USAID Helps Serbian Furniture Design Students

March 26, 2008

Students talking to the USAID Mission Director and journalists

Every April, Milan plays host to one of the most prestigious furniture design events in the world, the Saloni Satellite. Each year, the Saloni holds a competition for Young Talent to exhibit at the event, and this year a group of 11 students from the Forestry Faculty at the University of Belgrade was selected from hundreds of universities across the world to present their furniture designs at this event.

On Thursday, March 27, USAID Mission Director Michael Harvey will meet this group of students to congratulate them on their success and to present them with a USAID grant, worth $7,000 in funds provided by the American people, to cover the students' travel expenses and promotional/marketing activities of their designs at Design Week, thus helping to promote a positive image of Serbia's capabilities in this sector.

The students' participation at this event offers them the opportunity to increase their exposure to the international market place and get a better understanding of the business; the opportunity to meet potential buyers of their designs; and a chance to increase their awareness of Serbia's design capabilities in this sector. In order to realize this opportunity, the students -- who have won numerous awards, including the Golden Medal Award at Novi Sad Fair, the Golden Key by the Belgrade International Furniture Design, the Outstanding Project Design Award by Belgrade Design Week, the Excellent Design Award by the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce and others -- launched a fund-raising effort and secured support not only from USAID, but also from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Serbian Agency for Wood, the Municipality of Cukarica, the company Forma Ideale, and others.

Milan Design Week, which will take place from April 16th-21st at the Milan Fairgrounds in Rho, brings together the most prominent designers and creative talent in the business. Last year, this event gathered 270,000 visitors, of whom 165,000 came from 145 foreign countries, and 2,000 exhibiting companies.