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Design without borders - Reflections
An international crossover exhibition focusing on textiles, jewellery and contemporary music
Venue: Polish Institute, Vienna (Am Gestade 7, 1010 Wien, Austria)
Date: 26.9 - 5.10.2025.
The exhibition is part of the Vienna Design Week and the Long Night of Museums in Vienna 2025
Határtalan design - Reflexiók
Nemzetközi összművészeti textil- és ékszerkiállítás kortárs zenei inspirációkra
Helyszín: Lengyel Intézet, Bécs (Am Gestade 7, 1010 Wien, Austria)
Időtartam: 2025.9.26 - 10.5.
A kiállítás a Vienna Design Week és a Long Night of Museums in Vienna 2025 programsorozat része
Design without borders - Reflections - An international crossover exhibition focusing on textiles, jewellery and contemporary music
Venue: Polish Institute, Vienna (Am Gestade 7, 1010 Wien, Austria) Date: 26.9 - 5.10.2025.
The exhibition is part of the Vienna Design Week and the Long Night of Museums in Vienna 2025
Határtalan Design – Reflexiók – Nemzetközi crossover kiállítás, amelynek középpontjában a textil, az ékszer és a kortárs zene áll
Helyszín: Lengyel Intézet, Bécs (Am Gestade 7, 1010 Wien, Ausztria) Időpont: 2025. szeptember 26. – október 5.
A kiállítás a Bécsi Design Hét és a 2025-ös Bécsi Múzeumok Éjszakája rendezvények része.
PHOTO: Attila Kovács
DESCRIPTION - EN
Design Without Borders - Reflections
An international crossover exhibition focusing on textiles, jewellery and contemporary music
The Design Without Borders – Reflections exhibition presents a special all-arts experience, where Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian textile and jewellery designers reflect on the works of contemporary composers. The exhibition programme includes curatorial guided tours with the artists, and a dance performance at the VDW Site Event on 29 September.
The 22-year old Budapest exhibition and event series is showcased for the fourth time outside the Hungarian capital, and for the second time as part of Vienna Design Week. Realised without institutional backing, this independent project has evolved greatly and has now become one of the region's major design and all-arts events.
The name “Design Without Borders” refers to the internationality of the project, regional dialogue and European cohesion, focusing on the interoperability between different artistic disciplines and themes and the dialogue between generations. The organisers are keen to demonstrate the wider meaning of design: by broadening the concept, they focus on creativity and innovation.
The exhibition at Vienna's Polish Institute is an integral continuation of two previous DWB projects, the 2023 thematic exhibition at the FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture, organised to mark the 100th anniversary of György Ligeti’s birth. There, eleven Hungarian textile artists designed digitally printed works for the composer's 11-movement piano cycle Musica Ricercata.
This year, twenty Hungarian textile artists created digitally printed textiles inspired by the CentriFUGA production of the Transparent Sound New Music Festival in Budapest, which were again presented at the FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture. Eight composers participated in the project, creating different music flows, which were visually mapped by the textile artists. With the same-sized textile modules, placed next to each other in the exhibition, the designers were free to create a reflection on the style of the chosen composers or a specific piece of music.
As a continuation of the above series, the exhibition – now international in scope – features digitally printed same-size textiles inspired by the works of contemporary composers that were designed and freely interpreted by textile artists and graphic designers. Also included are works by contemporary jewellery artists, who dedicate their works to specific pieces by the composers. The musical works are accessible via QR code in the exhibition, offering visitors an innovative all-arts experience. The project brings together artists from different generations, emerging artists, mid-generation and established textile and jewellery designers, graphic designers and contemporary composers.
Text by: Gabriella Rothman
The event is supported by the International Visegrad Fund.
The founding curators of the exhibition are:
Tamás Radnóti, interior designer, and Szilvia Szigeti textile designer.
Accompanying programme: on 29 September at 18:00
Cocktail reception, discussion and dance performance:
Design without borders – Reflections
An all-art event attended by the exhibiting artists, featuring a dance performance followed by a reception, with the participation of dancer Rita Góbi.
Curators will be present during gallery opening hours on:
27 Sep 2025 16:00 – 18:00
28 Sep 16:00 – 18:00
4 Oct 16:00 – 18:00
4 Oct 16:00 – 18:00
TEXTILE DESIGNER / TEXTILTERVEZŐK
Gertrud Fischbacher, Jitka Škopová, Klára Spišková, Matěj Rejšek, Valerie Štecová, Balázs Viola, Horváth Evelin, Szigeti Szilvia, Zimonyi Gwendolin, Aleksandra Stasik, Anna Grabowska, Paulina Sołtyszewska, Weronika Tyce, Otilia Boeru, Oloop Studio, Beata Gerbocová, Eunika Bebjaková, Mária Fulková, Zuzana Ondrejková
AT
Gertrud Fischbacher
textile artist
Viola Falb
composer
Viola Falb - saxophone
Bernd Satzinger - electronics
I chose Pale Globe by Viola Falb because it impressively opens up a spherical and at the same time rhythmically structured sound world that evokes strong associations with virtual spaces and digital imagery. The pointed, colourful sounds are reminiscent of points of light on a computer screen – fleeting, focused, luminous. The looped sequences vary in strength and intensity, creating a multi-layered auditory rapport reminiscent of visual textures.
