“The Elephant in the Room” focuses on design issues which tend to be left by the wayside, bypassed both intellectually and practically. In 1814, Ivan Krylov (1769–1844), a poet and fabulist, wrote a fable entitled “The Curious Man,” about a man who goes to a museum and notices all sorts of tiny things, but fails to notice an elephant. The phrase has become an apt metaphorical expression for an obvious controversial question or potentially embarrassing or inflammatory issue never mentioned or discussed by anyone no matter how conspicuous, even though it is known by all.
The “Elephant in the Room” motif of the International Design Week organized by the Faculty of Design uses this is metaphor to give center stage to design treatments of subjects which are either ignored due to political or social embarrassment or lack the luster or appeal of other subjects. The ability of design to address topics from the “forgotten” or “neglected” status and place them at the forefront is especially relevant, particularly in the cases of more complex or controversial issues. The end process of design, which impacts directly on the user or consumer, sheds a new light and offers a different validity to issues that are often abandoned as part of the endless race to innovate and create new markets.
Auditorium 110 / Building 6
Panel host Mr. Erez Bahar, Head of Visual Communication Department, HIT
14:00-14:15 | Mr. TAYO Fatunla
Member – Cartoon Movement – Cartooning for Peace – Cartoonists Association of Nigeria
London, Uk
TAYO Fatunla is a British Nigerian comic artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and BBC contributor who began his cartooning career in Nigeria. He is a graduate of the Kubert School in New Jersey, US.
His clients include the Christian Science Monitor, Action Against Hunger, New York Amsterdam News, the Washington Post, and the Smithsonian, among many others. He has participated in UNESCO’s Cartooning in Africa Forum in Ethiopia and has held several exhibitions,cartoon workshop sessions and presentations on four continents. TAYO's body of work over the years spans various mediums and platforms, showcasing his versatility and commitment to documenting and documenting Black history. He has won numerous awards.
TAYOgraphy
The Art of TAYO Fatunla – An insight as to how he works, where he was, where he is and what next as well as into the business of art.
14:15-14:30 | Mr. Leonhard Grond
Artist and curator, former professor at the PhD programme (PhD in Art), University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
Leonhard Grond works with Ruth Anderwald as artists, curators, and artist-researchers; 2021-24 as professors for the PhD programme (PhD in Art), University of Applied Arts, Vienna. They have exhibited internationally, e.g., Centre Pompidou, Paris, Himalayas Art Museum, Shanghai, Herzliya Museum and Tate Modern, London, and have curated for Kunsthalle Wien, Whitechapel Gallery London, CCA Tel Aviv, Kunsthaus Graz, U-jazdowski Castle Warsaw,a.o.
They initiated the FWF-PEEK projects Dizziness÷A Resource (2015-17) and Navigating Dizziness Together (2020-24) and the EU-funded artistic research The Arts of Resistance (2024-2025) and ART WORKS! European Culture of Resistance and Liberation (2019-21) with Museion Bolzano, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, wannseeFORUM Foundation, HKW Berlin, Foundation Between Bridges, HBK Braunschweig. Their publications include the edited volume Dizziness—A Resource, Sternberg Press, 2019.
Culture of Resistance Against Fascism
At the intersection of international youth work, current artistic research, and political education, the Arts of Resistance project aims to interrogate artworks and cultural assets as a possible means of resistance. To foster a pan-European understanding of fascism and arts-based methods to counter such tendencies, young people, supported by artists, research and co-create artworks as expressions of resistance against fascism. A critical examination of historical works, alongside a comparison of their context, meaning, and agency with the present, lies at the project's core.
14:30-14:45 | Mr. Sergey Helmianov
Institute – CHE Design School (Montenegro)
Designer, architect, design teacher, co-founder of the CHE design school. Sergey is one of the most famous design teachers in Russia. He created and headed the Transportation Design program at the Stieglitz Academy for ten years.
He also headed the Industrial Design Department at the Stieglitz Academy for five years. His graduates work in the most famous companies in the world, from Aston Martin and Land Rover to Renault and Cherry. Sergey was the chief designer of several companies in the field of instrument making and consumer goods. He is also the author of successful articles on design, co-author of the two-volume monograph "St. Petersburg School of Design." For his work, Sergey has been awarded several awards. In particular, he was included in the list of the most famous people of St. Petersburg 2012.
Advanced Design. Personal Experience.
