The Context of Design
Design has a relatively short history among the classical branches of the applied arts. Both the meaning and the referential scope of the terminology, as well as the institutional framework and professional classification of the field, have undergone substantial transformation, a process that is even more pronounced today. The conceptual definition of design has expanded or contracted over time in line with the extent to which design, having secured its independent legitimacy within the art–science dichotomy, has tilted the balance towards one side or the other. The nineteenth-century institutionalisation of modern applied art began with handcrafted, unique and small-batch objects; by the twentieth century, however, the demand for increased production volume had introduced a new paradigm in object design. Following the Second World War, industrial design, or product design, experienced explosive growth on the international stage, while in Hungary this development led to the consolidation of industrial design within the umbrella category of applied art. Until the recent past, professionally trained designers emerged from the higher education system of a single institution, even as both the institution itself and professional practice underwent continuous evolution. From 1949, this institution was the Iparművészeti Főiskola (College of Applied Arts), which after the regime change became the Iparművészeti Egyetem (University of Applied Arts) and, from the mid-2000s, has operated under the name Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design), while its physical location has remained unchanged. Between 1960–1972 the term ‘industrial designer’ was in use; between 1972–1993 ‘designer’; between 1993–2007 ‘design artist’; and from 2007 to the present the designations ‘object creator’, ‘product designer’ and ‘designer’ have been applied to professional practitioners. Over recent decades, both the substance of design and the education of designers have become increasingly polarised. Alongside the formerly privileged College and later University of Applied Arts, design and product design programmes were launched at the Budapesti Műszaki Egyetem (Budapest University of Technology), followed by the University of Sopron, the University of Miskolc, the University of Pécs and, most recently, the Széchenyi István University in Győr. As the institutional system has evolved, so too has the profession itself. Experience over the past decade and more indicates that the field of design has begun to differentiate into distinct branches. In place of an object-centred approach, design-centred thinking has come to the fore, bringing increased emphasis on service design and design thinking. Beyond technical criteria and aesthetic considerations, the economic macro-environment now also exerts a decisive influence on the outcomes of object design. State-owned enterprises, which enjoyed monopoly positions until the regime change, were replaced by free-market actors, and in recent years the rise of start-up culture has seen previously unknown agents begin to reshape the role of designers. The creation of an object is enabled by the collaboration of three groups – designer, user and economic actor – whose differing perspectives are integrated by the contemporary designer. In parallel, the fundamental criteria of professional practice have undergone a shift in emphasis. The ‘one cohort, one master’ model that characterised the College of Applied Arts has, with the differentiation of higher education, given way to the ‘one student, several masters’ model, which has become dominant in contemporary higher education systems.
The evolution of the profession over recent decades has entailed a reordering of the priorities attached to the distinctive attributes that define the professional designer, as well as a recalibration of the hierarchy of specialised skills. Alongside freehand drawing and modelling skills, previously classified as ‘high-skill’ competences, creative problem-solving and marketing management have risen to an equivalent level among indispensable proficiencies, with technological knowledge and artistic quality increasingly asserted on a business-oriented basis. This shift has produced the designerly attitude characteristic of recent decades, manifest in the de-emphasis of individualism and the growing importance of teamwork, collective practice and results-oriented thinking. At the same time, the designer’s specific professional identity is constituted through participation in the process between input and output within the functional and aesthetic context of the finished object. Designers who execute projects either independently or as members of a team are further differentiated by whether they practise their profession in employed positions or as freelancers; consequently, instead of the collective notion of the formatervező, contemporary usage favours the term ‘designer’ qualified by an interpretative modifier.
Designer and design artist Pál Koós’s creative practice and pedagogical activity constitute a paradigmatic exemplar of Hungarian design in the post-regime-change period. The evolution of the profession over the past thirty years is tangibly articulated through the objects realised in practice, while throughout this period he has consistently followed and shaped the development of Hungarian higher education in design. His name has become synonymous with the interweaving of practice and theory. His oeuvre currently stands at the zenith of his creative trajectory and may therefore justifiably command sustained attention from both the profession and the field of visual culture with regard to its future directions.
Object Design and Higher Education
Designer Pál Koós came into contact with art during his secondary school years in Nyíregyháza, but it was at the Encsi Művésztelep (Encs Art Colony), led by János Fajó, that he acquired his professional, visual and cultural foundations. He later attended the Dési Huber István Képzőművészeti Kör (Dési Huber István Fine Art Circle) in Budapest, where he studied under the painter György Korga. While attending the entrance examination preparatory course of the Iparművészeti Főiskola, he became acquainted with designers Péter Kemény and Nándor Balvin, who were then completing their studies at the Design Department; their influence prompted him to apply for training in design. In 1991 he was admitted to the Iparművészeti Főiskola, where he was taught by Károly Simon, József Scherer, József Zalavári, Tibor Szentpéteri, József Gollob, Gyula Ernyey and László Nádas.
