Marjan Žitnik – Industrial Designer

Poster for the exhibition Marjan Žitnik - industrial designer <em>Photo: design by Tamara Lašič Jurković</em>
Poster for the exhibition Marjan Žitnik - industrial designer Photo: design by Tamara Lašič Jurković

Castle Gallery
22 June – 22 October 2023

Curators: Žan Kobal, Tamara Lašič Jurković

The opening of the exhibition will take place on 22 June at 7:00 PM at the Škofja Loka Museum.

Marjan Žitnik, born in Česnjica near Železniki in 1955, is an industrial designer with more than forty years of experience in designing consumer products. He began his design journey at the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana, before getting a job in the design department of the Iskra company. After nearly a decade of work experience, he pursued further education at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where he completed his studies as one of the first three design graduates. He then ventured into a career as a freelance designer and has collaborated with various Slovenian companies, designing a wide variety of products, from technical objects to products for everyday use. Many of Žitnik’s designs have found their way into people’s homes and have become iconic, such as the Z24 flashlight and the Benko cocoa packaging. Few people, however, know the designer behind them.

The exhibition Marjan Žitnik – Industrial Designer showcases Žitnik’s incredibly diverse body of work. His works are presented in four thematic sections that differ in terms of product function and the context of use, which required the designer to adopt different approaches to solving each design challenge. The selection of projects from the fields of lighting, technical products, household items and works created at the Ive Šubic Art Colonies gives a comprehensive insight into Žitnik’s work. Special attention is devoted to the key periods that have shaped his professional development and position him in a wider context of Slovenian design.

The exhibition features various finished products, as well as sketches, plans, models, prototypes and photos from Žitnik’s archive, which shed light on the otherwise hidden process of industrial design.

Accompanying programme

  • a creative morning with the Slovenian wooden toy Konstrukta for all ages: 30 August 2023 at 10:00 AM
  • a guided tour of the exhibition with the curators: 2 September 2023 at 11:00 AM
  • a guided tour of the exhibition with Marjan Žitnik and Saša Nabergoj, director of Škofja Loka Museum: 11 October 2023 at 6:00 PM