The beginnings of the international CEEPUS Winter School Design Week date back to 2012, when the concept of the Winter School was designed to encompass the spectrum of contemporary engineering design of clothing and/or other textile forms in the broadest sense. Such an approach allows a high degree of integration of different disciplinary tools, methods, and theories, and perceives reality as a comprehensive entity, which it attempts to analyse through the lens of holistic understanding.
The motto of this year’s 9th International CEEPUS Winter School Design Week 2024, which has become an integral part of the CEEPUS CIII-SI-0217 network, is “Transdisciplinary: Design, Science & Technology – the basis for the development of people- and environmentally-friendly solutions”, focusing on transdisciplinarity as an integrative research strategy.
The aim of such an integrative concept for the Winter School is to merge scientific and artistic disciplines and to promote creative collaboration between students from different universities and countries. A key factor is the openness to different disciplines, which enables interaction between science, art and society and thus promotes the development of new ideas and their application in the real environment. In this concept, students, along with moderators, will engage in eight parallel interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary creative workshops (Reciplet Thread, Korond 3.0 – Reinterpreting Cultural Traditions in Textile Design, Spatial Modeling on a Mannequin Using the Moulage Technique According to Shingo Sato,  Fashion Portrait to 3D Accessory Design, Deep Blue – Cyanotypes and Textiles, Freehand Weaving – When the Technique Provokes Ideas for Wall Decoration, Development of the Design Week Mascot, Photo, Video and Animation Workshop). The integrative concept will drive the search for user-oriented new ideas, with an emphasis on sustainability, social aspects, cultural heritage, as well as aesthetic and emotional appeal.
An important event that will enrich this year’s CEEPUS Winter School Design Week 2024 is the meeting of the coordinators of the CIII-SI-0217 network. This is the first meeting of the coordinators of the partner institutions, where both the coordinators and the students will gain a closer insight into the study programmes and the work of each institutions, further consolidating the joint activities and leading to even closer cooperation. The central event of the meeting will be a round table on the topic Challenges of Study – Textile, Clothing & Heritage Science and Design in Light of New Paradigms, providing an opportunity to create a platform for collaboration between science and art in the fields of education and research.
I wish all participants an intense, stimulating, and rewarding exchange of knowledge and experiences. I look forward to meeting you in Maribor.

Yours sincerely,
Jelka Geršak on behalf of the International CEEPUS Winter School Design Week 2024xt