It is precisely this combination of repetition and variation that creates a kind of musical texture, which I chose as the starting point for my implementation. The sound does not unfold linearly, but forms a kind of surface or pattern – comparable to a fabric of timbres. The interplay of structure and atmosphere, of melodic fragments and rhythmic recurrence, creates a virtual space that remains open to interpretation and transformation.
This quality – the floating, yet precisely constructed – corresponds to my artistic approach: I work across media with digital and tactile textures, with loops, breaks and sequences. The piece thus forms not only a sonic foundation, but also a conceptual counterpart to my artistic exploration.
CZ
Jitka Škopová
textile artist
Martin Brunner
composer
Tomáš Fuchs - guitar
Martin Brunner - keyboards
Rastislav Uhrík - bass
Roman Vícha - drums
In order to get a better grasp of the composition Levels of Life by Martin Brunner, I decided to first examine it through my own recording in the form of an automatic text. Intensive, repeated listening set off a chain of interlocking words that came in symbiosis as I listened to the music and which created my parallel meaning. This was followed by a series of drawings responding to the music and the text, which I translated into digital language. From the beginning, I felt that pixelation of the pattern would be important for the final expression. I tried to give the ordered, grouped, multiplied and freely used pixels a meaning similar to the properties of tone in music: i.e. pitch, length, strength and colour.
Mystery is everywhere, mystery is everywhere, mystery is everywhere, I’m lost in the forest, I’m lost, I’m resonating, resonating, pulling apart, crawling, breaking in and waiting, playing, unravelling, sorting, building, tightening, breathing in, breathing out, mystery is everywhere, I’m lost in the forest, points, tones, discoveries and hopes, mystery is everywhere, I search and stand, I search and continue on, I search and return, take-offs, penetrations, I wait, I wait, I wait, waiting and jumping, I wait for shape, I wait for silence, I wait in the forest, mystery is everywhere, I plunge in and breathe, breathing in and breathing out, mystery is everywhere, something ends, something continues, someone illuminates something, breathing in and breathing out, heartbeats and sweat, silence and silence, silence and silence, take-offs and penetrations, I wait and stand, I stand and wait, I know that I’m waiting, I know that I’m breathing, I know that I’m resonating, the mystery is mine, the silence is mine, the discoveries are mine, I take my time and rest, I release, I surrender, I breathe in and breathe out.
CZ
Klára Spišková
textile artist
Martin Brunner
composer
Rastislav Uhrík - bass
Tomáš Hobzek - drums
Martin Brunner - piano
Martin Brunner creates admirably across a wide range of musical genres. While his jazz and classical compositions are closest to me, the unifying and challenging value in his production lies in the “sound” – or rather, the resonance – of his compositional and interpretive handwriting with my own, visual one.
Listening to his or the group’s musical interpretations, I could imagine creating a number of visual motifs. This was one of the reasons why I tried to approach Martin to see if my works appealed to him, particularly to which music pieces. In this way, we “met”, agreed on the composition Flying from his jazz album Still Warm to Touch, which was also one of my favourites.
The resulting graphic motif is based on my drawings, which I subsequently composed, collaged, and edited in computer programs to the specified format. This allowed them to “resonate” with the composition of Flying either in fragments or in the whole composition and colour tone.
CZ
Matěj Rejšek
graphic designer
Martin Brunner
composer
Tomáš Fuchs - guitar
Martin Brunner - keyboards
Rastislav Uhrík - bass
Roman Vícha - drums
Musical inspiration – Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest - Martin Brunner Band (Levels of Life, 2019)
I was inspired by the first three minutes of Martin Brunner’s Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest, which begins with a calm and contemplative atmosphere and gradually evolves into a more dynamic and emotionally layered soundscape. This gentle transformation became the core idea behind my visual response.
The textile design translates the music into a flow of abstract, wave-like structures that echo the rhythm and intensity of the piece. These forms can be seen as “sound waves,” gently moving across the vertical surface – at first soft and subtle, then progressively more vibrant and expressive. The layered lines and fluid geometry visualize the gradual shift in tempo and energy.
There is also an organic, almost floral quality to the composition – both in the music and in the title, which evokes a poetic image of a forest. I aimed to reflect this feeling by creating shapes that suggest petals, leaves, or natural growth, as if the sound itself were blooming into form. My intention was not to illustrate the piece literally, but to express its essence through visual rhythm, structure and atmosphere.
CZ
Valerie Štecová
textile artist
Martin Brunner
composer
Tomáš Fuchs - guitar
Martin Brunner - keyboards
Rastislav Uhrík - bass
Roman Vícha - drums
Design inspired by Spotless Mind from the album Levels of Life by the Martin Brunner Band.
I chose an excerpt from Spotless Mind by Martin Brunner Band as my musical inspiration.Martin’s compositions express emotion and thought, inviting reflection and deeper connection.Jazz as a genre feels close to me, and this chosen composition’s energy, with its layeredinstrumentation and piano leading the way, deeply resonated with me. The section beginscalmly, but gradually its tones rise in intensity. To me, it felt like the blooming of a flowerreaching towards the sky.
