Simona Rybáková

Textile and costume designer Simona Rybáková (b. 1963) studied at the College of Applied Art and Design, and then pursued her schooling at Studio of Textile Design of the Academy of Art and Design in Prague. In 1990, she spent six months as a visiting graduate student of textile design at the University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, Finland. In 1995, she won the Swarowski Award (earning four months of graduate study at the Rhode Island School of Design at Providence, R. I., USA). Between 1997 and 2009, she was the Czech Republic’s representative on the executive board and commission on stage design of the International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Artists and Technicians (OISTAT). In 2007, she became a member of the European Film Academy. At the Prague Quadrennial 2011, she curated the international exhibition Extreme Costume. Apart from costume design and individual textile design, she has been involved in the media of designer textile prints and carpets, jewellery, sculpture, and drawing.

Her costume designs contributed in the success of the group Baletní jednotka Křeč (of which she is a member). Her work in this group has involved participation in numerous stage projects. Apart from that, she has collaborated with other companies, including Opera Mozart, the Prague State Opera, and the National Theatre in Prague’s creative tandem of Daniel Dvořák and Jiří Nekvasil. Elsewhere in the field of theatre and film, she has worked with, among others, the directors Věra Chytilová, Juraj Herz, Tomáš Vorel, Jan Svěrák, the brothers Caban, Petr Nikolaev, Karel Smyczek, Ladislav Smoček, David Drábek, Jaroslav Brabec, Nathan Datner, Roman Hovenbitzer, or the duo SKUTR. Between 1995 and 2002, she was the resident costume designer of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Since 1983, she has exhibited her work in numerous individual and collective shows in this country and internationally (Japan, USA, France, Denmark, Korea, Finland, etc.). She has lectured at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the University of Kansas at Kansas City, the USITT in Pittsburgh and Long Beach, in Tokyo, Seoul and Manila. Apart from the above-mentioned Swarowski Award, her other major distinctions include the Golden Triga (first prize from the Prague Quadrennial 99 international theatre show ), Gold Medal for Textile Design from the Brno International Trade Fair in 1995, Special Award from the Frankfurt Dance Festival, for the artistic contribution to the dance video, KusPoKusu / “Piece-by-Piece“, and a nomination for the Czech Lion Award in 2007.

She has travelled extensively, both to work on various commissions, and to study, in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Lapland, Estonia, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, the USA, Canada, Cuba, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Austria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Israel, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Socotra.