“OURS”
Through psychological, historical, cultural, and personal analysis of the meaning of the home, the theme is formed as a reaction to the need for a sense of home in periods of life transitions.
Transitions, as well as possession, are actual topics that question the relationship between a man and home, its history and future, traditions and modern life, and the spirituality and materiality of the home, considering the cultural characteristics of the Balkan region.
Moments of togetherness, especially family celebrations, are moments when the feeling of home and comfort is emphasized the most. Jewelry and festive dishes, made of quality materials, are the most common gift items of life turning points in our regions, as a custom that goes back to history. Thus, they become one of the most valuable, famous objects in the home that are often achieving long life by the line of inheritance.
"Naše"/”Ours” was created as a result of that research, as a set of products intended for gifting for the biggest life events from transitioning into adulthood to inheritance from generation to generation.
Ours is placed in the dining or living room as the most intense zones of the home. The set consists of festive items for dining that are intended for use on special occasions at home. It is made of elements that, by joining in closed form, form a totem. By separating them into individual parts or by combining two of them, they become useful objects; festive bowls / containers / lids / boards / trays / stands, with toast glasses, cases, and napkins. Without the details or visible joints through natural materials, they provide a blank canvas for traces and memories under the influence of time.
School of Design | Year 21/22
Final master project | Feeling of home in period of life transitions
Mentor | Andrea Hercog
Product Design Associate | Natasa Njegovanovic
Ethnography & Anthropology Associate | Matija Dronjic
Psihology Associate | Melita Ladika
Zagreb Design Week 2024, Jadran Film
Barcelona Design Week 2024, Underground BDW
Exhibition of Croatian Design 23/24, Lauba 2025
PERSONAL MOTIVATION
Home.
At the same time a simple and complicated concept. Important to everyone, unnecessary to anyone. In it, one laughs and cries, gives birth and dies, rests and works, quarrels and reconciles, sharpens and resolves, loves and is alone. In one word, one lives in the home.
What is home?
Something for everyone.
For someone mom, for someone a photo, for someone childhood, for someone a house, for someone hometown, for someone a city, for someone the whole homeland, for someone all of the above, and for someone the pursuit of the above. For each one of us, home can be something different or even more than that - and yet, everyone knows and understands the feeling of home. At the same time, a unique and universal term.
Whatever home is, in a way he determines us, and we mutually determine it. Home suffers and home provides, it is a refuge for our needs, and we are the builders of its existence.
A home seems to be a sum greater than its parts...
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I have always wondered what makes a home a home and in what ways a home feels, so I decided to deal with this question as the crown of my education. Some of the wonderful answers from dear respondents are shown below.
Current events are also changing perception of home. Wars, immigrant waves, corona virus, earthquake in Zagreb and Banija, various crises, working from home, and the fact that we are becoming independent latest as a nation whose numbers are declining - all this has a strong impact on people and their homes.
As the last point of motivation, I would like to mention my profession. The search for the essence of home from design point of view seems to be an important topic, considering the significant changes that occur in lifestyle, habits, activities, trends, and considering that design combines at the same time materiality and non-materiality of life. I believe that design can and should provide answers to the challenges that are surrounding us and our homes and that they should be positively affected through nurturing and preserving the fundamental idea of home.
THE LAST JAR OF HONEY
Through a personal family story with a focus on the challenges of the grandfather beekeeper, the project through dystopia deals with the general crisis of stationed bee communities in Croatia by pulling the listener into the beekeeper's emotions to bring him closer his dedication and great contribution to bees in nature.
The project consists of a short documentary film and a set of products that include a stand with a jar, a lid and a spoon, turning the consumption of honey into a ritual whose goal is not to waste a single drop of honey. The base is made from the fir board of an old beehive, the former home of a bee colony, with the smell of honey that lingers for years.
School of Design | Year 20/21
Master | Semester 2
Biodesign | The Last Jar Of Honey
Mentor | Ivana Fabrio
Assistant | Nika Pavlinek
Exhibited at:
MPU Belgrade
Salone del Mobile Milan 22 / Salone Satellite
Organizator | Mikser Balkan platform
Mentor | Nikola Radeljkovic
The Exhibition Of Croatian Design 21/22
OKRILJE
Okrilje is a chair whose idea derives from the meaning of its name: gentle protection, warm shelter. It is inspired by nature as a wing, a refuge, and a place of relaxation.
The seat and backrest are metaphors of arms and embrace emphasizing their organic, asymmetric, and simple forms devoid of detail. Its forms invite us to rest and give us a sense of support and safety.
School of Design | Year 19/20
Mentor | Sanja Bencetic
Mentor in the making off | Mladen Oresic
Exhibited at:
Zagreb Design Week ZGDW
MSU Zagreb / DA! Festival
Ambienta
