As Ivan Tominac/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a Croatian duo have come together under the name Art for Home and decided to put bit of a modern twist on famed Croatian authors.
Marija Adric Soldo and Marin Adric decided to create something that is hard to refuse, especially for lovers of Croatian authors and books. These are posters and t-shirts decorated with world artists, but also with famous Croatian authors.
“Posters are something that will definitely mark our time. They’re not expensive, they’re practical and ideal for people who like constant changes in their living spaces. In the sea of offers of posters created in the manner of infantile drawings and minimalism, it seemed to me that there was room for a more serious approach.
Two years ago I paid ”homage” to world famous painters (Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Modigliani, Klimt, Warhol,…), and as the Croatian Writers’ Association celebrated its 120th anniversary last year, I was hired to portray the most famous Croatian authors in my own style. I thought that they should be educational, so I added my favorite quotes to them too,” Marija Adric Soldo explained.
Soldo is otherwise academic painter, and the story itself is successful for another important reason – the interdisciplinarity on which this duo is made. Marin Adric is interested in marketing and his perspective is focused on creating added value to everything that comes out of Marija’s creative ”kitchen”.
It was the same with Croatian authors, he said, he liked portraits and came up with the idea of putting them on t-shirts. The desire behind the idea was to move away from the boring light that Croatian authors are often unfortunately painted in today.
“We believe that this is mainly because writers are viewed through the prism of school, and since students are most often bored by school, then the writers are also boring to them. We don’t think that Krleza, Zagorka, Ujevic, Tadijanovic, Mazuranic, Senoa and others deserve to have the title of ”boring”.
We don’t want to be just a web shop, we also want to have an educational and entertaining character,” added Marin Adric.
Knowledge and desire are the most valuable resource you need when starting any business story. Although this Croatian duo is still in its infancy, it is important to note that it was their own efforts that have been the key to their success to date. In the process of creating the brand, they set up a web shop at their own expense. They had never done this before, but as they pointed out, it was a great opportunity to learn and upgrade all of their existing skills.
The beginning of any business venture always requires an important commitment, and the motivation to work today comes from every nice message they receive, but also the desire that t-shirts with Croatian authors end up being worn by those who have never read anything by them and that their posters are on the walls of Croatian schools.
“Since we want art to be all around us and to be accessible to everyone, we offer posters, which are modern types of paintings, and three types of T-shirts. For now, they feature portraits of Croatian authors with their quotes and motifs on them. These are all people we respect very much and who we think should be seen more often. We’d love for their work to be the topic of conversation at two friends’ casual coffees. For example, it would be cool if two friends managed to find time during Saturday’s rush hour, at least briefly, to talk about what Senoa wanted to say or meant by something,” they said.
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