This textile design does not illustrate the music literally. It is rather a reflection of my mind,shaped by the visions and emotions that I experienced while listening. I imagined a dreamlikelandscape, a meadow where flowers danced in the wind, carried by invisible currents. As aresult, the music’s gradual ascent is reflected in the idea of blossoming.
The design was created using an unpredictable technique: pulling a string soaked in inkbetween two pages. This method allowed organic, intuitive art forms to emerge.The resultresembles both an abstract floral structure and an explosion of energy born from movement and chance. In this way, sound is turned into shape–a quiet dialogue between music and image,thought and gesture.
HU
Viola Balázs
textile artist
Csanád Kedves
composer
Erzsébet Gódor - cimbalom
András Szalai - cimbalom
Péter Kiss - piano
Máté Balogh - electronics
Zsolt Bartek - bass clarinet
Tamás Zétényi - cello
Csaba Fervágner - double bass
For my work I used an excerpt from Csanád Kedves’ Égszínkék (Sky Blue)(hommage à Morton Feldman).
I chose the piece for entirely subjective reasons. I could easily relate to it emotionally, because for me it synthesises a not at all negative state of melancholy, and a state of pondering interspersed with external noises and darting thoughts. I am very inspired by the music, which lies on the borderline between minimalism, atmospheric moods and improvisation, with particular attention to spatial sound and the sensitive unfolding of musical motifs.
Égszínkék builds on the subtle textures and sustained durations of sounds in space, and the visual medium I created translates them into another dimension. The instruments of cimbalom, piano, electronic sounds, bass clarinet, cello and double bass created different hues, rhythms and textures in my imagination, and I also observed the different relationships between the sounds. I assigned a specific line shape for each instrument, which then intertwine or diverge in places to form a visual composition.
In making the artwork, I listened to the selected detail over and over again, and then experimented with tracing the sounds: with a brush on paper, using different types of paint, colours, and then digital drawing tools. Then, concentrating on a single instrument in real time, I tried to trace its changes, weight and dynamics at a given interval. I drew lines, left marks and traces by listening to the sounds. Finally, I returned to the complete experience of the whole piece of music and finalised the artwork accordingly.
HU
Evelin Horváth
textile artist
Márton Szőcs
composer
András Szalai - cimbalom
Péter Tornyai - viola
Tamás Zétényi - cello
For me, Márton Szőcs' 10 Gestures is an imprint of an inner journey, a kind of subtle, melancholic search, where the slowness and repetition of movements and sounds evoke a sense of being lost. Yet, in this contemplative, almost floating state, there is something pure, sincere and human: the desire to connect with oneself, with others, with the world.
This is the duality that inspired me as a textile designer: the monotonous but not empty repetition, the fragile balance and the lyricism of movements born in silence. Responding to the work, I created a monochrome pattern of white parallel wavy lines running on black stones. For me, these lines represent the slow flow of emotions: the inner tension, the search for calm, the vibrations that are present when everything else is still.
The black stones represent the foundation, the weight, reality; while the white lines represent the quiet rhythm of thoughts and feelings. The pattern is thus not only a visual composition, but also an imprint of an inner space. It is an image of uncertainty, of reorganisation and of the search for inner harmony. I feel that this visual world is intrinsically linked to the mood of 10 Gestures: not an illustration, but a subtle resonance of the deep, quiet story that the music tells.
HU
Szilvia Szigeti
textile artist
László Sándor
composer
Musical inspiration – László Sándor's 2023/24 orchestral piece Szent Teréz három látomása (The three visions of St. Teresa)
László Sándor's love of nature, mystery and medieval music and his characteristic consciousness inspired this tripartite graphic reflecting on three spiritual themes: the face, the angel and the dove. The sacredness of the work is underlined by the taut form between the two points: the stylised "light strip", which is a reference to the arrow held in the angel's hand in Bernini's Ecstasy of St Teresa.
HU
Gwendolin Zimonyi
textile artist
Csenge Mihalicza
composer
Musical inspiration – Csenge Mihalicza: Emily, song cycle
This textile piece was developed in response to the composition Emily by contemporary composer Csenge Mihalicza. As a designer working at the intersection of visual rhythm and sonic structure, I was particularly interested in how the musical form of the piece interacts with poetic references – in this case, the work of Emily Dickinson. The music’s understated tension and lyrical abstraction offered a compelling conceptual foundation to explore themes of transience and mortality through textile.
My design reflects Dickinson’s symbolic language: white lilies as emblems of purity and mourning, and dancing crows representing the soul’s release or transition. Alongside these motifs, I incorporated tangled, interwoven vines – at once geometric and abstract – to express life’s unpredictable nature and the inevitable path toward death. The pattern is both illustrative and suggestive: it visualises key symbols, yet leaves room for interpretation, echoing Dickinson’s poetic ambiguity.
The duality of order and chaos, lightness and gravity, and the way these elements play off the structure of Mihalicza’s music inspired me to translate sound into pattern. Through this piece, I aimed to create a textile that not only visualises music and poetry but also invites tactile contemplation of mortality, transformation, and the fragile beauty of existence.