The role and function of design is constantly changing. The most important function of design in the modern world has become – to form meanings and vision of the future. In this lecture, based on Mr. Helmianov’s own experience, he will describe how design schools prepare students for the role of a guide to the future.
14:45-15:00 | Mr. Liad Shadmi
HAW Hamburg, Germany
Liad Shadmi is a freelance graphic designer and art director based in Hamburg. He graduated with honors from Shenkar College of Engineering & Design, . Liad specializes in graphic design, brand identity, art direction, type design, print and layout, and web design, with a strong emphasis on typography in his work. He is passionate about researching design, particularly vernacular design, and believes that design should be rooted in deep and meaningful research. Liad strives to combine heritage and classic attributes with contemporary virtues in his work.
Visual Essays
Shadmi will present his portfolio, focusing on a design-based research approach and highlighting key projects that demonstrate his approach to contrasting heritage and contemporary design.
Auditorium 110 / Building 6
Panel host Mr. Ofer Zick, Head of industrial Design Department, HIT
14:00-14:15 | Arch. Barbara Bochnak
RIBA, FRSA , United Kingdom
Barbara Bochnak is an award-winning architect, researcher, and educator specializing in transformative design solutions. A founding partner of ITOLab, she has collaborated with global firms, including Arup and Pritzker Prize-winning Zaha Hadid Architects. Her portfolio includes landmark projects such as the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics and cultural and community spaces worldwide. Passionate about the intersection of architecture and human experience, she explores innovative approaches to spatial design, focusing on inclusivity, well-being, and play. Barbara is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Architecting Dreams
“Architecting Dreams” explores the journey of turning ideas into reality. Through lessons from Barbara Bochnak’s past and current projects, she will share insights on growth, innovation, and the continual evolution of the creative process.
14:15-14:30 | Mr. Kirill Cheburashkin
Institute – CHE Design School (Montenegro) Russia, Montenegro
Designer, architect, teacher, holder of several patents for inventions and industrial furniture designs.
From 2022 to the present – director and co-founder of CHEBURDESIGN company and the International School of Design CHE DESIGN SCHOOL, and also a visiting Professor of the Chinese Academy of Arts, Hangzhou. From 2010 to 2022 – Head of the Furniture Design Department of the Russian State University of Industrial and Applied Arts, named after S.G.Stroganov.
From 2001 to 2010 – chief designer of the Interior and Equipment Department of the international jewelry company Jewelry Theater In 2000, he graduated from the Russian State University of Industrial and Applied Arts named after S.G.Stroganov, specializing in interior and equipment design, and in 1994, he graduated from the Moscow Special Vocational School with a degree in "restorer of wooden architecture and artistic products made of wood.”
From subject to product
A lecture about Mr. Cheburashkin’s professional experience in the field of furniture design, as well as children's educational and entertainment spaces.
14:30-14:45 | Ms. Eva Stuke
Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Schwäbisch Gmünd, Munich, Germany
Lives in Munich, Germany. Studied at HfG Hochschule für Gestaltung D-Schwäbisch Gmünd, ESDI Escola Superior de Desegnho Industrial BRA-Rio de Janeiro and IKDC Ingvar Kamprad Design Center SWE-Lund with a Diploma in 2006. Since then she has been self-employed with an office in Munich as graphic designer and Illustrator, artist, lecturer at International Munich Art Lab 2018/19. Since 2013 she is a lecturer at THI in Ingolstadt and from 2020 at HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd.
Witnessing Beauty – A Designer's Journey in Creation
Design is about presence, beauty, usability and creation. It comes from deeply witnessing the world and its mastery lies in refining how we see, listen and observe.
14:45-15:00 | Ms. Liron Kroll
MA Royal College of Art, London, UK
An award-winning artist and art director, Liron Kroll is a London-based graduate of the Royal College of Art. She explores the evolving boundaries of photographic practice, integrating photomontage with emerging technologies. Her work spans photography, video art, and immersive installations, examining how popular photography shapes personal and collective identities. Kroll has collaborated with global brands such as BBC, Meta, and Porsche, and her internationally recognized work has been exhibited in galleries, art fairs, and major cultural events worldwide.
'Real' Photographs
Through deconstruction and reassembly, Ms. Kroll examines the boundaries of photographic practice, blending traditional techniques with innovative technologies. Her work explores family photography trends, revealing how visual languages shape our collective consciousness.
