CHALLENGE 1: BIO-LUXURY – HIGH-END TEXTILES FROM BIOMATERIALS FOR HIGH FASHION

Challenge mentor: Matea Benedetti, fashion designer, Benedetti Life (Slovenia)
Rog mentors: Uroš Topić (Textile Lab), Maruša Ramšak (Green Lab)

Labs: Textile Lab, Green Lab

Challenge description:
This challenge focuses on exploring the potential of biomaterials and other natural, sustainable, and biodegradable materials in the context of high fashion. Participants will experiment with materials that are still not widely used in the fashion industry, such as kombucha leather, materials derived from pineapple and apple fibers, and other natural composites, and investigate their aesthetic and structural possibilities through various textile manipulation techniques.

Challenge objective:
Based on your research, you will develop an aesthetically refined and innovative high-end textile for the creation of a corset as a universal “red carpet” fashion piece. You will use techniques such as embroidery, sewing, laser cutting, handcrafting, and AI visualization, demonstrating that sustainable materials can achieve the same level of luxury, sophistication, and visual expression as conventional materials in high fashion. The challenge also encourages reflection on the environmental impact of synthetic materials and the reinterpretation of so-called “poor materials” within the context of contemporary luxury.

Materials: biomaterials (kombucha leather, pineapple- and apple-based materials, etc.), natural fibers, experimental textile composites.

CHALLENGE 2: SHARED SPACES – DESIGNING FOR MORE THAN JUST PEOPLE

Challenge mentor: Lars Petrova-Taylor, maker (Spain)
Rog mentors: Jaka Oman (Wood Lab), Tauan Bernardo (FabLab)
Labs: Wood Lab, FabLab

Challenge description:
Human-centered design has made modern life more comfortable, but at the same time it has taught us to overlook plants, pollinators, and other beings that make our existence possible. This challenge explores care- and coexistence-based design, in which humans exist within a broader network of relationships. What does such a shift look like when co-created by young people?

RogLab, a shipping container in the park in front of Centre Rog, is becoming a community café. Imagine a space where you can leave your mark, learn something new from someone you have never met, and connect with nature through a small artistic or design intervention. Design and build a multifunctional space for gathering, exchange, rest, play, and ecological care.

Challenge objective:
Develop a prototype of a shared space for care, creativity, and coexistence. As a starting point, you will use the care cycle “Take – Act – Leave a Mark – Connect”, which encourages reflection on reciprocity: how people contribute to a space, how their actions leave traces, and how a community takes shape over time.

Let the real habits of young people—the ways they socialize, rest, create, and build—guide the design process. You will also consider who cares for the space after you leave, how it is maintained and developed, and how future generations of young people can continue and reinterpret it in their own way.

Materials: wood, mixed materials from the FabLab, found objects, textiles.

CHALLENGE 3: REFUGES – ARCHITECTURES FOR OTHER INHABITANTS OF THE PARK OF THE ERASED

Challenge mentor: Guillian Graves, designer and founder of the Big Bang Project agency | Head of the Master’s program Nature-Inspired Design and Phusis Lab at ENSCI–Les Ateliers (France)
Rog mentors: Maruša Ramšak (Green Lab), Tomo Per (Ceramics Lab)
Labs: Green Lab, Ceramics Lab

Challenge description:
Just two hundred meters from Centre Rog flows the Ljubljanica River; five hundred meters away lies Tabor Park, while the roof of the former bicycle factory already hosts beehives. The surroundings of Centre Rog are not an empty space waiting to be filled, but a layered habitat already shared with thousands of non-human inhabitants that urban planning often overlooks.

The challenge invites participants to design and build five micro-refuges tailored to specific species or groups of organisms: a bat shelter, a hotel for solitary bees, support for xerophilic lichens, a dew-collecting water station, or a hedgehog shelter. Each refuge must be designed according to the biological needs of its inhabitant—from the size of openings and wall thickness to thermal properties and surface textures—and placed in a carefully selected location.

This is the first Rog Kreaton challenge in the history of the festival entirely dedicated to creating habitats for non-human inhabitants of the city.

Challenge objectives:
You will design and build five micro-refuges for selected non-human inhabitants of the Centre Rog surroundings. Each refuge must:

• combine biocomposites, ceramics, and wood as primary materials,
• include at least one living substrate from the Green Lab,
• respond through its form or material properties to the specific needs of the target species.

Materials: recycled wood and wood offcuts, clay, mycelium blocks, seeds, mosses, branches, and natural materials.

CHALLENGE 4: WEARABLE OBJECTS – BETWEEN THE BODY AND THE SKY

Challenge mentor: Sara Bologna, designer and researcher (Italy)
Rog mentors: Dalija Sega (Jewelry Lab), Brigita Gantar (Glass Lab)
Labs: Jewelry Lab, Glass Lab

Challenge description:
For most of human history, the cosmos was not understood as something that exists solely “out there.” People perceived it as a system of relationships and interconnectedness. The modern understanding of the world, however, is based on separation: hierarchies have been established, and the cosmos has been transformed from a community of subjects into a system of passive forces. In this process, something has been lost—the sense of kinship with something greater than the individual. How can we encourage a shift in perspective and design new ways to reconnect with what is “greater than us”?

This challenge invites participants to rethink the relationship between the human body and the cosmos through wearable design. In many cultures, jewelry and body adornment have not served merely as decoration; they have carried stories, beliefs, memories, and connections to worlds beyond the individual. Today, they can become a medium for reflecting on our place in the universe, which continues to inspire curiosity, awe, and imagination.

Challenge objectives:
You will design and create wearable objects or pieces of jewelry using traditional goldsmithing techniques and cold glassworking techniques. You will develop a concept inspired by a celestial body, an astronomical phenomenon, or a cosmic process, and translate it into a meaningful wearable form through the choice of materials, light, texture, and interaction with the body. The final piece should tell a clear story while also contributing to a shared “constellation” created by all participants.

Materials: brass, copper, glass, textile remnants, and other materials found in nature.

CHALLENGE 5: COMPANIONS – OBJECTS FOR HUMAN–ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RELATIONSHIPS

Challenge mentor: Alessandro Masserdotti, philosopher and interaction designer (Italy)
Rog mentors: Nuša Jurkovič (FabLab), Bart Smiths (FabLab)
Lab: FabLab

Challenge description:
Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we interact with technology. AI no longer represents just tools and assistants, but opens up the possibility of creating objects that sense their environment, respond to it, and develop meaningful relationships with people. Many of the objects we value most are not necessarily useful—they hold emotional significance. A childhood toy, a lucky charm, a souvenir, or a personal item becomes meaningful through the memories and feelings we associate with it. But what happens when these objects can also react, communicate, and express their own personality?

This challenge explores how artificial intelligence can transform passive objects into interactive companions. Using sensors, actuators, and open-source AI models that run locally on microcontrollers and computers, participants will design objects that can perceive, respond, and evolve through interaction with users.

The focus is not on creating yet another “smart” device, but on imagining new forms of emotional, symbolic, and personal connection between humans and intelligent objects. Participants are encouraged to develop projects that respect privacy, are energy-efficient, and function independently of cloud platforms.

Challenge objectives:
You will design and build a prototype of an AI-enabled object capable of forming an emotional relationship with its user. The object must be able to perceive, respond, and express its own behavior or personality through physical and/or digital interactions.

Materials: microcontrollers, sensors, actuators, open-source AI models, digital fabrication tools.