ZANAT: BOSNIAN FOR "CRAFT" 19 MATERIALS, FINISHES, CARVING TEXTURES 105 TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON PRODUCTS 111 Art direction: Monica Forster Graphic design: Sandra Praun Photography: Almin Zrno & Irfan Redzovic Texts: Orhan Niksic, Andrew Genung & Mark Bartolini

“It takes a tremendous amount of history to make even a little tradition.” Henry James A

THE STORY OF ZANAT FROM PRIMITIVE VILLAGE CRAFT TO UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST It started almost by accident nearly a century ago when our great grandfather, Gano, stumbled upon a primitive hand-carving technique that originated from a small village close to our hometown of Konjic, just south of Sarajevo on the Neretva River. As a hobbyist, Gano mastered the technique and improved upon it, passing his skills down to his entrepreneurial son, Adem. In 1927, Adem launched a new company incorporating the technique in the making of luxury furniture. Adem’s business became an instant success. Others...

the business in 1950s and kept it alive. Then came the end of socialism and instead of greater freedom a series of wars broke out that tore Yugoslavia and Bosnia apart. THE DAYS OF MANULUTION: RECRAFTING MODERN DESIGN Besim did not waste time after the Bosnian war ended in 1995. He reopened under the name Rukotvorine and started growing the company with the help of his sons Adem and Orhan. New investments were made and the business expanded quickly. Adem took over management of the company, and he and his brother Orhan developed a new vision for the company, inspired by their appreciation for...

sional and entrepreneur, Paul Schoss, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and Dzenan Dzumhur, a family friend with a wide range of business experience put together a plan that made Zanat a reality. Now, at a time when Bosnia is suffering one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe, Zanat is creating opportunity. Our vision has incorporated a developmental model that seeks to help reestablish Bosnia’s place in the global furniture market, while also demonstrating the highest standards of corporate governance and sustainability. We are expanding the skills of already accomplished wood workers and...

“Sustainability can’t be like some sort of a moral sacrifice or political dilemma or a philanthropical cause. It has to be a design challenge” Bjarke Ingels

UNIVERSAL SUSTAINABILITY From the moment the idea for Zanat first slipped into conversation over strong Bosnian coffees and a cool breeze off the Adriatic, the concept for the company has been much more than quality furniture design and production. We imagined a firm that took the same attention to detail that goes into making the perfect joint, and applied it to all aspects of the business in service of improving not only our customers’ homes but also their world. We call this practice Universal Sustainability, because we want the effect of every significant action that we as a business take...

nearly 30 percent unemployment rate with jobs that can support whole families means a more secure world overall. What’s more, our unique hand-carving techniques are undoubtedly a defining characteristic of our local Bosnian community’s cultural heritage—the recent nomination of this craft for the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List testifies to its importance—and through our efforts to integrate these techniques into modern design we are not only able to create better jobs, we are helping preserve the community’s traditions and promoting a design trend that puts human welfare center...

“Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake.” Richard Sennett, The Craftsman

ZANAT: BOSNIAN FOR “CRAFT” Craftsmanship is the essence of our company’s identity. Our very name, Zanat, is Bosnian for “craft”, and the artistry and skill that it implies is also vital for fulfilling our mission of Universal Sustainability. There are many reasons why we still sketch new designs directly on wood surfaces, manually chiseling and cutting the grain to bring the drawings to life, but we would be lying if we didn’t include the sheer fun of woodcarving, and a certain emotional attachment to the hand-carving techniques used by four generations of our family on the list as well. The...

policymakers, researchers, and international development professionals. At Zanat, we believe firmly that technological advancement is overall positive and not a process we’re interested in trying to stop, but we also believe that the kind of jobs we can train for and offer will form a part of the solution for automation’s side effects. The marriage between modern product design and craftsmanship—which we use to great effect everyday—was basically a case of divorce after the industrial revolution, but we think we have found a way to bring back the love, and help the entire family. Back then, the...

BOSCA LINE At the surface, the marriage between Scandinavian design, characterized by simplicity, minimalism, and functionality, and a century-and-a-half old Bosnian handicraft is an odd one. To those who look deeper the connection is clear: beauty is not only skin deep, it can also be chiseled below the surface of the wood to reveal endless texture and pattern-like modern designs that blend perfectly with minimalist form just like a well-designed fabric pattern does on a beautiful sofa. At an even more profound level, Scandinavian design is essentially democratic and Zanat’s is the version of...

----------------------------------------------Unna Chair Designed by Monica Förster ----------------------------------------------The idea is a chair with soft, minimalistic, yet humanistic expression. The chair has a thicker seat and backrest, made from solid wood sections. The chair can be individualized by applying Zanat’s exquisite carving techniques. Finding inspiration in nature, we have modernized the carvings, preserving, however, the genuine technique. The carvings on a light wood chair can be stained creating a modernist expression, but also an additional way to individualize the product....