RM2026 sofia

28.02.2026 Regional Meeting

Bulgaria

The International Council of Design (ICoD) is delighted to announce its first-ever Regional Meeting in Balkan Europe, in collaboration with the European Design Festival. The theme, Confessions of a Designer: Design, Decisions and Impact, invites participants to candidly discuss the realities of decision-making in design.

Every design decision carries values, pressures and consequences, yet the reasoning behind it is rarely spoken aloud. The International Council of Design's first Regional Meeting in Balkan Europe invited designers to do exactly that: to reflect openly on how they make decisions, who and what shapes them, and how awareness, or blind spots, affect people, institutions and society. Drawing on a preparatory survey of designers worldwide, the meeting connected personal experience with the geopolitical, economic and technological disruptions reshaping the profession.

VENUE AND CONTEXT

The Meeting took place at Soho in Sofia as part of the European Design Festival, with Studio Komplekt as host. Being on the Festival's main stage brought the Council's regional dialogue to a new generation of designers from the Balkans and across Europe.

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

The morning brought four candid keynotes on how designers make decisions in practice:

- Welcome & Context Setting by Melike Taşcıoğlu Vaughan, President of the International Council of Design.

- Keynote 1: "Between Context and Realities: Designing Narrative Space" by Samina Tanović (ULUPUBiH), on how spatial design shapes narratives, and the tensions between vision and constraint, permanence and improvisation, authorship and collaboration.

- Keynote 2: "Passion as a Motivator" by Maria Todorova (NEXT-DC), on curiosity and creative courage as drivers of innovation, and how fear of failure can hold them back.

- Keynote 3: "Process, Filter, Control" by Stefan Hürlemann (Skala Design), on managing complexity, guiding clients and balancing transparency with discretion.

- Keynote 4: "Inside & Outside: Ethics and Method in a Professional Community Under the Pressure of War" by Oleksandra Korchevska-Tsekhosh (Design Borsch), on sustaining practice, standards and community in wartime Ukraine.

AFTERNOON SESSION: DECISIONS IN REAL TIME

The afternoon centred on a collective mapping session moderated by Kyle Rath (University of Pretoria). Short presentations by Kyle Rath, Jonas Liugaila and Qin Du on technological, economic and geopolitical forces opened an intensive discussion, informed by a preparatory survey that drew 52 responses from designers, educators and researchers across six continents.

Participants compared European, Balkan and wider global perspectives on AI, human intuition, environmental responsibility, and cultural sensitivity. The conversation showed clear regional differences: many participants from Western Europe felt designers are not equipped to change the course of AI, while those working in contexts shaped by war, economic hardship and political instability argued that some form of design activism is essential.

KEY OUTCOMES

- AI emerged as the dominant concern: a tool of real potential that demands responsible use, human judgement, transparency and accountability.

- Designers are balancing commercial goals with ethical, cultural and social responsibilities, and their decisions are increasingly shaped by rapid global change.

- There is no single universal model: understanding local conditions matters as much as recognising the forces that connect design practice worldwide.

- Listening to designers through surveys and open conversation proved a valuable way for the Council to stay connected to the realities of practice.

BEYOND SOFIA

The insights from Sofia will inform the ongoing review of the International Council of Design's Codes of Conduct, intended as a living guide for designers working with AI while preserving human creativity and ethical responsibility. The "confessions" format resonated well beyond the programme, and it is a theme the Council may continue or revisit.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The International Council of Design thanks the European Design Festival and Studio Komplekt for co-organising and hosting the event. Special thanks go to:

- Demetrios Fakinos (European Design Awards), Adriana Andreeva and Boiana Gyaurova (Studio Komplekt), and their teams.

- Eva Fakinou (European Design Festival) for communications, and NEXT-DC for the identity design.

- Our invited speakers, and Kyle Rath and Jacques Lange for developing the survey.

- Elif Bilge, Hıdır Yüksel and Müzeyyen Yıldız (Anadolu University), and Peiwei Zhang and Weiyi Xu (Tongji University) for volunteer assistance.

PARTICIPANTS

International Council of Design 2024–2026 Board

Melike Taşcıoğlu Vaughan, President 2024–2026 TÜRKİYE

Jonas Liugaila, Treasurer 2024–2026 LITHUANIA

Qin Du, Executive Board Member 2024–2026 CHINA

Kyle Rath, Non-Executive Board Member 2024–2026 SOUTH AFRICA

Invited Speakers

Maria Todorova, NEXT-DC BULGARIA

Oleksandra Korchevska-Tsekhosh, Design Borsch UKRAINE

Samina Tanović, ULUPUBiH BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Stefan Hürlemann, Skala Design SWITZERLAND

Observers

Adriana Andreeva, Studio Komplekt BULGARIA

Antonia Samokovska, New Bulgarian University (NBU) BULGARIA

Ayça Uygungöz, Anadolu University TÜRKİYE

Berkem Bulut, Anadolu University TÜRKİYE

Boiana Gyaurova, Studio Komplekt BULGARIA

Constantine Popov, Fontfabric BULGARIA

Diana Nedelcheva BULGARIA

Dilek Erdoğan Aydın, Anadolu University TÜRKİYE

Evgeniya Tsankova, New Bulgarian University (NBU) BULGARIA

Gabriela Slavcheva, New Bulgarian University (NBU) BULGARIA

Jurga Želvytė, Lithuanian Design Association (LDA) LITHUANIA

Kaya Sodeva, designer BULGARIA

Mim Yordanova, minyagency BULGARIA

Nikol Petkova, designer BULGARIA

Radina Doneva, Bulgarian Design Council BULGARIA

Simona Minkova BULGARIA

Stefan Vladimirov, Question Base BULGARIA

Stefi Peykova Krishnan, Bulgarian Design Council BULGARIA

Tsvetoslava Ploshtakova, New Bulgarian University (NBU) BULGARIA

Victoria Guberska-Sleiman, Software Group BULGARIA

Zeynep Ezgi Arda, GMK / Anadolu University TÜRKİYE

Volunteer Organisation Team

Elif Bilge, Anadolu University TÜRKİYE

Hıdır Yüksel, GMK / Anadolu University TÜRKİYE

Müzeyyen Yıldız, GMK / Anadolu University TÜRKİYE

Peiwei Zhang, Tongji University CHINA

Weiyi Xu, Tongji University CHINA

Download the full report →

For further information please contact:

Events@theicod.org