(smow) blog compact design tourism special: Croatian Design Superstore, Zadar

In our post from the excellent exhibition Croatian Holiday at Vienna Design Week 2012 we questioned the curators assertion that through incorporating contemporary designers into a nation’s tourist industry one could help that nation promote a contemporary national identity abroad.

Our scepticism wasn’t levied at the employment of designers in, for example, creating furniture for hotels, the interior design of tourist attractions or promotional material, but much more about employing designers to create contemporary souvenirs.

“Tourists aren’t interested in modern interpretations of national identities”, we argued, “tourists want the traditional, the expected, but mainly the things other people have and did.”

Fortunately not only tourists travel, also people who are interested in discovering a country, learning about its past and exploring what its contemporary culture has to offer. Such people, we theorised, may purchase objects by contemporary designers, “not because of any cultural identification but because they are high quality, original objects.”

One simply has to offer appropriate opportunities to view and purchase such.

And so it was with great delight, and just a touch of excitement, that we received news from a holidaying acquaintance of the project “Croatian Design Superstore” currently residing in the National Museum in Zadar.

A temporary institution that appears to do just that.

As the Superstore currently has no website and/or other information as to exactly who is represented and with what, we can sadly only base our opinion on a few Facebook photos and a promotional flyer – but what we have seen impresses.

From the 2012 Croatian Holiday exhibition only the XZ folding chair by Numen / For Use and the tote bag family “Croatia – as it is” by Superstudio 29 appear to have made it through to the Croatian Design Superstore.

The delightful Katriga table and chairs by Neven Kovačićby don’t appear to be on offer in Zadar, in their place however Neven and Sanja Kovačićby’s sofa bed family Up-Lift for Croatian manufacturer Prostoria; a product which we’ve never experienced “in the flesh” but which certainly looks very promising.

In addition we were very taken with the photos we’ve seen of Numen / For Use’s Polygon armchair and XL Folding Lounge Chair, the desk lamp Mini Me by Filip Gordon Frank and the Handy Bowl collection by Lidia Boševski. Elsewhere the Croatian Design Superstore offers a selection of toys, clothing, ceramics, furniture and lighting by a nice mix of Croatian designers young and less so.

But perhaps most convincingly, the presence of YY by Numen / For Use – a project that began life as a chair for a hotel in Rovinj on Croatia’s northern shores and ended up in the Moroso programme – highlights that even international furniture manufacturers occasionally pick up high quality, original contemporary design objects while on holiday.

So why shouldn’t you?

Should you find yourself in Croatia this summer the Croatian Design Superstore can be visited until Thursday September 25th at the Rector’s Palace, Poljana Šime Budinića, Zadar.

Full(ish) details can be found at www.facebook.com/croatiandesignsuperstore. From where we have appropriated the following images…..