Workshop Registration

As part of the Social Design Days held on June 16–17, the Design Institute Tbilisi, in collaboration with Polish Graphic Design, will host a series of workshops aimed at exploring design as a tool for social transformation.

For the first time in Georgia, the design community will come together to critically examine and advance the role of design in addressing pressing societal challenges. From co-design and accessibility to education, sustainability, health, and urban innovation, the event seeks to foster meaningful dialogue and cross-sectoral collaboration.

The workshops presented during Social Design Days reflect this ethos, providing participants with frameworks and practical methodologies to engage design as a participatory and transformative force in public life.

For attending the workshop see the detailed description and follow the link

Workshop: Design Tools for Social Initiatives by Tamar Sulakvelidze
June 16 | 11:00 - 13:00

June 17 | 10:00 - 12:00

This hands-on workshop introduces participants to key design tools and collaborative methods used to develop and prototype ideas for social impact. Drawing from real-world practices, the session will guide participants through exercises that help turn early-stage concepts into actionable solutions.

Through 1–2 practical exercises, participants will explore how to structure and evolve ideas in response to social or community-based topics - such as neighborhood identity, heritage, or creative public engagement.

Whether you’re working in community development, culture, or grassroots innovation, this session offers a practical toolkit to co-create change with purpose.

Registration



Cyanotype: Printing with Sunlight by Manana Mikashavidze June 16 | 11:00 - 13:00

Cyanotype is one of the earliest photographic printing techniques, using paper coated with iron salts and exposed to sunlight. Often referred to as “sun printing,” it captures the silhouettes or shapes of objects placed on the paper, producing unique blue-toned prints.

No two prints are ever the same - even when using identical compositions- making cyanotype a celebrated form of monoprinting. The process itself is almost magical: with simple objects and natural light, participants will witness a transformation that feels both spontaneous and alchemical.

Originally invented for photographic reproduction, today cyanotype is widely used in artistic practices for its unpredictability, tactile quality, and poetic aesthetic.

This workshop invites participants to explore the expressive potential of this historical process through hands-on experimentation.

Registration


Otwarte Studio | Past Forward: Identity Grounded in Place
June 16 | 11:00 - 13:00

This workshop investigates how visual identity systems can be authentically grounded in local cultural, material, and historical contexts. Through a combination of case study analysis and practical exercises, participants will examine methods for observing, extracting, and translating local narratives into conceptually rigorous visual ideas.

Working in teams, participants will be assigned a region or neighborhood in Georgia, coupled with a function (e.g., bookstore, bakery, or cultural festival). Their task is to research locally grounded elements and produce a moodboard and initial conceptual sketches articulating a rooted identity proposal. The workshop emphasizes process over polish, fostering a deeper understanding of contextual design as a methodology for meaningful branding.

Registration

Centrala Studio | Desigining shadows: Socio - Thermal Strategies for Urban Public Space
June 17 | 10:00 - 14:00
June 18 | 10:00 - 14:00

This two-part workshop explores the role of shade as a spatial, ecological, and social resource in urban environments. As cities aim to increase canopy coverage and mitigate rising urban temperatures, the design of shade becomes both a practical and symbolic gesture in the production of equitable public space.

Day 1 involves a collective sensory walk to document and interpret the presence - and absence - of shade in the urban setting around the Design Institute. On Day 2, participants develop shadow-casting spatial interventions through physical modeling, engaging with the concepts of socio-thermal design and thermal commons. The objective is to equip participants with frameworks for rethinking thermal comfort as a shared urban right and design priority.

Registration

Traffic Design | Re:design - Collaborative Signmaking for Public Spaces
June 17 | 10:00 - 14:00

This hands-on, site-specific workshop focuses on the co-creation of signage interventions in partnership with local stakeholders. Participants, organized into interdisciplinary teams, will engage with historically or socially significant urban sites to design and implement new signage using accessible, low-cost production methods such as hand-painted murals or mounted panels.

Optionally preceded by a walkshop exploring local typographic traditions and signage culture, the workshop culminates in a tangible outcome - a collaboratively executed signage system. It also provides participants with tools and strategies for long-term engagement in place-based design.

Registration