Only Connect: Prostoria

Design, it can be argued, is a bit like language. It can work on a functional level, but can also be seen as having an expressive value.

Take Croatian manufacturer Prostoria’s highly graphic Polygon chair, for example. Reminiscent of an architectural plan, the design is articulated as a series of separate elements in space – back, seat, armrests. Filigree lines of bent tubular steel connect them, holding them in place.

Beyond its utilitarian purpose, the chair can be read metaphorically as an expression of what Prostoria ⎯ as both a commercial and cultural undertaking ⎯ has set out to do. The company is engaged not only in the manufacturing of design products, but is also attempting to design the very platform on which the different actors in Croatia’s design industry can connect.

Taking an integrative approach, the brand has cultivated a creative workshop-like stage, where young designers, expert craftspeople, production as well as materials specialists, and others are given the space and time to collaborate. Working with mostly local materials, Prostoria is more of an atelier project than production line.

'We really try to be partners with our designers and with all the people we work with,' says Prostoria CEO Tomislav Knezovic. 'We work on our products in a team – designer, engineers, production, sales. We are young, honest, and love what we do. It’s important to be authentic.' This authenticity extends to the products, too. Born out of an iterative process underpinned by robust research, Prostoria's products bring innovative concepts to a market that often seems populated by designs, which appear somewhat derivative.

'Unlike other companies in the so-called design world,' explains Nikola Radeljkovic from Croatian-Austrian design studio Numen/For Use, designers of the Polygon chair, 'Prostoria works closely and continuously with the designers in order to perfect the details, functionality and the construction. This way the development never ends. Understanding and patience are indispensable prerequisite of innovation. It’s about time and trust – about creating an authentic partnership.' Their partnership has resulted in various distinctive designs, including the Segment sofa system, the Oblique family of chairs and tables, and the award-winning Revolve sofa bed.

Further collaborations with such Croatian designers as Simon Morasi Pipercic (Rhomb chair, Convert modular sofas), Grupa (Monk chair, 3angle sofa and armchair), and Redesign (Up-lift and Pil-low sofa beds, and Simetria accessories) have led to a cogent furniture collection with a strong emphasis on honesty to materials and craft-meets-technology artisanship. It’s little surprise then that Prostoria’s products, with their compelling design language, have been specified for a range of contract settings, such as hotels, restaurants and office-lounge areas.

Prostoria’s regular involvement in workshops with young designers – organised by the Croatian Designers’ Associations – specifically seeks to identify and address Croatia's lacunae in design education and speak to the company’s commitment to the development of a coherent design industry and culture. After five years in business, however, Prostoria's ongoing project of filling in the gaps and reintroducing continuity has only just begun. The future remains excitingly unwritten.

© Architonic