Bydgoszcz Design Days: Festival under the theme RE

Bydgoszcz Design Days return on October 10–12, 2025, offering residents of Bydgoszcz and visitors from across Poland three days full of inspiration, workshops, and discussions on conscious design. The event is organized by the Młyny Rothera Science and Culture Center.

The fourth edition of the festival will take place under the slogan RE: — inviting a reconsideration of resources, spaces, and ideas. RE:think, RE:use, RE:cycle is not only a play of words but above all an invitation to discover new possibilities in what already exists. Has everything in design already been done? What role does nostalgia play in the design process? Where is the boundary between inspiration and copying? Is a circular economy always ecological? We will seek answers to these questions during this year’s festival.

Ahead of us are three days of conversations about conscious design, industrial design, architecture, circular fashion, ecology — as well as the anthropology of objects and philosophy. We will consider how design thinking permeates our daily life, our cities, our homes, and other aspects of existence. We will also talk about why fashions, ideas, and concepts return. The festival’s program features dozens of events: talks, lectures, workshops, walks through Bydgoszcz’s districts, exhibitions, and a film screening — for everyone.

Among this year’s guests are architect and urban planner Magdalena Milert, writer Karolina Sulej‑Kubik, and archaeologist and author Kora Tea Kowalska. The festival also offers the opportunity to meet designer and graphic artist Nikodem Pręgowski, director of the bwa Municipal Gallery in Bydgoszcz Karolina Leśnik‑Patelczyk, and writer Dorota Kotas.

The festival includes a rich workshop offering. Participants will take part in workshops led by esteemed experts in fields such as applied art and artistic craftsmanship. Among the offerings are: traditional Japanese fabric mending with Joanna Michalska‑Brzezińska, “Modern Kintsugi” with Agnieszka Weis, and creative upcycling with Yana Bezdushna. Beata Bochińska will lead a workshop entitled “Second Life, First Astonishment,” showing how to recognize good design in ordinary things. As part of the Young Designer Zone, organized in cooperation with the Bydgoszcz School of Commerce, there will be workshops with designer Szymon Kot as well as a special fashion show prepared by students of the Bydgoszcz school.

There will also be attractions for the youngest participants. A zone full of creative upcycling activities is prepared especially for them. Children will make, for example, colorful stained-glass pieces from CDs, tote bags from T-shirts, and design an interior within… a cardboard box.

A notable festival contribution is the exhibition by Kora Tea Kowalska, “These Are Not My Things.” Through exhibits — objects she found in a dumpster — the artist encourages reflection on what we humans do with things in times of constant acquisition and disposal. The opening of the exhibition, combined with a curatorial walk, will inaugurate this year’s festival on Friday, October 10.

This year there will be five thematic walks. Urban guides Piotr Weckwerth and Mikołaj Buzała will lead journeys through Bydgoszcz districts. Meanwhile, Dorota Kotas will take us on a “micro‑shopping expedition” accompanied by stories about second-hand shops.

A new festival feature this year is the Partners Zone. Dozens of companies and institutions will share their solutions in resource reuse and creative textile processing. In addition to exhibition booths, visitors to the zone can take part in various interactive activities.

The festival will conclude with a screening of “Lombard”, directed by Łukasz Kowalski. Lombard is the winner of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival (2022), where it earned, among others, the Grand Prix. It is a moving and humorous documentary-comedy about a couple running possibly the largest pawnshop in Europe.

All events will be held at Młyny Rothera — a 19th-century industrial complex in the very heart of Bydgoszcz that, after revitalization, has become the seat of the Science and Culture Center. Młyny Rothera is a meeting place for workshops and exhibitions, promoting the idea of good living and co‑creating urban space.

Bydgoszcz Design Days is an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of conscious design regardless of age. We invite all enthusiasts of creativity and inventive thinking to join this event!

The festival takes place October 10–12, 2025. Admission to talks, lectures, and exhibitions is free. Walks and workshops require registration. The detailed program is available on the festival’s website: https://bydgoskiedniprojektowe.pl/

See you at the Młyny!

Organiser: Młyny Rothera Science and Culture Center

Honorary patrons:
Kujawsko‑Pomorskie Voivode Michał Sztybel, Marshal of the Kujawsko‑Pomorskie Voivodeship Piotr Całbecki, President of the City of Bydgoszcz Rafał Bruski.

Partners:
Faculty of Design, Bydgoszcz University of Technology; Bydgoszcz Branch of the Association of Polish Architects; Bydgoszcz Industrial Cluster “Tool Valley”; Association of Applied Graphic Artists; dreslow

Media patrons:
Pismo. Magazyn Opinii; Architektura i Biznes; NN6T; PLN Design; Grafmag; Design Alive; TVP Bydgoszcz; TVP Info; Metropolia Bydgoska; Radio PiK; Express Bydgoski; Nasze Miasto Bydgoszcz; Bydgoszcz Cultural Informer

Workshops organized by the Faculty of Design

Saturday 12:00 – 18:00
“Circular fashion applications — workshops by the Department of Design at PBS in collaboration with Volcano”
During Bydgoszcz Design Days, we invite you to workshops creating fashion applications, organized by the Department of Design at the Faculty of Design, Bydgoszcz University of Technology, in cooperation with the Volcano brand. Participants will enter the world of sustainable fashion design by working with second-hand materials — not only learning basic sewing techniques but, above all, experimenting with creative textile transformations. The goal is to create unique fashion applications and original designs that show that every fabric can gain a new life. The workshop is an opportunity to experience how responsible design combines creativity, ecology, and practical skills. The partnership between the university and business, represented by Volcano, gives students and young designers a chance to exert real influence on changes in the fashion industry.

Sunday 12:00 – 16:00
“Furniture with history” — transforming advertising banners into functional forms
During Bydgoszcz Design Days, we invite you to workshops organized in cooperation with Młyny Rothera and the company PROS, demonstrating that responsibility in marketing can take tangible form. Participants will work with advertising banners from the previous edition of the festival, giving them new life as public seating. It’s an opportunity to see how a seeming “waste” becomes an inspiration and material for creating innovative solutions. Designing and constructing furniture becomes a lesson in sustainable thinking about design and responsible resource use. The company PROS plays a key role in the process, sharing experience and supporting participants in the technical aspects of material joining. The workshops illustrate how cooperation between education, business, and culture can jointly shape responsible design practice with real impact on urban space and public awareness.