Between the Danube and the Mediteran
“Between the Danube and the Mediteran” is my graduation project. I received my Bachelor of Design from the Royal Academy of Art in July 2011 for this project which tries to shape one idea in three media. My thesis expands on this concept, but in short, I graduated with the philosophy that any idea has many ways of protruding into reality, and if you keep your ear to the ground, you can figure out which way’s the best. In search of the best way, I tried three media: type design, storytelling and fashion design.
Dress shirts, neckties and cuff links
Three different dress shirts that are essentially the same. One small modifier changes the entire function of the shirt, and is easy to apply by the user. Poplin and custom buttons.
Fashion as a design form is very self-explanatory. A stylistic choice is an equally functional choice. The way something looks defines what you wear it for, how you wear it, or whether you wear it at all. These three shirts are explorations of function as style as function. The three details that change the shirts are small, but change the entire shirt. The detail is the design.
The first shirt is a normal button-down shirt, but it comes with a strip of cotton with button holes on one side. Button it on the shirt, and your shirt goes from standard to special. The buttons disappear.
The second shirt has a regular collar, but it’s detachable. Unbutton the collar and replace it with a tuxedo collar, for example. You change from work shirt to gala ball, with one small change.
The third shirt has buttons on the sleeves. You can wear it normally, but roll up the sleeves and button them up, and your indoors work shirt becomes a gardening, sports or cooking shirt.
Seven neckties designed around folklore patterns found in Croatian native dress. Silkscreen print on a cotton-satin mix.
Six pairs of cuff links, matched to the ties. Hand-made enamel on a silver-plated base.
The neckties and cuff links all sold out during the exhibition week. I’m not considering remaking the designs from this project, but open for any project involving enamel. I’ve fallen in love with the bright, durable colors and the crafting process.
Antikva, a typeface revival and expansion with a romantic touch
In 1948, Czech letter cutter Oldřich Menhart designed and released the typeface Antikva Manuskript. When I found the specimen for the regular style, there was no publicly available version, so I set about to digitize it. I ran into a few printing errors and systemised the details. It had become an interpretation of the original. Considering that Menhart intended the design to be a combination between a classical book typeface and his own calligraphic hand, I thought it logical to then design an italic that would combine his regular style with my handwriting. Thus I bridged 63 years in one typeface, building upon a solid foundation.
A novella, ‘Plamen’, about a fire-eater in the circus
Plamen is a short story about Plamen Georgios, the fire-eater in a traveling circus. He is madly in love with Iskra, the acrobat’s daughter. Over the course of 64 pages, you’ll get to know the members of the circus and their views on life. Above all, though, it’s a short story that can only be told as a short story. Copies are still available (written in Dutch, 64 pages, paperback).