The Design Center Archives

In 2023 and thanks to Mihály Pohárnok, the archives of the Information Centre of Industrial Design (better known as the Design Center), became part of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts – Central European Research Institute for Art History (ADK). The organisation was established in 1975 within the framework of the Chamber of Commerce, which—alongside the Industrial Design Council Office—carried out representative and influential work in the field of Hungarian industrial design until the late 1980s. The Design Council dealt with the theoretical (methodological, ergonomic, educational) and economic aspects of design, and as an inter-ministerial committee it played a mediating role. The Design Center, on the other hand, helped the development and promotion of design by organising exhibitions and disseminating information. In addition, the Lectorate of Fine and Applied Arts was responsible for the activities of certification, evaluation and tendering in the field of design (often also playing a censorship role). The Chamber of Commerce asked Mihály Pohárnok, who was one of the inventors and leading figures behind the complex environmental design experiment of the Kitchen Program for Prefabricated Houses (1972–1975), to organise and head the Design Center.

The Design Center’s showroom in Gerlóczy Street hosted numerous exhibitions and professional events and among other areas the organization took an active part in the field of design mediation.  It also participated in the organization of nationwide events such as the Silicon Industry Design Triennial and the Biennial of Industrial Textile Art. Of these, the exhibition entitled Heritage: Object and Environmental Culture in Hungary 1945–1985, which was held at the Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle Budapest in 1985, is especially noteworthy. The Design Center also launched the Let’s Design Objects youth competition, which ran for several years and was accompanied by a television program as well.

/Eszter Szőnyeg-Szegvári/