PL
Aleksandra Stasik
textile artist
Tomasz Skweres
composer
Module Quartet - Patrick Stadler, Joshua Hyde, Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach, Joel Diegert
I do not try to tell stories with sounds. Instead, I let them affect the surface - like an echo that doesn’t disappear but settles into the material.
The starting point was the music of Tomasz Skweres, a sonic world full of tensions, contrasts, and ambiguities. These are compositions that don’t lead straightforwardly but draw you into a structure full of cracks, suspensions, and unexpected transitions. It was precisely this unpredictability that became the impulse to create a work that does not illustrate the music but responds to it.
The composition was executed as a combination of manual collage techniques and digital processing. Tearing paper by hand, juxtaposing textures and shapes, intuitively building tensions, these actions allow me to physically react to the sound. The next stage was the digital transformation of the material, which enabled the refinement of the composition and its preparation into a textile form.
Here, the fabric becomes a visual score of emotions: recorded not through notes but through symbols, structures, and colors. This is a personal, sensual interpretation of music, transformed into a material that can be “read” with the eyes just as sound is perceived by the ears.
PL
Anna Grabowska
textile artist
Marcin Stańczyk
composer
A Due for Rhodes Piano and String Orchestra
As a textile designer inspired by music, it felt natural to try expressing visually what I hear and feel through my own graphic language. The chosen fragment moved me deeply. In just four minutes, we move from calm and birdsong to rhythmic piano sounds. There is peace, yet a growing, unsettling tone foreshadows dissonance. As the sounds prepare us for the inevitable, we are finally being confronted with intense, loud sounds – a clash, an overload, a cacophony. Just as it becomes overwhelming, the noise suddenly stops. What remains is the afterimage of sounds that were once painful, now gently soothed by a returning rhythm. The sounds, emotions, and associations I experienced while listening, have been translated into my own visual symbols. Like musical notes on a staff, I placed them on a grid. I translated the length of the fabric into seconds, placing each symbol vertically according to when it appears in the piece. The horizontal placement follows a more intuitive approach, guided by my own sense of composition. As one listens to the piece, the textile is meant to be “read” from bottom to top – mirroring the direction in which fabrics are woven.
PL
Paulina Sołtyszewska
textile artist
Tomasz Skweres
composer
Tomasz Skweres: Penrose Square for saxophone quartet
Excerpt: 6:25 – 9:03
Nicolas Allard - sax. soprano
Fabio Cesare - sax. alto, soprano
Sumika Tsujimoto - sax. tenor, soprano
Adam Campbell - sax. baryton, alto
My printed textile was inspired by Tomasz Skweres’ Penrose Square, specifically the final section from 6:25 onward. I was drawn to this piece of music because it challenged my perception. This passage of the composition feels intangible — drifting, light, and structurally unpredictable. It evoked in me a sense of weightlessness and tension at once, which I aimed to translate into a visual language.
The textile is rendered in black and white, stripped of color to emphasize rhythm, contrast, and surface - suspended somewhere between sound and silence. Its patchwork structure echoes the fragmentary and layered quality of the music. Each segment functions like a sound unit — textured, rhythmic, and non-linear. Through contrasts, repetition, and abstraction, I sought to visually reflect the ephemeral tension present in Skweres’ work.
I chose this composer because his music doesn’t impose meaning — it invites interpretation. It asks the listener to pay attention to the subtle, the hidden, the in-between. It doesn’t tell a clear story but instead invites a deeper, more intuitive form of attention. In my textile, I sought to echo that openness — allowing the viewer to move through the piece as one might listen: slowly, attentively, and without the need for resolution.
PL
Weronika Tyce
textile artist
Tomasz Skweres
composer
Nyos for violin and cello
Excerpt: 1:12 – 5:14
Peter Mosorjak - violin
Arne Kircher - cello
There are places, and there are spaces.
While I often create or design visual memories of places, composer and cellist Tomasz Skweres builds and reshapes musical microcosms. By skillfully manipulating the listener’s perception of time, he transforms what is constant into something deeply subjective. His approach to space and its components in music became an inspiring invitation for me to expand my imagination and enrich my textile design process.
Nyos for violin and cello feels like a signature piece, one that tells a story of both place and space. Perhaps that’s why it struck me as both familiar and strangely magnetic. The composition stands out through its distinctive form and emotional intensity. Intimate and ascetic, yet textured, earthy, and uncompromising, Nyos evokes the haunting presence of Lake Nyos – a volcanic crater lake in northwestern Cameroon, known for the catastrophic gas emission event of 1986. My textile design is a materialized response to both the music and the history behind it.
The opening of Skweres’ composition brims with tension and risk. Brief outbursts of expression punctuate an atmosphere of suspension, painting a sonic landscape just before disaster strikes. Then: pizzicato and silence. Everything slows. Everything freezes. You can almost see another day dawning, another sun rising over the mountains – quiet, unknowing. Glissandi stretch endlessly, synthetically expanding space. All that is left is desolation.