Auditorium 110 / Building 6
Panel host Arch. Udi Cramsky, Head of Interior Design Department HIT
12:00-12:15 | Ms. Ruth Anderwald
Artist and curator, former professor at the PhD programme (PhD in Art), University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
Ruth Anderwald works with Leonhard Grond as artists, curators, and artist-researchers; 2021-24 as professors for the PhD programme (PhD in Art), University of Applied Arts, Vienna. They have exhibited internationally, e.g., Centre Pompidou, Paris, Himalayas Art Museum, Shanghai, Herzliya Museum and Tate Modern, London, and have curated for Kunsthalle Wien, Whitechapel Gallery London, CCA Tel Aviv, Kunsthaus Graz, U-jazdowski Castle Warsaw,a.o.
They initiated the FWF-PEEK projects Dizziness÷A Resource (2015-17) and Navigating Dizziness Together (2020-24) and the EU-funded artistic research The Arts of Resistance (2024-2025) and ART WORKS! European Culture of Resistance and Liberation (2019-21) with Museion Bolzano, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, wannseeFORUM Foundation, HKW Berlin, Foundation Between Bridges, HBK Braunschweig. Their publications include the edited volume Dizziness—A Resource, Sternberg Press, 2019.
Dizziness–A Resource
Dizziness is more than feeling dizzy. Dizziness, conceptualised as an unpredictable motion, or the illusion of such motion, takes place in bodies. Thus the phenomenon is not solely a theoretical concept, and its physicality is germane. This long-term artistic research highlights dizziness as a phenomenon of sense in terms of physiological or sensory input but also in terms of emotion, orientation, and epistemic sense-making processes.
12:15-12:30 | Prof. Dmitry Kharshak
Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Dmitry Kharshak, aka Mitya Kharshak — designer, photographer, curator and educator, editor-in-chief of The PROJECTOR design and visual arts magazine, dean of the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL (Saint-Petersburg). His professional career began in 1996 with first commissioned projects in the field of graphic design. Over the past decades he developed numerous projects in the fields of branding, visual identity, visual communications and advertising, media design, poster design, book design, digital communications, packaging, graphic navigation, typography and type design.
The Projected Stories
And a short announcement: Mitya Kharshak has been publishing his magazine The PROJECTOR Design and visual arts magazine since 2007. In his talk he will describe how to be an art-director, designer, editor-in-chief, journalist, interviewer and publisher in one person. How much efforts were put into the magazines' production and how the magazine pays it back. How a publishing hobby became a significant long-lasting project.
12:30-12:45 | Prof. Jacob Timpe
weißensee kunsthochschule berlin, Germany
After beginning his career as an architect and working in Cologne, Barcelona, Darmstadt, and Rome, Jakob Timpe became a product designer and teacher at Weißensee School of Art and Design in Berlin. His work on interiors and exteriors, as well as serially manufactured furniture and lighting, aims to make relationships between materials, constructions, forms and functions more productive. He understands design as a reflexive practice that raises elementary questions about people and their things and negotiates them in the language of design. After having designed for European manufacturers for years he founded the design label Vondingen.
Un/Applied Arts – Work Report
“Un/Applied Arts” gives insights to Prof. Timpe’s work as product designer, presenting fixtures produced by brandsuch as Alias, Marset, Serien, Vondingen, and Moormann as well as unpublished projects and studies.
12:45-13:00 | Mr. Yossi Shamrik
H.I.T graduate, based in the United States
An award-losing, proud pixel pusher, Yossi Shamrik is an LA / TLV-based creative director, motion designer, illustrator, rapper, and beat maker with 20 years of industry experience.
Yossi art directed and established visual languages for social and digital campaigns for global entertainment clients such as Netflix, Disney, Sony, Amazon, A24.
Yossi is the co-founder of Knotably, a boutique studio specializing in short-form motion content for some of the most disruptive consumer brands in the US in recent years: Olipop, LiquidIV, Harry's, Ritual, Bite, Care/of to name a few.
Digging in Deeper or Spreading Yourself Thinner & Wider. A Journey of A Designer.
Journey of a designer who moves from a rapper needing a cover art design for his own debut album to designing for other musicians (Ravid Plotnik, Skrillex’s Owsla records, Kid Ink, Thelonious Monk Foundation) to working in the entertainment industry in LA (Netflix, Disney, Amazon, A24) to co-founding his own studio (LiquidIV, Olipop, Harry’s) while obsessively experimenting with personal projects and everything in between.
