The winners of Rog Creathon 2025

The winning team took on the third challenge, titled Biofabrication – From Waste to Wonder. The team consisted of Andreas Morales Bajc, Javier Serra, Beyzanur Ekmen, Elena Eckert, and Eszter Iván.

Their challenge? To create functional, eco-friendly products from food waste — products that reduce pollution, support the circular economy, and lower environmental impact. Under the mentorship of Virginia San Fratello (USA), Head of the Department of Design at San José State University in Silicon Valley, they worked in the Green Lab with guidance from mentors in Center Rog’s production laboratories.

The jury — Daniela Doe, designer in residence at Center Rog, Lin Martin Japelj, user of the Rog Project Studio, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mojca Perše from the Faculty of Design — wrote the following about the winning solution:

“With an outstanding design process, innovative use of eggshells and natural pigments, and a combination of techniques ranging from modern 3D printing to hand modeling, we were most impressed by the team that took on the third challenge. Their products are both functional and aesthetically refined — each piece is unique yet clearly part of a coherent collection. The team met all the challenge’s goals and demonstrated a well-thought-out concept, sustainable approach, and strong design identity.”

The winning team will receive a two-week residency at the Rog Centre or an annual membership with a creative package for participants from Ljubljana and the surrounding area.

Congratulations also go to all the other teams and mentors, who made excellent use of the Center Rog’s and its laboratories full potential.

Challenge 1: CRAFTING OBJECTS FOR A NOMADIC WORLD

• Mentor: Anna Resei, designer (Austria/Germany), designer in residence at the Rog Centre
• Participants: Anna Kundriutskova, Sara Cherry, Taša Blatnik, Beatriz Mayorga Moscoso, Yüksel Doğan
• Product: A multifunctional garment for nomads — a piece of clothing that can transform and take on different roles of protection and use, from a poncho to a tent, basket, or bag
• Materials: Metal, textile
  

Challenge 2: HYBRID CONSTRUCTIONS: COLUMNS AS LIFE SUPPORT

• Mentor: Igor Siddiqui, architect and researcher at the University of Texas at Austin (USA/Croatia)
• Participants: Ingrid Montier, Pauline Kuntz, Viktoria Tudzharova, Cas Rondou, Sara Bologna
• Product: A collection of architectural pillars as fundamental elements — from technically processed wood to natural structures like ant hills, termite mounds, or plant networks. Using full-scale hand experiments, they explored new material combinations and their roles
• Materials: Wood, mycelium, biomaterials, plants, rubber
  

Challenge 4: MODULAR INTERVENTIONS: CRAFTING URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

• Mentor: Alberto Gianfreda, sculptor and educator at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan (Italy)
• Participants: Pia Krepfl, Ada Lovenjak, Kincső Nagy, Matthieu Goetz, Nehal Fatima
• Product: Modular urban furniture that connects people through dialogue in space, transforming the symbol of a chain as a barrier into a thread of connection, and broken ceramics from a symbol of destruction into a symbol of unity and storytelling
• Materials: Ceramics, metal, chains
  

Challenge 5: OBJECTS OF CARE: DESIGNING FOR SOLIDARITY

• Mentor: Annelys de Vet, designer, educator, and researcher (Belgium/Netherlands)
• Participants: Irem Kahraman, Claudia Crowe, Miran Jurisevic, Haijing Wu, Kateřina Vašicová
• Product: A communal table that encourages dialogue between cultures, inclusion, and equality, raising important questions — who is welcome and who is excluded?
• Materials: Wood, 3D printing, textiles
  

All solutions created at Rog Creathon are also on display at Rog Expo, the annual exhibition of Center Rog’s production, open until February 7, 2026.

Photos by: Tine Lisjak