In 2023, in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute, the British Council launched Circular Catalysts, a programme aimed at generating new collaborations between Romanian and UK designers, artists and craftspeople and facilitating fertile conversations around sustainable production practices and processes.
Based on the idea that a pragmatic relationship between people and natural resources in rural Romania can provide a fertile ground for local resilience and sustainability, in 2023 five UK designers and artists were invited to collaborate with organisations working in rural Romania. The purpose was to explore the intersections between rural and urban, and the role and migration of local materials and crafts in social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Circular Catalysts aims to provide both local and UK models of good practice and develop a European network of people and initiatives that share a set of values aligned to the principles of the circular economy. The programme started with a series of creative residencies in March–April 2023 and continued throughout 2023 and 2024 with complementary activities for both professionals and the wider public.
Circular Catalysts is set to continue into 2025, with the reopening of its documentary exhibition, originally developed during the residency programme. From 7 March to 11 May, the Museum of History and Ethnography Targu Neamț will host the exhibition, showcasing objects, texts, sound and captivating photographs captured by Ioana Cîrlig during the five creative residencies.
To celebrate the exhibition’s return, two special workshops will take place in Târgu Neamț, co-ordinated by Ioana Cîrlig and Anoushka Cole, who played pivotal roles in the residency programme. These workshops will offer participants hands-on experiences and creative insights, reflecting the spirit of collaboration and creativity that defines Circular Catalysts.
Photography Workshop – Ioana Cîrlig (8–9 March 2025)
This two-day workshop, co-ordinated by Ioana Cîrlig, explores how photography can deepen our connection with nature and help us see familiar places in a new light. Photography can be used as a tool for discovery, revealing something fresh and unique even in spaces we think we know intimately. While exotic travels may result in photos similar to those of countless other tourists, local surroundings offer the chance to capture something deeply personal – filtered through memories and emotional charge of the place.
On the first day, the workshop will begin with an introduction to Ioana’s projects and works by other artists documenting local ecosystems, followed by a guided photography walk through the forest and along the Ozana riverbank. The second day will focus on reviewing and discussing the photos taken on the first day, followed by another photography walk to explore new perspectives. The workshop will conclude with a hands-on session where participants will print selected photos and create a small fanzine.
Botanical Printing Workshop – Anoushka Cole (22 March 2025)
The botanical printing workshop, co-ordinated by Anoushka Cole, will take inspiration from the activities Anoushka undertook during her residency in Câmpulung Muscel, Romania with the Pro Patrimonio Foundation in early 2023. Drawing from her experiences, Anoushka will guide participants in exploring the natural world and transforming it into unique printed designs.
The day will begin with a guided visit to the exhibition, followed by a morning of plant collection. Participants will gather local plants and early spring flowers from the surrounding area, learning to identify various plant species as they go.
Back at the Ceva Centre, participants will experiment with a range of botanical printing techniques. The workshop will include Hapa Zome – a Japanese method of transferring natural pigments from plants and flowers onto fabric and paper through pressure. Participants will also explore block printing, a traditional technique used to create repeat patterns on fabric.
Inspired by the gathered plants, participants will design their own motifs, which will be transferred onto lino. They will also hand-carve printing blocks to create custom designs, which will be printed onto take-home fabric bags – a beautiful and personal keepsake from the day.
Circular Catalysts 2023 Exhibition
In 2023, the results of the Circular Catalysts creative residencies were integrated into a documentary exhibition based on the knowledge and themes generated. The exhibition was launched during Romanian Design Week 2023 (12–29 May) and subsequently toured Timișoara (European Capital of Culture 2023) and the UK (in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute in London).
The Circular Catalysts documentary exhibition presents objects, texts, sound and photographs captured by Ioana Cîrlig during five creative residencies, where contemporary UK artisans were hosted by local organisations working with traditional craftspeople in rural Romania. Through design and interdisciplinary collaboration, the programme, initiated by the British Council Romania and supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute, explores the intersections between rural and urban and the potential of craft practices for individual and community well-being.