RO
Otilia Boeru
textile artist
Diana Rotaru
composer
Performed by the PROFIL Ensemble
Diana Moş – violin
Emil Vişenescu - clarinet
Mircea Marian - cello
Adriana Maier - piano
My visual proposal represents a personal, speculative interpretation of the provided musical fragment. I did not aim for a one-to-one representation of the measures or the instruments of the musical performance, but instead I focused on the overall atmosphere created and the way the piece builds.
From the very first listening, I found an association with one of my visual themes used in the series of compositions "The Remains of the Day", that of lint, small particles of colour—remnants of a day's work arranged chaotically, but upon which I intervene with organising graphic elements.
In the musical composition, I detected an ethnic texture with rhythmic repetitions, but also one formed by small, colourful, chaotically intertwined elements. These overlap with varying transparencies, so that sometimes the regular (ethnic) texture appears more visible, and other times the sensory (chaotic) one takes prominence. In the first part of the composition, the ethnic rhythms dominate, interpreted by me through a symmetrical ornament made from graphic elements repeated symmetrically, mirrored along the vertical and horizontal axes. Thus, aligned rhomboid shapes are created, which allude to ethnic ornaments found in Balkan textiles.
However, in this context, the ethnic rhythms seem to organise something that is in motion, something that creates tension and stirs. When these organising forces dilute, a set of distinct, strong sonic interventions appears, repeating unevenly with varying intensities. These are visually suggested through horizontally aligned, intensely coloured lines. The ethnic rhythms re-emerge from the overall texture throughout the composition and towards its end as well.
SI
Oloop Studio - Tjaša Bavcon, Jasmina Ferček, Katja Burger Kovič
textile artists
Helena Vidic Lesjak
composer
Lan Meden - saxophone
Jan Sever - piano
The Oloop pattern Botanical Geography features prints of city park flowers — symbols of fragility, resilience and quiet beauty — and reflects the gentle emotional landscape evoked by the music of Vidic Lesjak. Among the Clouds resonates with the same sensitivity and poetic quality that characterises our textile work. Just as her composition floats between grounded melody and airiness, our project captures ephemeral natural forms in lasting textile impressions. This dialogue between sound and material aims to create a sensory, meditative experience that honours the connection between music, nature and craft. Through this collaboration, we celebrate a shared artistic language rooted in attentiveness and care.
The pattern was created using the Hapa Zome printing process, a traditional Japanese technique for printing flowers. In this ancient method, the natural pigments and shapes of botanical materials are transferred directly onto the fabric by gentle hammering or pressing.
SK
Beata Gerbocová
textile artist
Marian Lejava
composer
Performed by the Quasars Ensemble
I have chosen the composition of Slovak musician Marian Lejava - Quientettino tenoro for processing into a textile composition. This music has inspired me with an emotion that expresses new, fresh forms associated with classical music. It's melodious, allowing me to visually react and create a visual sketch. Composing music is a very abstract art form for me. Therefore I created the textile composition from randomly found objects that resembled musical instruments in their shape. Under the influence of the emotion of music, I composed the elements as the music line developed. The objects found during my walks originaly had no visual or substantive connection, but by sequentially storing, multiplying and assembling them, I created a contemporary graphic pattern.
SK
Eunika Bebjaková
textile artist
Ivan Buffa
composer
Andrea Mosorjaková - flute
Monika Csonka - oboe
Martin Mosorjak - clarinet
Peter Mosorjak - violin
Axel Kircher - viola
Ján Bogdan - cello
Diana Buffa - piano
The works of Ivan Buffa spoke to me through their colourful compositions and the innovative use of different instruments. The sounds of flutes, clarinets, piano, violins, and cellos all mesh together, creating pulsating music full of texture and tension. Each instrument seems to find its own place in the composition, sometimes at the front of the listener's perspective, sometimes playing in the background – seemingly fighting with the others, creating a form of discussion between the instruments. Together they paint a full picture filled with layers of unique dynamics and notes. Even after listening to these compositions multiple times, I was still finding them new and interesting in different ways – discovering a new note, new depth and colour with each listen. My translation of this musical experience to the visual world was focused on vibrant colours, which take form in various shapes and sizes, layering over one another. These shapes are left in their geometric simplicity as a collective base, and a new layer of scribbled dialogue is drawn over them. Here, the colours bleed into each other, communicating in a new way, adding new texture and depth, as a sound wave pushes through the design. Overall, I was inspired by the force of the musical composition, its tension and vibrancy which is carefully built with each note, and the changes between the full, busy passages and the calm, melancholic ones.
SK
Mária Fulková
textile artist
Matej Sloboda
composer
Performed by Martina Lišková, Viktor Vojtas and Barbanás Kollárik
Matej Sloboda is part of the youngest generation of contemporary Slovak composers. His composition Study for a Labyrinth II for three identical single-reed wind instruments, immerses us in a mysterious space where we can confidently follow the soft sounds of the instruments, as if in a weightless environment. I was intrigued to see what the notation for such music looks like.
The visual layout of the score surprised me with its stark, repetitive graphic appeal. Each page of the score serves as a building block for the overall composition. A prominent figure in the design resembles a “cosmonaut” in a spacesuit, with music emerging from his mind. The notes repeat, overlap and evolve into a dense structure that can also be interpreted as a woven fabric. From within the “spacesuit”, the eyes of the composer Matej Sloboda gaze back at us. My goal was to infuse humour into the final image.
