âThe Elephant in the Roomâ focuses on design issues which tend to be left by the wayside, bypassed both intellectually and practically. In 1814, Ivan Krylov (1769â1844), a poet and fabulist, wrote a fable entitled âThe Curious Man,â about a man who goes to a museum and notices all sorts of tiny things, but fails to notice an elephant. The phrase has become an apt metaphorical expression for an obvious controversial question or potentially embarrassing or inflammatory issue never mentioned or discussed by anyone no matter how conspicuous, even though it is known by all.
The âElephant in the Roomâ motif of the International Design Week organized by the Faculty of Design uses this is metaphor to give center stage to design treatments of subjects which are either ignored due to political or social embarrassment or lack the luster or appeal of other subjects. The ability of design to address topics from the âforgottenâ or âneglectedâ status and place them at the forefront is especially relevant, particularly in the cases of more complex or controversial issues. The end process of design, which impacts directly on the user or consumer, sheds a new light and offers a different validity to issues that are often abandoned as part of the endless race to innovate and create new markets.
Academic design study must be the entity which seeks out and explores that âelephant in the room.â While professional design is by necessity dictated by commercial efficiency and the âbottom line,â the academy can unburden itself from these shackles and use the power awarded by this freedom to influence the future generation of designers. The role of the design academe is to open itself to the “hidden” issues which may lie outside the consensus and to use this advantage to expose a whole new world ripe for artistic exploration. Workshops refer to design challenges that best express the literal and symbolic meaning of âelephant in the roomâ and generate a fruitful dialogue through the design process.
The workshops will take place on March 2-6, (Sunday to Thursday)
between 09:00â18:00 (UTC +2)
The workshops are intended for 4th year students in the three bachelorâs degrees of the Faculty of Design: Visual Communication , Industrial Design and Interior Design.
The workshops will be conducted in English.
International Week 2025 steering committee:
Prof. David Rawet, Dean of Faculty
Mr. Erez Bahar, Head of the Visual Communication Department
Mr. Ofer Zick, Head of the Industrial Design Department
Arch. Udi Cramski, Head of Interior Design Department
Dr. Yael Eylat Van Essen, Head of the International Office
Producer: Adi Karelitz
Designer: Aviv Lichter
We would like to thank HITâs International Office for its valuable support.
We also wish to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their ongoing support of HITâs International Design Week.