As part of the exhibition, the Circular Catalysts programme also features a series of community engagement activities such as workshops, podcasts and meetings, with the aim of sparking conversations around traditional knowledge systems and community practices with a role in creativity and sustainability. The programme promotes the exchange of skills and knowledge between the UK, Romania and Europe as part of the British Council’s response to global issues, specifically addressing the climate emergency.
As part of our commitment to sustainability, exhibition design and touring prioritise environmentally friendly practices with smaller volumes, lighter materials and reduced air travel. We also prioritise inclusion, aiming to increase accessibility for people with disabilities through tactile elements and a dedication to welcoming those with diverse bodies and abilities. In both Timisoara and Bucharest, we organised a Quiet Day, together with Superheroes Among Us (Supereroi printre noi), dedicated to people with special access needs.
Circular Catalysts showcases the potential of creative residencies, photography and dialogue around craft, sustainability and the relationship between people and nature in rural Romania. The Romanian audience was inspired by craftspeople creating change and exploring cultural contexts, traditional knowledge systems and responses to the global climate emergency.
Programme
Residencies
Meet the talented Residents of the Circular Catalysts programme:
Gareth Neal is an internationally renowned British furniture designer, who has gained acclaim for his innovative approach to combining high-end digital fabrication techniques with traditional craft practices. His work is characterised by conceptual rigour, environmental consciousness and meticulous craftsmanship, which has earned him collaborations with leading architects such as Zaha Hadid. His pieces are housed in prestigious institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum.
During the Circular Catalysts residence in Cincu, Sibiu County, Gareth was hosted by local initiative KraftMade, which focuses on performative objects, unique pieces, capsule collections, restoration and education, particularly in wood and textiles. KraftMade’s practice centres on creating site-specific exhibitions, performative objects and capsule collections that highlight hands-on education and restoration initiatives, with a focus on interdisciplinary approaches and regenerative futures. Their ongoing project, KraftMaking the Future, is a series of workshops and residencies that seek to convey archaic craft wisdom as a regenerative solution for the future.
Together, Gareth and Alex Herberth (wood restorer, art-carpenter and archiver of ancient craft techniques in Transylvania) have explored the sources and resources of traditional craft techniques, and tested their contemporary practicality and future sustainability in the slow circuit of design, production, consumption and regeneration.
Anoushka Cole, a maker and material researcher based in South London, participated in the second residency of the Circular Catalysts programme held at the Golescu Villa in Câmpulung Muscel at the beginning of spring. Anoushka, with her focus on sustainability and craft, gathered herbs and flowers from the Romanian hills and infused natural fibres with their essence alongside a team from the Pro Patrimonio Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the conservation, rescue and reactivation of cultural heritage. Anoushka’s philosophy aligns with the Foundation’s view that tradition is not rigid, but rather a source of identity, culture and critical thinking about modern life.
The residency provided an opportunity for hands-on experiments in natural dyeing processing and printing, using the surrounding nature as the main element to obtain natural pigments, creating block printing patterns and printing flowers, leaves and petals directly onto materials. This connection between modern design techniques and ancestral ways of processing fabrics exemplifies the fusion of tradition and innovation in craft. The residency’s results showcased how sustainability and craft can intersect within the art and design sector and invites visitors to appreciate the beauty and significance of local tangible and intangible cultural heritage in a contemporary context.
Listen to the RDW Talks podcast in which Anouska spoke with Mihai Gurei from Black Rhino Radio. For more details about the Botanical Explorations and Prints Workshop organised by the Pro Patrimonio Foundation as part of Circular Catalysts @ Romanian Design Week visit the Pro Patrimonio website.
