Nominator: Jure Miklavc

Nominator's statement

Andrija Mihailović graduated in 2024 from the Master’s programme in Industrial Design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, receiving the distinction summa cum laude. His work operates across an expanded field of contemporary design, where he consistently integrates considerations of social responsibility and environmental sustainability into his practice.

During his early professional development, he gained valuable international experience through academic and research engagements at Humboldt University in Berlin and LUCA School of Arts in Genk. There in 2025, he contributed to the research project Recare about Shoes, where he successfully translated research methodologies into practical outcomes through collaboration with local industry partners. Within this framework, he developed Trilogik Emma, a concept for sustainable safety footwear for logistics workers, addressing the question of how protective work shoes can be designed for disassembly, repair, and recycling.

He currently works as a teaching assistant, doctoral candidate, and young researcher at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, demonstrating strong potential as a thoughtful and responsible emerging design professional.

SUSTAINABLE SAFETY FOOTWEAR — Emma × Omvorm

The safety footwear industry relies heavily on multi-material composites that are glued together and virtually impossible to recycle — a systemic problem that generates significant material waste at end of life. During his time as a junior design intern at Omvorm, an Antwerp-based design studio, Andrija contributed to reimagining this standard for Dutch safety footwear brand Emma.

The project was rooted in extensive design research, which informed the development of a modular safety footwear system built specifically for the logistics sector. The result is a mechanically assembled shoe — using no adhesives — that meets all required safety protocols while remaining fully repairable and durable. Each component can be replaced independently, extending the product's lifecycle far beyond conventional alternatives.

The design is further supported by a digital product passport and a unique digital ID, enabling seamless part exchange and repair tracking through an accompanying digital platform. Together, these elements represent a holistic approach to sustainable product design — one where circularity is built into the object itself, not treated as an afterthought.

Developed at Omvorm, this project marks a meaningful step toward truly sustainable safety footwear.

P I P P O N G — Nejc Pipp × RXTX Records

If the Emma footwear project speaks to design on an industrial scale, P I P P O N G is its counterpoint — intimate, local, and deeply collaborative. It's a reminder that design doesn't only live in factories and logistics chains, but equally in music scenes, subcultures, and creative communities.

A music project by Slovenian artist Nejc Pipp, released under label RXTX, P I P P O N G grew into a fully multidisciplinary creative endeavour. Before producers were even brought into the process, Andrija joined the collaboration as art director, product designer, and illustrator — embedding visual thinking into the project from the ground up.

The concept is rooted in ping-pong: a back-and-forth exchange between sound and image, where visual and sonic identities are built simultaneously rather than one serving the other. The result is an album where packaging, storytelling, and design form an inseparable whole — proof that music culture can shape and narrate the language of product design just as powerfully as any industry brief.

P I P P O N G was awarded an Honorary Mention at Festival Tresk for the best holistic album design of the year in Slovenia.

ECHOES OF TOMORROW — Milano Design Week 2024

Echoes of Tomorrow was an exhibition project representing 40 years of the Industrial Design department at ALUO, presented at Milano Design Week 2024. The exhibition was built around the urgent question of global water access, centering on Dodola — a 3D-printed clay water filter developed by alumni collective Pjorkkala, merging regenerative design principles with vernacular knowledge and contemporary technology.

Andrija was part of the core team responsible for the exhibition concept and spatial design. The pavilion's circular form was a deliberate design choice — echoing the cycling of water and the interconnectedness of environmental and social systems. A combination of soft fabric and sheet metal created a material contrast that balanced permeability with strength, while a central water fountain served as the focal point of the space.

The design relied on the interplay of reflections, shadow, and the ambient sounds of water to draw visitors into a meditative, immersive experience. Modular in construction, the pavilion was designed to minimise transport emissions and adapt to a wide range of spatial contexts — sustainability embedded into the architecture of the exhibition itself.

Exhibition concept and design: Zoja Čepin, Domen Klinc, Maša Kralj, Jure Kralj, Andrija Mihailović, Črt Štrubelj. Graphic design: Hana Jelovšek, Gal Šnajder. Mentors: Rok Kuhar, Jure Miklavc, Janez Mesarič, Barbara Predan, Roman Ražman.