Pál Koós belonged to the cohort taught for four years by the designer and educator László Nádas. On Nádas’s recommendation, following his graduation he began working at ABN Design Stúdió alongside Rozi Antoni, Gergely Nádas, Anna Nádas and Gábor Bechtold. During his university years he achieved success in several national and international design competitions, including a Raichle ski-boot design competition, a Sunlimited sunglasses competition and the competition announced for the Visegrád holiday resort of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Hungarian National Bank), and took part in a number of projects linked to specific companies. At the time this was exceptional, as in the post-regime-change period large industrial enterprises were steadily disappearing, making it increasingly difficult to introduce ‘live’ assignments into education that were connected to functioning companies and clearly defined briefs, such as Kismotor- és Gépgyár (Small Engine and Machine Factory), Szarvasi Fémipari Szövetkezet (Szarvas Metalworking Cooperative) or Suzuki. In the meantime, the Iparművészeti Főiskola became the Iparművészeti Egyetem, where in 1997 he obtained his degree as a design artist. In 1998 his diploma project was awarded First Prize at the national design competition II. Lépés a jövőbe (lit. Second Step into the Future), an achievement that brought him significant recognition across the Hungarian professional design field.
Since 1995, a number of Pál Koós’s designs have entered production. Among these, the highest-volume products are the Capriccio coffee maker and his digital personal scales, manufactured to this day by MOMERT in Dunaújváros. In 1999, one of his personal scales received the Special Prize of the Patent Office at the Nívódíj competition. MOMERT products were sold in annual runs of tens of thousands. The Grado family of electrical switches, produced by Prodax and later by Schneider Electric, was likewise marketed in large quantities. His work has also appeared regularly in international contexts, including the Objects from Hungary exhibition series and the Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004). For more than two decades he has worked as a designer in the specialised field of high-end audio. For Etalon Akusztika Kft. he designs amplifiers, loudspeakers and electronic components that have achieved sustained international success. In recent years he has worked in close collaboration with László Sallay, the company’s managing director and chief engineer. In 2007 he was awarded the Hungarian Design Award for the Essence loudspeaker family designed for Etalon Akusztika Kft. In 2008 he participated in the exhibition Six Design Stories, organised within the framework of World Design Capital Torino 2008, where his Etalon Essence loudspeakers represented Hungarian design alongside the Rubik’s cube, Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair, the egg holder by Gepetto Design Stúdió and an aircraft by Corvus Kft., as part of a joint presentation by six Central European countries. In the same year he also became a member of the jury of the Hungarian Design Award. In 2009, works designed at ABN Design Kft. and objects created for Etalon Akusztika Kft. were shown together at the exhibition Versenyben (lit. In Competition), organised by Design Terminál. In 2010, in recognition of his artistic achievements, he was awarded the Ferenczy Noémi Prize.
In the years that followed, he continued to achieve sustained international success in collaboration with Etalon Akusztika Kft. In 2011 the Supradac electronics unit, and in 2013 the Integral amplifier, received the highly prestigious Diapason d’Or Prize from the French magazine Diapason. In the same year, the Minisono loudspeaker was awarded a Best Buy distinction by the French magazine Haute Fidélité. The Solo network player received the Grand Frisson 2015 recognition from the French magazine Audiophile.
After the turn of the millennium, university teaching became an increasingly important component of Pál Koós’s professional practice. Between 2000–2003 he pursued DLA studies. From 2000 to the present he has taught design: initially contributing to preparatory courses, then teaching at the Design Department in successive roles as part-time lecturer, assistant lecturer, lecturer, associate professor and habilitated associate professor; he currently teaches design as a full professor. In 2006 the University of Applied Arts adopted the name Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. He has led numerous collaborative projects with Hungarian and international companies, involving both Hungarian and international students; partner companies included Dalbello, Kinnarps, IDEA Group Kft. and Vodafone, among others. Particularly noteworthy is his three-year collaboration with the Italian furniture manufacturer IDEA Group, which culminated in realised products. His students have achieved notable results in international competitions (Henkel Design Awards, Electrolux Design Lab, Nespresso Design Contest, etc.), and several have received the Hungarian Design Award. Together with students he has worked on projects that progressed to product stage (IDEA sun lounger, Vodafone antenna-support mast, Rhinolight medical device, dog-waste container, etc.). Within the MA in Design programme, he taught the course Anyagtársítások (Material Combinations), and in recent years, jointly with Andrea Schmidt, he has led the course Túl az ötleten (lit. Beyond the Idea), which supports students in developing their own ideas towards viable business application. In recent years he has supervised several Rector’s Prize-winning graduates (Angéla Góg, Adrienn Tillinger), and one Red Dot Award-winning diploma project produced under his supervision (Rebeka Pákozdi). At the MOME doctoral school, as a supervisor, he has supported the work of eight doctoral candidates, three of whom – Balázs Hegedűs, András Kerékgyártó and Angéla Góg – have successfully completed their degrees.
