From October 7 to 15, Combinatul Fondului Plastic will host the tenth edition of the DIPLOMA Show, a festival of the new generation of Romanian artists, architects and designers. The event, organized by the Institute and presented by UniCredit Bank, brings together 130 works from 16 creative fields, from fashion to interior design, painting, architecture, etc.

To find out the vision of the new generation of Romanian creators, as well as how they feel about the realities of the moment, we invited five key members of the DIPLOMA Show 2023 creative board to a dialogue. Here’s what they told us Omid Gannadi, Ekaterina Margidan, Monica Dan, Oana Diaconescu and Lucian Brosketean.

Omid Gannadi, interior designer and co-founder of Inside Academy

Omid Gannadi became widely known as the architect in the show Turnkey dreams. He graduated from the “Ion Minku” University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, and in 2010 he founded his own office of architecture and interior design. Omid is of Iranian origin, and the experience of multicultural life influences his work. He is the co-founder of Inside-Academy, an interior design school, and a specialist close to the new generation of Romanian creators.

“It was a pleasure for me to be part of the creative board at the DIPLOMA Show, as it is also the 10th anniversary. What I find extraordinary every year is the increase in the quality of the artistic act, a kind of depth and maturity of the thesis projects. This year, we saw that almost all projects have their own manifesto, everyone wants to change the world for the better in their own way,” says Omid Gannadi.

Regarding the topics covered in theses, Omid Gannadi says he is happy to see a growing concern for saving the planet, as well as topics such as mental health or the search for emotional balance, which is so fragile today. The architect also admits that he was surprised by the continuous evolution of the work of young artists and that many bold themes found support from mentor teachers.

Ekaterina Margidan, associate professor at George Enescu National University of Arts in Iasi

Ecaterina Mărghidan is an artist and, since 2004, a teacher at the National University of Arts “George Enescu” in Iași, majoring in “Textile Art – Textile Design”.

Having extensive experience in both artistic and teaching careers, Kateryna Margidan says that while analyzing the works sent to this year’s DIPLOMA Show, she noticed that there is an inclination of the new generation to current social issues and new digital technologies.

“Textile design can benefit from the contribution of artificial intelligence technologies. The artist (programmer) sets the parameters, the created variations pass through the filter of the artist and the consumer. As in the past, the interpretation of the works from the point of view of human experience is what will add value to the object,” adds Ekaterina.

Monica Dehn, PhD, university lecturer and director of the Department of Graphics at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca

Monica Dan works at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca and is involved in a variety of artistic, educational and research activities. Over time, she was present both at personal exhibitions and at numerous all-Ukrainian and international collective exhibitions.

In 2023, Monica Deng joined the creative board of the DIPLOMA Show for the first time. She says she was surprised to see exciting elements and promising ideas in the entries she judged, and this year’s projects reflect a diversity of perspectives and themes.

In this context, we asked Monica to tell us what advice she would give to an aspiring artist: “A valuable piece of advice I would give to an aspiring artist would be to keep your enthusiasm and the courage to explore. At the same time, it is important to invest in the continuous development of artistic skills, to be open to learning and evolution. Creating an authentic portfolio that reflects your personal style and aspirations, as well as an active presence, can help you gain exposure and connect with the art community. And last but not least: communication with experienced people can give them feedback and advice, and persistence and belief in one’s own potential can be the key to overcoming difficulties on their artistic path,” says Monica Dan.

Oana Diaconescu, architect and dean of the Faculty of Interior Architecture of the University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Minku”

Oana Diaconescu completed her PhD in Architecture and Museography in 2012 at the Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy, and since 2013 she has been a lecturer at the Ion Minku University of Architecture and Urbanism.

Through the prism of her work, Oana Diaconescu is very close to the new generation of Romanian creators and believes that these young people do not lack passion and creativity. But he recommends them to constantly study, to be aware of technologies, design solutions, materials and trends of the time.

Regarding the works she judged at this year’s DIPLOMA Show, Oana says that most of the projects involved, in her personal vision, interventions in heritage sites, both at home and abroad. “I appreciated both the novelty and expressiveness of these approaches, as well as the analytical connection between the conceptual approach and the proposed architectural solutions. Of course, the participating works only assure us of a high-quality crescendo of design in interior architecture.”

Lucian Broscățean, fashion designer and Director of the Department of Fashion – Fashion Design at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca

With more than 20 years of experience in the fashion industry, Lucan has won several important awards and participated in prestigious events such as: Romanian Fashion Week (Iasi), Romanian Design Week (Bucharest), International Fashion Show at London Fashion Week or MQ Vienna Fashion week.

Lucian Broscățean decided to analyze the projects presented at the DIPLOMA Show 2023 from a didactic point of view. The designer says he has been pleased to discover many projects whose themes revolve around environmental responsibility and the full journey from concept to finished product. Among the large number of entries, several collections stood out which, in addition to the aspects mentioned, also emphasized a certain rigor in the construction of the garment details, thus highlighting technical skills and attention to detail.

Answering the question about the pros and cons of the creative professional and educational environment in Romania, Lucian Broskeian adds:

“I’ve done it several times… sidestep – it is better to see what is behind and what may be ahead. The responsibilities are many, big, difficult, especially because you help people shape their path and turn their passion for fashion into a professional job. I am a firm believer in communication, diplomacy and procedural elegance. At the same time, I think it is unfair to generalize and say that the whole system does not work, because it would be disrespectful to the efforts of those who not only believe in change, but try to generate it, forgetting about personal pride or excluding vindictive politics. It takes a lot of empathy and respect to be able to make systemic, long-term change.”

DIPLOMA Show is a festival of the new generation of Romanian artists, architects and designers, organized by the Institute and presented by UniCredit Bank at Combinatul Fondului Plastic from October 7 to 15. This year brings together 130 works from 16 creative fields, selected from a record number of registrations.

More details about the festival and its schedule will be announced on the Facebook page of the DIPLOM community, here. Information about the festival will also be available on the Instagram page and website.

Media partnership