At first glance, state of affairs is quite bizarre: Croatian industry has never been closer to its deathbed; Croatian product design has never been more alive.
This year’s theme of Posti di Vista event at Milan’s Fabbrica del Vapore – sensible design – seems almost to be tailored to Croatian designers’ output;  particularly, if we define Sensible design as grounded in reality, sensitive to needs of others, and perceptive to local and global issues.  In a way, the theme is a continuation of recent global effort to rehabilitate product design. Thus, it offers a possibility of critical and ethical reevaluation of design and the part it plays in negative social and economic trends.
Projects presented at the Croatian Designers’ Impact venue are sensible by necessity. They all use an empirical, Do-It-Yourself design method – because it’s the obtainable one. Designer’s hand and his/her bursts of spontaneity are still visible in finished product. Exhibited objects are simple in execution, straightforward and honest, without being bleak. On the contrary, the pieces are rather playful and experimental, making most of materials and techniques available.