ROD CĂRTUREȘTI

HISTORY
ROD was launched in 2011 by Cărturești with the mission to promote, exhibit and sell Romanian design, bringing local creators closer to an ever-emergent public.

SPECIFIC
Ranging from jewelry to clothing, furniture, toys, stationery, ceramics or decorative objects, ROD brings a much needed alternative to a mass produced scene. ROD Cărturești also takes pride in various in-house artistic collaborations, producing sustainable product lines with the creative input brought by emerging artists.

ROMANIAN DESIGN WEEK APPEARANCES

2019 // The ROSHO Notebook
Imagined and produced in Romania, the ROSHO notebook marks a new collaboration between ROD Cărturești and artist George Roșu. With a strong touch of pungent humor, the project makes fun of the inspirational quotes, commonplace wisdom and insta-spirituality that get shared on social media. A local guru by the name of ROSHO delivers throughout the pages, an ironic mix of hedonistic cogitation recipes for success and weird contemplation together with small naïve drawings. A notebook with generous space for writing down both meeting minutes and one’s own observations about the world we live in.

2019 // FRESH AIR FOR THE MIND Notebooks
Imagined and produced in Romania, the Fresh Air for the Mind notebook marks the collaboration between ROD Cărturești, journalist Andreea Roșca and graphic designer Bogdan Ceaușescu. Those in search of the perfect notebook for making plans can choose between four fresh cover designs. The plain ivory inside pages are the perfect ground to write, sketch or draw your next project. Every month begins with a text composed by Andreea and designed by Bogdan, that brings together ideas, advice, new perspectives and inspiration for those who decided to change something in their lives or in the world with their projects, ideas or business.

2018 // Enamel Mugs Collection - Patterns by Loreta Isac & ROD
ROD Cărturești keeps the pace at the forefront of new locally produced design, committing to produce high quality design products in collaboration with local artists and manufacturers. This time around it's Loreta Isac's turn to star in the newest collection of enamel mugs, beautifully adorned with her delicate patterns of imaginary worlds and flowers infused dreams, all tuned into her signature psychedelic style. The limited series collection was produced in Romania, employing all local resources to be conceived and made, and is currently available in all the Cărturești bookstores, thus promoting a local alternative object of design and desire.

Loreta Isac is the artist behind the newest collection of enamel mugs, beautifully adorned with her delicate patterns of imaginary worlds and flowers infused dreams, all tuned into her signature psychedelic style.The limited series collection was produced in Romania, and generated by ROD.

2018 // Readers Notebooks by Saddo & ROD
ROD Cărturești keeps the pace at the forefront of new locally produced design, commiting to produce high quality design products in collaboration with local artists and manufacturers. This time around it's Saddo’s turn to star in the newest collection of notebooks, along with his quirky and relatable readers, illustrated in various contexts and positions that should strike any book afficiando as both familiar and enticing. The notebooks are available in 3 different formats and sizes, with a structure made of 5 lined pages followed by a blank one, for the writer and the doodler in any reader.
The limited series collection was produced in Romania, employing all local resources to be conceived and made, and is currently available in all the Cărturești bookstores, thus promoting a local alternative object of design and desire.
ROD Cărturești keeps the pace at the forefront of new locally produced design, commiting to produce high quality design products in collaboration with local artists and manufacturers. Saddo illustrated the newest notebooks series, depicting a world of readers, for readers and art aficionados.

2017 // BUILD DESK ORGANIZER 
Build Desk Organizer is the design project Radu Ungureanu entered the ROD „Office Playground” competition, aiming to turn an ordinary office into a genuine playground for ideas, mixing creativity and order, shapes and patterns with natural fabrics like wood, copper and cork. 

2016 // SEMN - bookmark design by Bianca Tamsan, generated by ROD
SEMN (Romanian for „Sign”) is an ingenious combination of two of the most useful tools a reader could need: a bookmark and a crayon for underlining one's favorite passages, combined into one slim crayon-shaped page stopper, to satisfy every avid reader's fantasy. The object was designed by Bianca Tamasan as part of her entry in the ROD Call for projects, „Cititor, Voyeur”, convincing the jury with the sleek design and sheer practicality of the bookmark she designed.

2016 // Enamel mugs & Notebooks Series by ROD & George Rosu
ROD Carturesti has set out on a mission to change the way Romanian products are perceived, aiming to support and invest in exclusive series of products made in collaboration with various Romanian artists and designers. This time around, it was George Rosu who has infused his creativity in a special project that involved custom made enamel mugs, notebooks and his usual quirky wordplay, typography and, of course, cats. Both the enamel mugs series and the notebooks one have been produced in Romania, generated by ROD and illustrated by George Rosu, exclusively for the Carturesti bookstore chain.

2016 // ROD SKETCHBOOKS
The newest series of artist sketchbooks made in ROD boasts covers drawn by Romanian illustrators Ioana Sopov, Paula Rusu and Ioana Bradulet, with plenty of inspiration to go round. With 120 pages of fine grained Modigliani Bianco paper and a pasteboard back-cover, the sketchbooks generated by ROD are a beautiful example of what happens when artists design for artists alike.