In September 2007 he was appointed Acting Deputy Head of the Design Department at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. In shaping his leadership philosophy, he drew on the experience gained during several months spent in 2008 in Scotland at the Corbenic Camphill Community. His sustained and effective work contributed to the BA in Design receiving the Title of Excellence from the Hungarian Accreditation Committee in 2009, a distinction held by only three art degree programmes nationwide. In 2010 the Design Intézet (Design Institute) was established, within which he became Head of the Design Department as an associate professor. In 2013 and again in 2015, Domus magazine ranked the design programme among the best in Europe. He is credited with formulating the department’s slogan “Játsszunk komolyan!” (“Let’s Play Seriously!”) and with the related programme development, as well as with initiating the ‘teamwork-based’ admissions procedure introduced at BA level in 2014. Since 2012 he has served as a member of the Arts Committee of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee.
Since 1 June 2015, Pál Koós has served as Director of the Design Institute at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. As institute director, he has regarded as a major achievement the continuous renewal and expansion of professional programmes, as well as the successful meeting of the challenges arising from campus development. The steadily evolving Design Institute has become a key actor in Hungarian design, with substantial collaborations underway and R&D&I (research, development and innovation) programmes in operation. As a lecturer, head of department and institute director, he has organised numerous initiatives that have broadened MOME’s domestic and international partnerships. He has arranged courses designed to strengthen mentoring and incubation, and has participated in projects delivering significant results in the R&D&I domain. He played an active role in the launch of the Design Szolfézs (lit. Design Solfège) programme as head of the Design Alapok (lit. Design Fundamentals) block. Successful initiatives have included the MOME+ experimental incubation project, the dog-waste container project developed with Budapest’s District XII Municipality, the Hungarian–Norwegian Future Traditions project, and joint projects with SOS Children’s Villages Hungary, the Hand in Hand Foundation, the Hungarian Hospice Foundation and the Semmelweis Museum of Medical History. The project-development course Túl az ötleten was a precursor to the MOME+ experimental incubation programme. His course DESIGNthinKING, avagy mi lesz a sovány királyból (lit. DESIGNthinKING, Or What Will Become of the Skinny King) prepares MA students for graduation and for the post-degree period.
From 2015 to 2018 he served as a member of the Hungarian Design Council, and from 2019 as its Vice-Chair. Between 2016 and 2021 he was appointed a member of the Applied Arts College of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary, and in 2016 and 2017 he held the position of Chair of the jury of the Hungarian Design Award. In 2017 he was included among the featured artists at the exhibition Körülöttünk (lit. Around Us), the National Salon of Industrial and Design Arts held at the Kunsthalle Budapest. At the conference associated with the salon, he delivered a lecture entitled Fogalmak és összefüggések az iparművészetben és a tervezőművészetben (lit. Concepts and Interrelations in Applied Arts and Design) and chaired a round-table discussion.
In 2018, within the framework of MOME+, he initiated a collaboration with the Budapest LAB Office for Entrepreneurship Development of the Budapest University of Economics and Business, contributing both to the launch of the COLLAB event series and to the organisation of a joint business-plan development course for MOME and BGE students. In the same year, he served as professional lead of the EFOP (Human Resources Development Operational Programme) 3.4.4 project A jövő új útjai a pályaválasztás és az autonóm autózás világában (lit. New Paths for the Future in the World of Career Choice and Autonomous Driving), whose aim was to reach large numbers within its target group through a consortium of three partners: the design-centred Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, the Budapest University of Technology with its extensive teaching experience, and the practice-oriented Pannon Fejlesztési Alapítvány (Pannon Development Foundation).
In 2018 he delivered a successful habilitation lecture entitled A formatervezés alapjai (lit. The Fundamentals of Design) and was reappointed Director of the Design Institute for a further two-year term. In 2019 he received his appointment as Professor and Vice-Rector for Education at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, and in 2021 he was appointed Vice-Rector General. His key responsibilities include overseeing quality assurance processes in the educational domain of the rectorate and coordinating the introduction of new English-language MA programmes. From 16 December 2021 he has been an Associate Member of the Section of Applied Arts and Design of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. He delivered his inaugural academy lecture in 2022 at the Pesti Vigadó under the title Ideán innen, formán túl (lit. Before the Idea, Beyond Form).
[2022]