About us
The Slovak Design Center (SCD) is a unique institution that has been systematically developing, documenting, and promoting design in Slovakia since 1991. SCD was established in response to the need for an independent workplace that, after the split of Czechoslovakia, would focus not only on research but also on supporting and presenting Slovak design in all its diversity. The first director was Zdena Burianová, followed by Ľubica Nagyová, Ľubica Fábri, Katarína Hubová, and Mária Rišková; today, the center is led by Maroš Schmidt.
The Slovak Design Center operates as a documentation, information, collecting, research, and consulting center with nationwide scope under the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. Its main mission is to examine and clarify the significance of design in society, to collect and protect objects of cultural value from the fields of design, applied arts, and architecture, and to make them accessible to the public. This activity was fully developed especially after 2011, when SCD expanded its activities to include collecting and established the Slovak Museum of Design – today a key platform for preserving and presenting Slovakia’s design heritage.
SCD also plays a significant role in the promotion and popularization of design. It organizes the prestigious competition and the highest award in the field of design in Slovakia: the National Award for Product/Communication Design (NCD), an established and respected platform. The NCD motivates collaboration between professional designers, manufacturers, and clients, systematically maps the development of design in Slovakia, and, last but not least, actively contributes to design research and professional publishing.
SCD is the publisher of the only specialized design journal in Slovakia – Designum – and regularly publishes professional books and catalogues mapping the development and personalities of Slovak design. For both professionals and the general public, SCD provides a database of design works, personalities, manufacturers, and publications through the IS DIZAJN information system and the website www.scd.sk. The specialized Design Library, with its extensive collection of books and magazines, is of unique importance for advancing knowledge and research in design.
An important part of SCD’s work is collaboration – whether with domestic universities and secondary schools that educate future designers, or with international organizations and foreign design centers. Thanks to membership in organizations such as BEDA and ICOGRADA and cooperation with Slovak diplomatic missions abroad, Slovak design is regularly presented on the international stage.
The significance of SCD goes far beyond the scope of a cultural institution. Through its activities, it contributes to the development of Slovakia’s cultural identity, supports innovation and the competitiveness of Slovak producers and designers, and thus the entire economy. At the same time, it creates space for professional discussion, education, and connecting the community of designers, students, experts, and the wider public. Today, SCD is perceived as a center of inspiration, creativity, and professional background for all who believe that quality design has the power to change society for the better.
Through its activities, SCD significantly contributes not only to the preservation and presentation of cultural values, but also to the development of the creative industry and the overall competitiveness of Slovakia at the international level.