Annemarie O’Sullivan and Tom Mcwalter from Studio AMOS embarked on a journey to explore local crafts and traditional ways of living and making. During their stay in Cincu, hosted by KraftMade, the UK-based basket artisans had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and techniques with local basket weavers from Sibiu County. They also discovered that the practice of cultivating willow for weaving, which they do in the UK, has been lost in Romania, and craftspeople here collect wild willow instead. However, Annemarie and Tom identified a plot in the village where willow might have been cultivated specifically for basketry, proving that locally sustainable craft is waiting to be rediscovered and grown back into a flourishing culture. This discovery is a testament to the importance of knowledge sharing. As Annemarie puts it, her work has always been a conversation with makers who have come before her, passing techniques from one generation to the next, and her visit to Romania is a powerful experience that she is keen to draw on.
Listen to the RDW Talks podcast in which Annemarie O’Sullivan and Cristiana Tăutu (Head of Arts at British Council Romania) talked with Mihai Gurei from Black Rhino Radio.
Lola Lely is a highly skilled designer/maker who utilises traditional craft techniques to produce distinctive and desirable products and artworks for private clients, galleries and retailers. Lola’s unique process frequently involves collaborating with artisans and communities outside of her typical professional environment, enabling her to learn from and engage with skilled craftspeople both in the UK and abroad. Lola’s work often includes a degree of social engagement and some of her most fulfilling projects have involved working with marginalised or under-represented groups. As a designer, Lola has a proven track record of taking inspiration from craft traditions and transforming them into well-considered, practical products and collectable artworks. Patzaikin is a Romanian fashion and lifestyle House founded in 2011 by architect Teodor Frolu and Olympian Ivan Patzaichin. The Patzaikin ecosystem, inspired by Ivan’s connection to nature and water and the Danube Delta, is a collaborative entrepreneurship between artists, architects, designers and passionate craftspeople. Guided by their creative experience and distilled through contemporary design, they promote the transfer of both material and immaterial resources from local rural heritage.
Lola Lely embarked on a trip to the village of Mila 23 to immerse herself in the unique landscape of the Danube Delta and learn about the local customs. Patzaikin will also build a rural cultural centre dedicated to the memory of Ivan Patzaichin. Following her residency, Lola participated in a collaborative workshop with several artists and artisans, part of the Creative Traditions network, sharing her knowledge about circular production processes and contributing to the concept making of the next Creative Traditions exhibition at the Peasant Museum in Bucharest.
Listen to the RDW Talks podcast in which Lola Lely spoke with Mihai Gurei from Black Rhino Radio.
Carol Carey, the Creative Director of Somerset Art Works (SAW), has completed her creative residency in Cluj, hosted by Remarkable Romania. Her aim was to explore opportunities for collaboration between Somerset artists and Romanian craft practitioners by scoping for a Romanian partner to set up a craft residency in Romania. SAW is dedicated to developing the visual arts in Somerset and offers a range of services to a broad range of clients and partners across the county, including project management services and education and community engagement programmes. The rural community in Somerset faces operational obstacles and limited resources, which can lead to social isolation. However, SAW is committed to creating new opportunities for artists to carry out research and to develop opportunities for collaboration, in order to achieve excellence in the community. They also focus on environmental sustainability, local craft heritage and the role that arts and craft can play in shaping and sustaining our lives. Over the last ten years, SAW has raised the quality of craft in Somerset by engaging craft practitioners with a track record of excellence and creating education resources to enable young people to develop making skills.
Remarkable Romania is a project by the Cluj Cultural Centre, consisting of a network of small settlements in Transylvania investing in culture and heritage as local sustainable development. They support their member settlements to give new added value to their culture and heritage, for the sustainability of the community and the region.
Through this residency, Carey was able to explore potential partnerships and collaboration opportunities between SAW and Remarkable Romania, which could benefit both Somerset and Romanian artists and communities.
Our collaborators
Ioana Cîrlig is a documentary photographer, photo editor and – from time to time – cultural project organiser. After a foray into photojournalism in Bucharest for a few years, she dedicated herself to personal, long-term projects and has been working on a project about plants for five years. The photographs in the Circular Catalysts exhibition reflect Ioana’s penchant for nature and detail. Ioana described her experience with the Circular Catalysts project in an interview for Scena9 magazine, which you can read here.
