the book is also dedicated to the stories of some of the notable products. Among them is the emblematic Seat Table, or ST for short – a solution that is elegant and striking with its simplicity, transforming a chair into a table, which can be seen among the pieces at the exhibition in Gabrovo. ST owes its appearance to the successful collaboration between designer Ilian Milanov and visionary Mladen Tsonev, manager of the office furniture manufacturing company ORT. In 2002, Seat Table won the two most prestigious awards from the international chair exhibition PROMOSEDIA in the Italian city of Udine – the “Top 10” Visitors’ Award and the “Best Chair in the World for 2002”. In the following two years, several more improved modifications appeared, and in 2004, ST added several more international awards, including Best of NeoCon and Innovations Awards Grand Prize. Today, the table chair is offered by Furnit. In addition, Ilian Milanov has a total of four Red Dot awards for his other projects.