SK
Zuzana Ondrejková
textile artist
Peter Gul’as
composer
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” is one of my favourite quotes, applicable to a wide range of situations in life. It has been appropriated by many artists such as Laurie Anderson, Miles Davis, David Byrne or Frank Zappa. It nicely expresses the futility of translating music through words, at least sometimes. With all due respect to those who can engage in deep discussions about music, I must admit that I am incapable of doing so, despite the fact that I play the piano since the age of six and being an educated musician, let’s say. My attraction to music in general is inexplicable. Music speaks to me in its own way, attacking my deepest feelings and transporting me to different mental and emotional states. All of this is achieved through a sound, a perfect combination of tones, rhythm and dynamics, built into a melody and composition. I have a feeling that Peter Guľas knows very well how to have fun with these components. I tried to visualise this game, this pure joy of creation. As a textile designer I gave it a visual composition, melody and rhythm via dots, lines, colours and shapes. As well as mentioned at the beginning, not really sure, if any other words are needed for an explanation.
Click on the images
JEWELLERY DESIGNERS / ÉKSZERTERVEZŐK
Susanne Hammer, Anežka Váňová, Petr Vogel, Stanislava Grebeníčková, Gera Noémi - Földi Kinga, Jermakov Katalin, Kocsor Eszter Sára, Dariusz Stefan Wojdyga, Emilia Wyra, Martyna Golińska , Cleopatra Cosulet, Sandra Kocjančič, Blanka Cepková, Karin Šusteková, Karol Weisslechner
AT
jewellery designer
Viola Falb
composer
Saxophonquartett PHOEN
Viola Falb - s.sax
Florian Fennes - cl
Arnold Zamarin - t.sax
Christoph Pepe Auer - bcl
The themes that Viola Falb deals with in her composition “Drehmoment” (Torque) also interest me in my own work. According to the definition, torque means “the rotation of a body around a point”, so it is about movement and mobility, and this is of course also an important element in the design of chains - which are my main theme. The connecting points are central to linking the single parts into a larger whole. Central questions, also in the present work, are: How does one part follow the other? How is the connection point formed from one element to the next? The focus is often also on breaking up the chain’s flow: the points of collision generate a charming break in the otherwise flowing movement - the resistant, bulky element that undermines the usual smooth chain look can be found in some of my works.
Rhythm and repetition are essential stylistic elements in Falb's composition, as are the swelling and fading of the sound as well as small disturbances and irritations. And just as a chain can only function aesthetically if “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”, this is probably also the case with a composition in the field of music.
CZ
Anežka Váňová
jewellery designer
Martin Brunner
composer
Martin Brunner - piano & Prophet 6
Tomáš Fuchs - guitar
Rastislav Uhrík - bass guitar
Roman Vícha - drums
The series of brooches is inspired by the work of Louis Kahn and brick architecture, which through its colours, ornamentation, and material origin blends with the surrounding landscape. For me, a brick is a piece of earth shaped by human hands into a building material and then returned to the landscape as a house—a home. My jewellery reflects a long process that began with clay I gathered from my garden and grew into a series of brick brooches.
For me, the theme of transformation is also reflected in the composition Angel Esmeralda by the Martin Brunner Band. The piece unfolds through moments of quiet stillness, gentle shifts, and passages filled with tension and uncertainty — as though the material were slowly finding its new form. Gradually, these give way to brighter, more joyful tones, celebrating new potential and possibility. Like the glint of light on a finished piece, the music captures the moment when change is no longer a disturbance, but a form of belonging.
CZ
Petr Vogel
jewellery designer
Martin Brunner
composer
Performed by the Martin Brunner Trio
Behind the Clouds by composer and pianist Martin Brunner invites you to look beyond the visible. It reminds me of a plot that develops from an urgent minimalist motif into a harmony, a kind of rich play of moods, celestial tones, colours and light. The atmosphere of the piece carries a calmness and at the same time a tension in anticipation of what lies beyond the "clouds".
A series of window jewellery/objects pays homage to presence, the perception of space, movement and the poetry of sound. It is an attempt to translate the musical experience into a material form, animated by light.
The layered bands in the objects capture and reflect light in different ways, depending on the angle of the sun as well as the intersections of daylight through clouds. The subtle lines evoke atmospheric layers as well as the gentle ripples of the sky. A ripple whose movement, as in Behind the Clouds, is natural and beautiful.
CZ
Stanislava Grebeníčková
jewellery designer
Martin Brunner
composer
Video by Anežka Horová
Music by the Martin Brunner Band
Tomáš Fuchs - guitar
Martin Brunner - keyboards
Rastislav Uhrík - bass
Roman Vícha - drums
Creating a piece of jewellery to music is a very unusual topic. They are two seemingly incompatible artistic expressions.
I chose the music of musician Martin Brunner, whose brilliant jazz-tinged piano compositions really appealed to me. His piano composition Space Rover is close to me in its subject matter, so I hope that the formative and aesthetic side of my brooches will resonate with this musical composition.
