FABER, an independent cultural center from Timișoara, is present at Milan Design Week with the exhibition Design Signals Snapshot, a curated selection that investigates the relationship between design, industry, and technology. As part of ALCOVA, a reference space for emerging discourses in international design, the exhibition provides a critical perspective on how contemporary designers reinterpret industrial infrastructures, technological processes, and work relationships.
From industrial heritage to material innovation
The Design Signals Snapshot exhibition is part of FABER’s Design Signals program, curated by Martina Muzi, which explores the deep connections between design, industry, and technology, with the ever-evolving industrial landscape of Timișoara as a starting point. Initiated in 2023 as Bright Cityscapes – part of the official program of Timișoara European Capital of Culture – alongside the Politehnica University of Timișoara, the program investigated Timișoara’s automotive industry and its global market connections. The program continued in 2024 with research into the textile industry, and in 2025 it explores the chemical industry. Through exhibitions, festivals, conferences, workshops, and publications, the program demonstrates the transformative potential of design and its ability to change conventional methods of production and collaboration.
At ALCOVA: New perspectives on materials
Design Signals Snapshot showcases a selection of works from FABER’s previous exhibitions – Woven Secrets (2023) and Signalers – Design is not a Dashboard (2024). This time, FABER draws attention to new perspectives on materials, exploring both the sustainable potential of industrial resources and the socio-economic processes behind them. How can industrial waste become resources for new artifacts? How do emerging technologies influence artisanal crafts? These are just some of the questions addressed by the exhibition.
A collective experiment: design, research, and industrial collaboration
The selection curated by Martina Muzi brings together designers and researchers who explore the potential of design to reveal hidden connections between Eastern and Western Europe, using a variety of media and methodologies. Their projects explore themes such as human-machine interaction, the reuse of industrial waste, and the reinterpretation of traditional crafts, positioned at the intersection of industrial design, moving images, documentary photography, and graphic storytelling. Participants include Flora Lechner & Cristina-Sorina Stângaciu, Théophile Blandet, Jing He & Raul Ionel, Lavinia Ghimbășan / studio Nalba, Alex Todirică, Marius Vasile, Kirsten Spruit, and Ștefan Lucuț.
Through collaboration with factories, researchers, workers, and local communities, Design Signals Snapshot demonstrates the importance of collective experimentation in design. The exhibition not only showcases finished objects but also the thinking, collaboration, and production processes that generated them, offering insight into how contemporary designers navigate industrial and technological changes. The exhibition also features two publications, “Bright Cityscapes” and “Woven Secrets,” which archive behind-the-scenes research, curatorial processes, and all projects developed over the past two years within the Design Signals program.
“The exhibition is a fragment of our ongoing program, Design Signals. It is a multimedia space where we continue to experiment with different formats for presenting our research situated in Timișoara, with the aim of connecting it to a broader network of designers and design-related urgencies. We believe in collaboration as a key value for addressing contemporary questions regarding our shared future. What we are trying to build through this program involves applying creativity in designing cultural processes and project iterations, as well as conversations between designers and our complex economy, which is often difficult to understand. Thus, participating in Milan Design Week represents a step forward in experimenting and sharing our vision with others.” – Martina Muzi, curator of Design Signals
FABER and Design Signals assert their position as a hub for experimental design, functioning as a space for collaboration, research, and debate. The project aims to transcend boundaries between industry, education, and culture, creating bridges between designers, academic institutions, and industry. The presence of Design Signals Snapshot at ALCOVA underscores the importance of international visibility for design from Romania, offering a relevant perspective on how the Eastern European scene aligns with global discussions about sustainability, material innovation, and responsible production. Milan Design Week remains a nodal point for contemporary design discourse, and FABER brings to this conversation a perspective rooted in Timișoara’s industrial history but oriented toward the future.
ALCOVA is one of the most anticipated exhibitions at Milan Design Week, known for its unconventional spaces and visionary curation. This year’s edition takes place at several locations: Villa Borsani, Serele Pasino, the former SNIA factory, and Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, where FABER will also exhibit. Hosted in this 19th-century architectural jewel, the Design Signals Snapshot exhibition fits within ALCOVA’s philosophy of transforming forgotten historic spaces into laboratories for design experimentation.
Design Signals Snapshot will be open to the public from April 7-13, 2025, between 11:00 and 19:00, offering an exploration of design as a tool for analyzing and transforming industrial and social realities. Design Signals is a flagship program for Timișoara, funded by the Projects Center through the Landmarks in Culture program and the Order of Architects of Romania through the Architecture Stamp.
