Four years ago Monica Förster was appointed as Creative Director of Bosnian furniture company Zanat. Since then, Monica Förster Design Studio started art directing Zanat. Very soon the first collaboration with internationally recognized designers was launched. Together with Monica Förster and designers Ilse Crawford, Harri Koskinen and Wingårdhs Architects, Zanat started a new journey into the international market.
We are extremely happy to let you know that Konjic woodcarving technique practiced by Zanat has been inscribed on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List at the 12th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Konjic woodcarving technique has been practiced and passed down through four generations in the Niksic family, the owners of Zanat. The company is still using the same ancient woodcarving technique to carve the modern furniture and decorative items.
The woodcarving technique that is specific to the town of Konjic in Bosnia originated in a small nearby village as a primitive art form.
The Austro-Hungarian government, which ruled Bosnia between 1878 and the start of World War I in 1914, decided to invest in perfecting the technique by providing scholarships for most talented local woodcarvers to study arts and craft in Sarajevo and later by financing woodcarving education in Konjic.
The investments paid off and Konjic soon became known as the woodcarving Mecca of the empire, where beautiful furniture and decorative items were hand-made in a couple of dozen woodcarving shops that later sprawled the town between the two World Wars.
Photo: Karl Nordlund
Products featured: Unna lounge chair, Unna chair, Nera stool, Nur mirror
Further information:
press@monicaforster.se, press@zanat.org, www.zanat.com
More info about the UNESCO listing