Superheroes among us is an association based in Bucharest founded in 2015 that promotes the social inclusion of people with disabilities through accessible and inclusive cultural events. The overall mission of the Superheroes among us association is to create awareness and social inclusion for people with severe disabilities using personal stories and accessible cultural events.
AMAIS (Association of Alternative Methods of Social Integration) is an organisation that builds an equitable society for people with temporary or permanent disabilities by applying the principles of inclusive design to architecture, technology and social projects.
Studio mud. – mud. exists because everyone deserves beautiful porcelain objects.
Roxana Bîra is one of the founders of Studio mud. She is an architect and for over eight years she has been building a ceramic reality through which she interacts with the world to help people be more mindful of their daily rituals and more joyful in their encounters with the objects that surround them.
Cosmin Postolache is a composer and audio producer and created the sound design accompanying the Circular Catalysts exhibition.
Studio Fluid is a creative studio that combines smart concepts with visual solutions for graphic and landscape design. Teodor Bradu and Ioana Marin designed the visual identity of the project, the exhibition signage and the layout of the exhibition spaces.
CEVA Educational Center for Performing Arts is a group of young people from Târgu Neamț exploring the universe through performing arts, driven by the values of community, education, future and art. Their aim is to create, learn and share their passion for artistic expression and growth.
About Circular Cultures
Circular Catalysts is part of Making Matters | Circular Cultures, a regional multidisciplinary British Council programme that aims to promote dialogue around circular design, exploring topics such as climate change, material waste and creative cultures. In Romania, Circular Catalysts explores the interconnectedness and isolation of rural, urban and social systems in local and global contexts. The programme activates different typologies of actors, essential for the development of placemaking processes in a sustainable way: the community, the artisan, the village, the forest, the designer, the home, the city, the river, the market.
The British Council supports peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. Present in Romania since 1938, it supports artists, cultural leaders, students, young leaders, teachers and governmental and non-governmental institutions through projects in the arts, education and society.
The Romanian Cultural Institute has joined the Circular Catalysts programme to support the mutual exchange of knowledge and to increase capacity of creative actors in Romania, as well as to facilitate the access of Romanian professionals to international networks.
HEI – House of European Institutes is a project that is part of the cultural offer of Timisoara – European Cultural Capital 2023 co-ordinated by the Goethe-Institut Bucharest and the German Cultural Centre of Timisoara, together with the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Romania, the Czech Centre Bucharest, the French Institute of Romania, the Embassy of Georgia in Romania, the Greek Cultural Foundation, the Italian Cultural Institute, British Council Romania, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on behalf of SICA, the Polish Institute in Bucharest, the Camões Institute, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Embassy of Spain, the Cervantes Institute, the Embassy of Sweden in Bucharest, the Turkish Institute ‘Yunus Emre’ and the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Bucharest.
Romanian Design Week – a ten-day festival that promotes design, architecture, creativity and innovation as tools for cultural, social and economic growth – has chosen the theme of CONNECTIONS for the 2023 edition in an attempt to generate spaces for dialogue and creative cross-fertilisation processes and to encourage interdisciplinary and collaborative projects.
The Museum of History and Ethnography Târgu Neamț – located in a charming 19th-century building – brings the past to life with its rich collection of history and tradition. Its permanent exhibition, reopened in 2012, showcases archaeological treasures and captivating ethnographic displays. Visitors can explore traditional crafts such as weaving, woodworking and ceramics, offering a glimpse into the soul of Neamț’s heritage. As part of the Circular Catalysts 2025 exhibition, Dr Vasile Diaconu and Museum Curator Renata-Gabriela Apetroaie are contributing with their expertise and experience to a unique exploration of the local heritage.
Partners 2023: The Institute, Creative Traditions
Media partner 2023: Scena9
Local Strategic Partners – Tg. Neamț 2025: Bison Land Association, Puzzle Optimeast Association, Sofiaman
