It would seem that we have long defined modern crises and challenges. Moreover, there are also already quite a few ideas on how to face them. So why aren't we doing anything about it? How do we bring together this scattered knowledge, ideas and resources so that we can begin to act? The answer to this will be sought by the organizers and participants of the 18th edition of the Gdynia Design Days festival, an event that proves that design concerns each of us. We talk about this year's program with Martyna Blaszczyk, head of the Design Center and the Gdynia Design Days Festival.
Gdynia Design Days 2025 poster
© organizers archive
Ola Kloc: The 18th edition of the Gdynia Design Days festival is approaching (GDD will last from June 24 to 29, 2025) - how has the event evolved over the years?
Martyna Blaszczyk: This year's edition of Gdynia Design Days is symbolically entering adulthood. In reality, however, the process has been going on for years - the festival has matured gradually, with the changing social context, the evolution of themes and expectations, as well as the development of our team and audience.
From the beginning, GDD resonated strongly with what was current and important. It was a tool for interpretation and commentary. At different times we accentuated different themes - sometimes a cautionary tone rang out, sometimes a reflective one, at other times an activating one for action. The language we used also evolved. For a while, the alarmist narrative dominated - festival messages spoke of threats, crises, the inevitable consequences of human actions. Today we are consciously moving away from such a tone, not because the problems have disappeared, but because the scale of the social burden of anxiety has reached a level that takes away the ability to act.
We have changed our approach - not the topics that remain as important. Today, we strive to talk about them in a language that does not overwhelm, but builds - points out alternatives, encourages reflection, inspires responsible choices. We believe that design can and should foster a sense of agency - both individual and collective - and show that change is possible. Taking care of oneself, one's own resources and relationships is also an important part of this change.
© Gdynia Design Days
In parallel, our audience is maturing. This is another component of the maturation of Gdynia Design Days, which, after all, does not function without an audience. People connected with the design industry, as well as a wide range of people outside it, are today showing much greater awareness, competence and sensitivity to the role of design in shaping reality. As organizers, we feel a responsibility to make our exhibitions and events substantively in-depth, timely and meaningful. At the same time, we do not want to close ourselves in a bubble of experts - it is important to us that also people who are not professionally connected with design can feel invited, curious, included in the conversation. Because design concerns us all.
Gdynia Design Days is also about the team - diverse, committed, growing with the festival. Working in a creative environment gives us the space to constantly learn, have substantive debates and verify our own beliefs. We are authentic and act in accordance with the values we promote. Every year, we subject our decisions to critical analysis, because we want to learn lessons. One area that has undergone a particularly marked transformation is the approach to producing festival materials. We are now seeking a balance between the visibility of the event and minimizing the environmental footprint. It's not an easy road, but we're consciously taking it - with the belief that responsibility begins with everyday choices.
Ola Kloc: You portray design as a tool for change - did any of the projects presented at GDD, in your opinion, offer particular hope for improving the contemporary state of affairs?
Martyna Blaszczyk: There are a lot of projects that were shown at Gdynia Design Days, and later you could follow them already as implementations, products and services. However, this year we want to pay special attention to another aspect. Although every year we show ready-made solutions, often just implemented, at our fingertips, the great changes that many of us dream about are not visible. For some reason, we keep talking about the same challenges and needs, and our reality is entangled in the same problems. We want to ask why this is the case. After all, very often we know what to do, but for some reason we don't do it. That's why, instead of bidding on successes, what innovative things have we implemented or invented, we want to stop, look around and ask what we already have.
© Gdynia Design Days
Ola Kloc: The slogan for this year's edition is Dispersion, what does it mean? How does it relate to where we are now?
Martyna Blaszczyk: It's a multi-threaded slogan that can be applied to our reality in many ways. One thread is the multitude of innovative, single solutions that are too ephemeral to bring about concrete change. We are wanderers without a compass that sets a clear direction, such as modernism once did. Today we have an abundance of great and valuable ideas. But they are not clothed in a single goal, which makes it difficult to follow them. We have solutions all around us, but we don't use them, we can't fully grasp them.
On the other hand, looking at dispersal, we also found a very positive overtone to this slogan, which is the dispersal of our resources. Building small centers of our communities is an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable choice. This topic will be addressed during her lecture by Hanna Obracht-Prondzynska, June 27 at 18:00.
Ola Kloc: What exhibitions await the participants and attendees of this year's GDD?
Martyna Blaszczyk: This year's edition of Gdynia Design Days includes as many as a dozen exhibitions that address current topics - including social, environmental, cultural - all through the prism of design. There will be both speculative design exhibitions and installations, as well as real-life implementations. There will also be a strong research thread. All this in an accessible form, allowing people from the respective industries to explore the issues.
Among this year's offerings, special attention should be paid to "Product Housing," which takes an in-depth look at housing as a complex product - not only spatial, but also economic and social. It's an exhibition that asks much broader questions: what determines the shape of our dwellings, who decides on them, and how do they affect our daily lives?
© Gdynia Design Days
Curators Zofia Piotrowska, Łukasz Stępnik and Milena Trzcińska take us through the layers of the housing system: from law and politics, to market forces, to design. The exhibition shows that housing today is not only a need, but also a commodity - and at the same time an area where social and economic tensions accumulate. "The Product of Housing" does not provide ready answers, but opens a space for reflection: what can we - as society, designers, decision-makers - do to make living better, more dignified and more responsible. It is an important voice in the discussion about how design can support real changes - not only aesthetic, but above all systemic.
The program for this year's Gdynia Design Days festival is available on the event's website:
GDD 2025