HU
Noémi Gera & Kinga Földi
jewellery designers
Bálint Bolcsó & Oliver Mayne
composers
Bálint Bolcsó - electronics
Oliver Mayne - vibraphone, electronics
Jingling silver, rustling silk
In Bálint Bolcsó and Oliver Mayne's High Rising, we found the mindset that accompanies the creation of our jewellery. In the appearance of our objects, neither material dominates the other – silver and silk are in equal dialogue, just as we are in the process of creating. For us, design is not a linear process: one of us starts it, the other continues it – enriching the evolving form with her own materials and tools. Our jewellery is not a precise execution of plans drawn on paper, but a living, constantly evolving collaboration: the result of communication between materials and creators. The melodies and noises in the music seem to evoke the sound of our favourite materials, the jingling of silver, the rustle of starched silk, the clink and hum of the tools that shape the jewellery. Our objects reflect the same visual pulsation, alternating between pin-tucked caterpillar silk and the striped patterns of cast silver, further enlivened by the playful, sinuous counterpoints of coloured wires.
HU
Katalin Jermakov
jewellery designer
composer:
Gryllus Dániel
Samu Gryllus ·
lyrics: Weöres Sándor
song:
Palya Bea
My music of choice is a track from Samu Gryllus' album "A teljesség felé” (Towards Completeness). "A gondolatok visszája” (The Flip side of Thoughts) is a slow, descending melody with a pulsating drum accompaniment, accompanied by a fast, folksy violin solo in the background. The contrast that emerges fits perfectly with the lyrics of the song, "Be careful whether you think light or dark, for what you think you have created."
Since almost all my jewellery is based on contrasts of opposites, the choice was obvious. Black and white, squares and circles, soft and hard materials, concave and convex surfaces, which eventually balance out and create a harmonious unison. My recent anamorphic jewellery takes this idea further: by changing the point of view, they are able to change their meaning, the personality of the viewer deciding which element feels emphasised and true to them personally.
HU
Eszter Sára Kocsor
jewellery designer
Bálint Bolcsó
composer
Oliver Mayne - vibraphone
Bálint Bolcsó - live electronics
Ernő Hock - double bass, bass guitar
Zsolt Sárvári Kovács - drums
My jewellery is made of stainless steel, I use a spot welding laser to weld the mirror-finished elements together. I use flat plates, and my latest collection includes concave mirrors that spread and invert space. I often place faceted stones in the centre of the jewellery, which are multiplied and spread out in the flat or concave mirrors that surround them.
I closed my eyes and felt that I could see my jewels in the sounds. The chaos of the drums reminded me of the steel elements of my mirrory collection; the tinkling, cosmic tones the faceted polished stones. It's as if I'm floating in the universe and all around me these stones and flat and concave mirrors are moving to and fro, sometimes colliding and sometimes falling apart. Coming together brings wonder, falling apart brings excitement. The alternation of these two sensations is cathartic for me.
PL
Dariusz Stefan Wojdyga
jewellery designer
Tomasz Skweres
composer
Performed by Quatuor Avena:
Nicolas Allard – sax. soprano
Fabio Cesare – sax. alto, soprano
Sumika Tsujimoto – sax. tenor, soprano
Adam Campbell – sax. baritone, alto
This kinetic bracelet interprets the dramatic, shifting dynamics of Tomasz Skweres’ Penrose Square. Composed of four interconnected metal cubes, CUBEONES can transform between a compact block and an expanded, wearable sculpture. Each cube contains a mineral sphere rich in iron – movement activates them, producing subtle metallic sounds. The more vigorous the motion, the more intense the sound, echoing the music’s energy shifts: a powerful opening, contrasting silences, rising tension, and sudden drops. The design alludes to Oscar Reutersvärd’s impossible figures, mirroring the illusory, multidimensional nature of Skweres’ sonic landscape.
PL
Emilia Wyra
jewellery designer
Marcin Stańczyk
composer
Blind walk by Marcin Stańczyk & The Glove
Even the title of this musical piece resonates with my artwork. It refers to perception beyond the sense of sight. Touch and hearing are not merely complementary to vision. They are just as relevant, unfortunately often underappreciated, ways of perceiving.
Geysir-Grisey by Marcin Stańczyk & To Catch a Breath
Dread about the future feeds fatalistic visions. I associate the sound of this piece with my anxiety about dragging the energetic transformation of my country. Maybe this link will also resonate with viewers and cause reflection.
PL
Martyna Golińska
jewellery designer
Tomasz Skweres
composer
Performed by Yui Iwata
I chose Impact for Violin Solo by Tomasz Skweres because it strikes with extraordinary intensity and emotional tension. The violin guides the listener through a dense, dramatic narrative – its sounds are sharp and precise, evoking a sense of inner agitation. At times it even resembles an emotional monologue.
But what captivated me the most in this piece is its contrast. In this monologue, amid the sudden “striking” phrases, emerge moments of quiet and melancholy. The sounds soften, lose their sharpness, as if the violin is momentarily turning a scream into a whisper. It is this very combination of roughness and gentleness that had the greatest impact on me.
My approach during the design of my jewellery was similar. While working on those rings, I consciously combined sharp, expressive lines with softer, more organic and flowing forms. Just as in Skweres’ composition, where tension and calmness collide, so too in my jewellery precision meets sensuality.
