12 Gifts for Czech Design Lovers

The annual designSUPERMARKET, is the largest exhibition of contemporary design in Prague and a welcome alternative to the more traditional Chirstmas markets. Held this year from December 11-14, 2014 at Dům U Minuty in Old Town Square, visitors can browse 80-plus Czech and international brands, plus attend workshops (paint your own jewellery!), and enjoy holiday treats and cheer. Try these tips for great gifts:

1) Fashion with a bohemian edge – Alice Klouzková, one half of the pair of designers SISTERSCONSPIRACY will present her new project focusing on the application of Bohemian and Moravian traditional textile techniques in current clothing.

2) Clothes on tape – LEEDA, the established Czech fashion brand, will present the current collection and also the new spring/summer collection Marks-Značky inspired by marks from the coloured adhesive tapes which are used on film sets.

3) Haircut hats – Sofya Samareva will have the commercial premiere of her UPRUM diploma design collection at designSUPERMARKET 2014.  The designer created an original version of the traditional headgear: hats become haircuts and haircuts become hats! The material is 100% rabbit fur.

4) Super chic accesories – Mirka Horkáand Hana Frišonsová have joined forces to create their first collection. It is a ready-to-wear line consisting of sweatshirts, tunics, tops and accessories, in which each designer employed their characteristic attitude.

5) Christmas-edition sneakers – BOTAS 66 has prepared a special Christmas model, Forever Second, for anyone who is always in second place or never gets what they wished for at Christmas. 

6) Upcycled awesomeness – Contiqua creates products from residuary materials, which would end up at waste disposals or incinerators. DesignSUPERMARKET will present the first three collections. Several leading Czech authors are involved in the project:, Lucie Houdková, for instance, designed wooden jewellery, which was supposed to become a Petrof piano.

7) DIY silver – Kay Konečná will present her new do-it-yourself jewellery kits under the Lets Become Paint Friends brand. The pieces are made using a special technology, where your specific brush strokes or rich hues are cast in silver.

8) Futuristic coffee set – Kristýna Malovaná from the MORPHE production design studio will present the premiere of her coffee set collection, which is special due to high-grade materials and a flap portable picnic table, which cleverly deals with an uneven surface.

9) Czech-made toys – Nuxo studio by designer Libor Motycka creates wooden furnishing and objects for the home and children. Their compact, rounded wooden cars in bright colors make a cut idea for under the tree.

10) Design without borders – Muslin Brothersclothing is not Czech but too unique not to mention! You will not find sizes or gender-oriented divisions here. The design duo from Tel Aviv will present their work at designSUPERMARKET at the trade exhibition, workshop and in a lecture.

11) Retro time tellers – NANOVO collects and sensibly renovates original furniture and home accessories made in the second half of the twentieth century. For designSUPERMARKET they wil present a collection of industrial wall clocks and PRIM watches PRIM t recreat the atmosphere of a watch-repair shop.

12) Lovely local pieces – The aim of LOCAL ICONS is the support and development of local fashion industry and its interaction with contemporary design. The project selects and presents timeless basic clothes made in Czech factories and initiates the renewal of its design. DesignSUPERMARKET will see the premiere of new basics and first redesigns by LOCAL ICONS in cooperation with designers LaFormela and Katarína Kral.