Budapest Design Week is an event of international importance, presenting all areas of the Hungarian design profession, which will be organised by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency from 10 to 20 October this year. As part of the series of events, design students from Széchenyi István University had the opportunity to present their work in a group exhibition. The Győr-based institution's first Budapest exhibition, entitled “Formanyelvek (Principles of Form)”, opened on 10 October and was hosted by the nationally renowned Jászi Gallery. 

As part of the Budapest Design Week programme, the exhibition is the Budapest debut of the students of the Department of Design of Széchenyi István University's Design Campus. This is a huge milestone in the life of SZE's design education and its visibility on a national level, as well as in the lives of the students. The opening of the exhibition, which features design studies, material experiments and presentations of design assignments demonstrating the interdisciplinary thinking of the students, took place on 10 October at the Jászi Gallery (1056 Budapest, Irányi u. 12.).

Dr Daniella Koós, the Director of the Design Campus Competence Centre of Széchenyi István University, Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice-President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations for SZE, Orsolya Jászi, art dealer and Dr Imre Lepsényi, the head of the Department of Industrial Design at the opening of the exhibition (Photo: József Bankó)

At the event, Orsolya Jászi emphasized that her gallery focused on the presentation of graphic artists, later their activities expanded to include textile art, and with the Jerger Krisztina Prize, established in 2021, they wanted to draw the attention of the public to the work of curators and exhibition organizers. Orsolya Jászi stressed that at this time they had been working with Dr Imre Lepsényi, a lecturer at Széchenyi University, who reported on the development of the Győr Design Campus, the successes of the students and the exciting projects. "That's how we got the idea to present the students' work here," said Orsolya Jászi.

Dr Eszter Lukács, the University's Vice-President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations, said: it is an honour that the prestigious gallery provides a worthy venue for the exhibition. She also stressed that the first student exhibition in Budapest is an excellent opportunity for the institution, which offers around 200 different courses to its more than 14 thousand students, including more than 40 English-taught programmes. "In 2021, our Faculty of Design and Performance Arts launched our design courses, which train architects, designers and graphic designers at bachelor and master level. The last few years have proven that it was a worthwhile path to follow, as we have many talented young people to work with and our students are achieving great success. One of them received the special shared prize of the Hungarian Design Award of the Hungarian Design Council at the opening of the Budapest Design Week last year for the design of the encapsulation of a medical device developed by the University's Digital Development Centre," she added. 

"The main strength of our institution lies precisely in the fact that it carries out its future-shaping activities with the cooperation of different disciplines and the participation of students," summarized Dr Lukács. She added: "The Design Campus is located in the Győr Innovation Park, which was inaugurated last year and which also functions as a centre for industrial cooperation and joint research and development. Our students can develop in an inspiring and innovative environment," she said.

The exhibition is open until 20 October, from 10am to 6pm on weekdays.

(Photos by József Bankó):