IF YOU ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING A SOLUTION IT WILL APPEAR

1. “PROKOP” RAILWAY STATION

I started my career as a Master of Transportation in the Institute of Transportation CIP. The project/design from that segment of my professional career that I would like to single out is “Prokop Railway Station” project, on which I worked as the lead designer.

I left CIP in 1999 having become aware that I should change something in order to pursue personal development. By mere chance, in October 1998, my acquaintance recommended that I should apply for a position in Atlantis, an OOH company. But, nothing turns out as we plan. On 24 th March 1999 I went to Atlantis with my employment record to start working, but the bombing started that day and I found myself formally unemployed.

2. CAREER IN OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

2.1. PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF

Being exceptionally persistent, the following three months I would come to work and ask if I could be of any help. The manager told me, with the best intention, that there was no need for me to come to work, since he could not pay me. I replied: “Do you mind if I stay here? If you don’t, I would like to help.” During the next three months I was keeping myself busy, arranging presentations for clients, making catalogues for campaigns and media, delivering them to clients, etc. I did get some remuneration for my work and after 9 months the company employed me as someone who would be in charge of information technologies, given that I had the best computer skills in the company.

I am proud of myself that I had courage to leave my profession, position and safe earning in 1998 and that I entered something new, even though I had a family and a small child. It turned out to be an excellent decision.

During my career in OOH I worked on various projects, took over the technical part of business, and became the network development manager.

At that period we had the biggest expansion in over 60 cities in Serbia.

I am currently working as the manager for ISO standards, tenders and projects. It means that I deal with land lease contracts, occupational safety and health, project organisation, obtaining necessary licences, and communication with local authorities and self-governments.

2.2. NEW YEAR’S EVE MASQUERADE

The relationship I had with my colleagues when I was the development manager was not only correct, but far more than that. We were sharing the good and bad times, not only at work, but often in private life as well. Such relationship has resulted in big trust. When my company merged with Alma Quattro in 2006, on my first interview with Sanče I asked for an opportunity for those people, for whom I would personally guarantee. I am proud of all of them, and the proof that my decision was right is that all of them are still with us, and one of them will be retired soon. For all these years they have made me “uncomfortable” only once, at the New Year’s Eve masquerade, when they printed a photograph with my image and dressed up as me! It’s true that I was very embarrassed; maybe they could have found a better photo. I’m joking.

I am sure they did it from the bottom of their hearts, with the best intention, and I was sincerely touched by their gesture showing their respect.

2.3. THE FIRST SOLAR BILLBOARD IN SERBIA

Since we had a problem to illuminate one superboard of 12x5 m, which was alongside the highway towards the airport, we needed a solution for illumination. The electricity source was too far and an idea occurred to me to provide illumination using solar energy. The Vinča Institute was helpful and made a design. After a couple of months testing, we realised that we needed more power, so we added a small wind turbine onto the top of the billboard and replaced ordinary lights (which consumed a lot of electricity) with modified mining lamps.

I am proud that we managed to illuminate the billboard at that time and with that technology.

However, at the end of the trial stage, the company made the decision to dismantle the billboard because the illumination was not satisfactory.

Shortly afterwards, LED lights appeared on the market and I believe that they could illuminate the billboard without any problem.

3. “ŠTAP I KANAP” REDESIGN STUDIO

I have always been lured by the idea of making something from scratch, in a makeshift manner.

All my life I have been keen to do something I am interested in at the particular moment. Not because of money, but because of my energy and interests. I wanted to study psychology, but because of my father, I had two options: the Faculty of Transportation Engineering or the Faculty of Civil Engineering. I chose the former. My brother Nebojša, who is 8 year younger than me, also had the same choice, but he also had me to support him, and he fulfilled his ambition to become an actor.

But only after the secondary school of civil engineering.

At one moment, my brother Nebojša expressed his desire to make interesting things with me and our friend Marko Crnobrnja, an academy-trained sculptor. I agreed. For me spending time with artists in creative activities was a kind of psychotherapy. I was always looking forward to those meetings.

A model of the football stadium for the exhibition “Montevideo, God Bless You “

3.1. FIRST PROJECTS

We asked the company “Beograd put” to cast an asphalt slab for us. We built it into a table, drew hopscotch and named it “Asphalt Table”, which was supposed to represent our urban childhood.

Another idea was “Lampatush”, a lamp with plumbing pipes. The light switches on when you turn the valve, and pipes are in a bucket filled with potting soil in which grass is planted. Lampatush won the second prize at the International Lighting Guerrilla Festival in Ljubljana.

