Beyond “Making Stuff Pretty”
Reflections from the Melba Festival on design as responsibility and curiosity
Melba Design Festival, 2025
On 8th November, I met an old love. One I have forgotten. This meeting brought back some parts of myself I had long forgotten. This year has been a rough one. It has been a rough decade, actually. But meeting this love reminded me of a wide-eyed, dreamy, and naive version of me that dreamed of being where I am now. So rough or not, the decade was worth it.
The love I am talking about is design. And not the "make things pretty" design. The one who asks questions, wanders, and through curiosity finds an unexpected solution. Yesterday I attended the Melba Festival organised by Komplekt Studio. I didn’t want to go. It was a Saturday after a draining week, which started with a water leak in my apartment and ended with me being sick. But I quickly forgot my unwillingness. It was a joy to listen to designers and enter into their different worlds.
Studio T.O.T & the value of openness
I missed the first lecture of Studio T.O.T. When asked, "What does T.O.T mean?" they answered, "It doesn't mean anything, and it means everything at the same time. We can change the meaning whenever we want to, depending on our needs."
Isn’t this wonderful? I don’t think any big businessman or entrepreneur would have been so honest in admitting to not knowing.
Julie Richoz, Melba Festival 2025
Julie Richoz &
curiosity as a design driver
Following was Julie Richoz, with her love of simplicity and straight lines. What I loved was the way she explores the world. She wanted to learn more about glass. So she created a project of exquisite, simple glasses that studied the way colour changes in glass. Such a curious thing to explore! I’ve never thought of that question.
Also, she examined how light is dispersed through cloth. In a world where people are in a rush, asking a question about light and how cloth affects its dispersion is poetry. The type that I had not experienced recently. She also made me think about how each choice about the space we live in has a profound impact on the dweller. She did it in a quiet and simple, unperturbing way.
Richard van der Lacken, Melba Festival 2025
What Design Can Do: addressing global challenges
Next was Richard van der Laken from What Design Can Do. He explored the power of design and how it can be leveraged to address the planet's challenges. He organises challenges focused on topics such as global warming, the circular economy, or reducing waste. It is a cross-section of design and entrepreneurship.
I admire his approach as it demonstrates how design can deliver messages, change perceptions, and find solutions. For example, one makes biodegradable packaging from seaweed (Mujo), and another creates fresh cow dung bricks (Coolbricks). Design can solve problems with empathy and care for human beings. From a designer’s standpoint, the human experience is at the centre.
Mario Lombardo, Melba Festival 2025
Mario Lombardo &
designing with honesty
Then Mario Lombardo entered the stage. He had prepared around 500 slides and would present them at a fast pace. And present them fast he did. But between changing slides and sharing about his projects, he was honest. Starting with a slide featuring the wrong font and ending with him answering a question from the public - “How did you build your style?”
His response won me over - "Style? I don’t have a style; I respond to the client's needs and try to find the best solution".
His story was one of charming exploration of the world and about himself, as well as the ways he likes to work. He is not following trends but looks for clean solutions that stand the test of time. I loved his honesty in saying he prefers to work with a small team, but what blew everyone’s mind was that he used InDesign only. To people, trying to use the latest tool, that was a surprise, to put it mildly.
Ineke Hans, Melba Festival 2025 ( this is not the chair I wrote about)
Ineke Hans &
sustainable design systems
After him was Ineke Hans. At the start of her career, she focused on exploring the colour black when used with ceramics and improving the production cycle. The amount of moulds needed to make ceramics is high. That's what pushed her to create a set of cups and bowls with just 5. I found it fascinating that each mould was part of a LEGO-like system. She reminded me of something - the importance of context when looking at ordinary objects.
She also impressed me with her chair design. First, she designed it by using recycled materials. Later, she reduced the materials required to a single one. She also created a system that answered two very valuable questions - how the material is sourced and what happens when it’s thrown away. Together with the company that produces the chair, they built a distribution system that collects old or broken chairs and returns 20 euros to you. What she, Richard, and Mario made me think of was a quote I saw recently:
“The design job of the future will be “founder" by Aaron Epstein.
It would be great to see more products created by designers. Why? Because our line of work is focused on thinking about the human being, their wants and needs, and how to serve them best. By combining this approach with environmental protection, we can create sustainable companies. But that’s a topic for another day.
Jordan Ralph, Melba Festival 2025
Jordan Ralph &
creative exploration
Jordan Ralph flipped the way presentations are usually done. He achieved it by discussing his commercial projects for 3 minutes. After that, he led us on a journey of creative exploration, always curious about the world around him. His projects varied from inventing and selling his own cocktail to producing real alcoholic ice cream and designing Studio Drop. The last one is a small artist residence on Inis Oirr island, Ireland.
Inspired by the Bushido sign and the cyanometer (which is my new favourite invention), he wanted to create a circular shape, but one he had not seen yet. A shape that other designers and architects did not influence.
His presentation made me think about falling in love with a shape and exploring it in many different ways. It also made me ask a question - how does one create something that one has never seen before? How often do I stop and try to make something that I have never seen anywhere else?
Martyna Wedzicka, Melba Festival 2025
Martyna Wedzicka &
“mess is lore”
Martyna Wedzicka-Obichowicz was the person I wanted to hear from the most. She was the first one I saw on the festival's website. She did not disappoint. Her presentation was focused on the question: What inspires me. She began with a short history lesson about Polish poster design and the Polish masters. This helped me understand why Polish posters during and after WWII were so creative.
The secret? It is due to a unique mixture of limitations and freedom. Artists had to do posters for everything. The plus side - they did not have to worry about ticket sales, but with the restriction of censorship. This meant they had to use metaphors. Enter the CYRK (circus) posters - a great example of the mixture of humour and political messages. Within client work with commercial goals, such posters are rarely possible.
What I’ll be taking home with me from Martynais is her fascination with the messiness of life. She shared some of her inspiration, showing photos of messy cables and glitches. It can be summed up as:
“Life is messy, but the messy bits are the best. Adore the mess.”
The Polish Cyrk (circus) posters
Why design philosophy matters
It is nice to spend a Saturday seeing how other designers approach creativity, life, and to get a glimpse into their worlds. I left with the feeling of the world being a curious playground to be explored. This brought me back to explore my own playfulness and creativity. It reminded me that - design shapes people, so the way we design matters. And so do the people we become while doing it.
Ivena Hlebarova is a brand designer and the co-founder of Cosmonavt. She is fond of great stories in any shape or form and is endlessly curious about how shapes, forms, and colours influence our perception and how to help brands communicate humanely with people.