RO
Cleopatra Cosulet
jewellery designer
Diana Rotaru
composer
Performed by Duo Cello JAYA
Ella Bokor - cello
Mircea Marian - cello
Art, music especially, inspires and oftentimes determines.
From my subjective perspective, this musical piece – Lut by ConnectArts – Duo Cello Jaya – Diana Rotaru – gives me the feeling of a struggle; of ups and downs, of birth and journey.
Sounds are finding palpable correspondences here. They are touching the soul in a subtle but direct way, and I wish the same thing to happen with my personal finger-wings approach of the idea of struggle. The struggle of the soul to come to the surface, to express its uniqueness. To express itself on its own terms, without taking grounded rules into consideration.
The struggle of fulfilling intimate desires, to reach certain heights. The struggle to cross borders, to step further, and further. The struggle of shaping precious dreams into reality.
The struggle of realising the simple truth of already having wings to fly inside of us.
SI
Sandra Kocjančič
jewellery designer
Helena Vidic Lesjak
composer
Lan Meden - saxophone
Jan Sever - piano
Where stars bow to earth and wind speaks in silence, Arcturus shines – a pulse in the night sky.
Each tone: a thread from ancient times.
Each breath: a whisper of bonds beyond space, woven through time.
In my hands, a worn piece of knitting –
not just wool, but memory. A bridge. A knot between worlds.
In Istria, where stones speak and forests guard the fire’s echo, the instrument becomes magic –
melody not written, but felt.
She knitted not for warmth, but for connection.
Each thread a spell. Each loop a link.
So I play – not notes, but stories.
Not rhythm, but remembrance.
Lit by Arcturus. Guided by her hands.
And if you truly listen,
you may find you, too.
SK
Blanka Cepková
jewellery designer
Peter Gulas
composer
For this piece Cembalum, I was inspired by the sound and form of a historical musical instrument – the harpsichord. Although today the harpsichord is primarily associated with the performance of Baroque and Renaissance music, its use in contemporary composition remains rare. This rarity led me to the unconventional work Variations for Harpsichord by composer Peter Gulas, which became the conceptual basis of my artistic response.
The harpsichord produces a wide acoustic spectrum, characterised by metallic tones. These tonal qualities resonate with the materials used in my jewellery, particularly the metal threads. The structure of the musical composition, with its evolving dynamics and emotional intensity, is reflected in the braiding and stitching techniques I employed. The chosen contrasting colour palette serves as a visual counterpart to the musical tension within the piece, its dynamism expressed through a carefully crafted colour gradient.
Finally, the overall form of the jewellery is a stylised interpretation of the graceful contours of the historical harpsichord, embodying both its elegance and cultural resonance.
SK
Karin Šusteková
jewellery designer
Marian Lejava
composer
Peter Šesták, Peter Vrbinčík - viola
Jozef Lupták, Eugen Prochác - cello
Nora Skuta - piano
I chose the music piece of Marian Lejava because it speaks to something deep within me. I couldn’t quite tell, if it was feeling of the soul that stirs when sound becomes more than just vibration. His compositions don’t merely fill silence, instead they awaken it. There’s a chaotic energy in his music that mirrors the creative impulse I feel in my own craft. I’m drawn to textures, different kinds of surfaces and structures. In the composition, especially the violin, in its scraping and singing, reminds me of my tools shaping metal. One moment, the bow is cutting the sound into pieces, the next the music changes it feels like file scraping and scratching the metal. The music resonates with my hands, as if they too are playing along, sculpting sound the way they sculpt metal. Though music and goldsmithing are distinct arts, they share the act of transformation. From silence or raw material, something lasting is born. It’s remembering that creating is an act of breathing life into matter, whether with a bow or a torch.
SK
Karol Weisslechner
jewellery designer
Ivan Buffa
composer
Ivan Buffa - Tvorivý duch / Creative Spirit (2014)
2019-06-29 (live recording)
Small Concert Hall of Slovak Radio, Bratislava, Slovakia
Quasars Ensemble
Ivan Buffa, conductor
Concentration, a clearing of a throat and a brief cough in the hall... Silence The conductor's baton levitates in the light beam A deep breath and the dance of the conductor's extended arm, like a painter, writes its lines in space Dynamic, light and with quick gestures, clashing highs, dramatic lows, and yet almost weightless, the choreography of tones dances Pearls and gems of tones that create a cosmic film in the mind like flashes of lightning, on the highways of the synapses, new worlds arise Subtleties of composition speak of the roots of trees whose crowns are broad and incomprehensible, like the chirping of birds in the wind, like the fluttering of butterflies in the stillness of the sun-drenched air Under the spell of the creative spirit, architectures emerge in flashes of light, in coloured dots and lines, imaginary spaces arise.
And now? Finding a form, this is the fascination of transformation, of the barely comprehensible tonal composition into the world of visual art, of the haptic object, of architecture, of creating a project in the landscape of the body.
It was precisely this path that was the great challenge of the theme of Design Without Borders in 2025 for me That's why I chose this composition CREATIVE SPIRIT by Ivan Buffa I hope it succeeds.
EXHIBITION / KIÁLLÍTÁS
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