Soon our creativity and good energy became recognisable, and invitations to many events kept coming: Design Week Belgrade, “Grad“ (City) exhibition area, Book Capital Ljubljana (UNESCO) – “Klopka“ (The Trap) installation, a conceptual solution for “crystal award “ for the best NGO – “Šraf“ (The Screw), as well as the project about forgotten and notable persons “Lik i Link“ (Person and Link) in cooperation with Wikipedia Serbia.

3.2. THE OFFICIAL SOUVENIR OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

In 2009, the Republic of Serbia announced a competition for the official souvenir of Serbia that would represent the country at 2010 Shanghai Expo. We made a souvenir with a set of five balls representing five ball games Serbia was famous for: basketball, tennis, volleyball, water polo, and football. Our souvenir won among 123 works and became the official souvenir.

Even today, it is the official souvenir of Serbia, legally and in fact.

Due to some reasons unknown to us, the government was not interested in presenting the souvenir at Expo, and as a revolt we established “Štap i kanap” company, since we realised that it was the way we could function. We made the souvenirs and sold them to companies, which then engraved their logos and gave them as gifts to their partners.

3.3. “ANA AND VLADE DIVAC” FOUNDATION

We did one more important project in cooperation with Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, and it was “Really Important” project that promoted positive words and values. We did the complete creative part of the work, but what I would like to mention is the guerrilla marketing campaign in Knez Mihailova Street, in front of Russian Tsar café (Vapiano bar). On a line between two lampposts we hung T-shirts each with one value printed on it. T-shirts were fixed using Velcro straps, as I knew that people would take them off and we wanted to prevent injuries.

The action took place at 5 a.m. and we made the rounds every couple of hours. By noon there were only a half of T-shirts there, and by 5 p.m. there was none. We hung T-shirts 3 days in a row, until we ran out of T-shirts, and afterwards we dismantled the installation.

4. HOT & SWEET - HOT CHILLY JAM

At my friend’s party in 2013 I tasted a combination of cheese and sweet-hot spread made of chilli peppers. I was delighted.

I think it is now clear to those who read this that whenever I am intrigued by something, I try to make it.

Since we had some plastic greenhouses and grew vegetables in our spare time, I used our hot peppers to make jam.

The first mixture was so solid that we could not take it out of the jar, but my natural persistence was activated at that moment.

I had tried some 20 recipes until I made the mixture that satisfied some standards of mine. Persuaded by the director of Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, I promised that I would send my jam to the competition announced by Unicredit Foundation for a product that would worthily represent Serbia as a country. I am grateful to my colleague Slobodan Srdanović from Alma Quattro who gave me advice on how to prepare a business plan. I sent the documentation along with samples and forgot about it. After some time, they called me to inform me that we won at the competition.

That’s how the life has become hell to us. All at once I had to do something I knew nothing about, we got a non-refundable grant for the beginning of production, and we did not know where to begin.

As always, we did manage. I called Nebojša, since I knew that he had finished the shooting of the first part of Montevideo, God Bless You, and that he had probably received some money.

He agreed to participate financially, but only as a “shareholder”. We borrowed some money and started preparing for production.

The first place to visit was the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade. We needed a technologist to explain how us to develop a recipe for larger quantities and to tell us what equipment we needed.

We wasted much jam until we found the right recipe and, finally, we can freely say that we managed to “redesign the pepper”.

We had a great assistance and support from one lady from the Faculty of Agriculture, who told us many secrets. Marko, a sculptor, suggested that we should use jars for ajvar as packaging, but we couldn’t find them in Serbia and we finally imported them from Austria.

The label was a story of its own. We were making the design for full 3 months and it cost us a lot of nerves and money. We wanted a designer masterpiece with goldprint, UV lacquer, and plastification.

We got the a proof that our effort paid off in 2013, when we received the award of the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce for the best design of packaging. Then, in 2017 we won the gold medal for the design at the International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad.

In 2018 we also got the award as the champion of the quality of the product group, also at the International Agricultural Fair, and then, in the same year, a special recognition for continuous quality at the Ethnic Food and Drink Fair in Belgrade.

Two years ago our jam was on the shelves of 6 shops of the famous chain store, and last year we exported a smaller quantity to Switzerland.

Perhaps one truth can be an insight for somebody starting his own business or thinking to give up:

“Štap i kanap” redesign studio has evolved. First we were all in design and awards, because that’s what we wanted. Then we realised that our work and product must be sustainable, but we did not know what to do. We believed and actively searched for something that would keep our company “alive”, since we didn’t want our efforts, energy, and creativity to be wasted just like that. Jam simply happened. If you are actively seeking an exit or a solution, it will appear. You have to believe!