Porculanski sjaj socijalizma Dizajn porculana Jugokeramika - Inker 1953. - 1991. / Porcelain Gleam of Socialism Porcelain Design Jugokeramika Inker 1953 1991

DIZAJN PORCULANA : JUGOKERAMIKA / INKER 1953. – 1991. 3

MUZEJ ZA UMJETNOST I OBRTMUSEUM OF ARTS AND CRAFTSZAGREB / 2010.


JUGOKERAMIKA KAO METAFORAIZMEĐU TEŽNJI I MOGUĆNOSTI

Koraljka Vlajo

Slučaj Jugokeramike – od osnutka do pretvorbe, ali i u svojim kasnijim metamorfozama – izvrstan je ogledni primjer ne samo političko-ekonomske, već i društveno-kulturne situacije u Hrvatskoj u posljednjih šezdesetak godina.

Jedna od najvećih tvornica u bivšoj Jugoslaviji, izgrađena ni iz čega netom nakon završetka Drugoga svjetskog rata, Jugokeramika je prošla teške porođajne muke do početka kakve-takve proizvodnje. S vremenom, isprofilirala se u najveću i najuspješniju tvornicu jugoslavenske keramičke industrije (s vlastitim odmaralištem u Crikvenici i vlastitim radničkim naseljem), međutim, nisu je zaobišle posljedice političkih mijena, nerazumnih poslovnih odluka i stalnih ekonomskih turbulencija.

Priča o povijesti dizajna u Jugokeramici neminovno je i priča o povijesti industrijskog dizajna u Hrvatskoj, vječito razapetog između težnji i mogućnosti: kroz šezdeset godina postojanja Jugokeramika je bila aktivan sudionik većine uspjeha (ali i neuspjeha) hrvatskog dizajna.

Jugokeramika je bila i poprištem prvih pokušaja konkretne implementacije dizajna u domaću industriju, i to u vrlo zahtjevnim uvjetima velike serijske proizvodnje (planirani početni kapacitet tvornice iznosio je 5500 tona posuđa godišnje). Ta je tvornica među prvima u Jugoslaviji počela zapošljavati dizajnere (već 1954.!), što pokazuje zavidnu razinu svijesti tadašnjeg rukovodstva o važnosti uvođenja dizajna u proizvodnju.

6 PORCULANSKI SJAJ SOCIJALIZMA

Dizajnerice Jugokeramike sudjelovale su na svim važnijim domaćim izložbama primijenjenih umjetnosti i dizajna, a sudionice su i najvećeg uspjeha hrvatskog dizajna – srebrne medalje na XI. milanskom Triennalu, 1957. godine. Međutim, unatoč početnom vjetru u leđa, tvornički proizvodni program tijekom godina trpjet će stalne oscilacije od masovno proizvedenih, prosječnih (pa i ispodprosječnih) proizvoda na tržištu, do pojedinačnih istupa vrhunskog dizajna na specijaliziranim izložbama. Jugokeramikini proizvodi su 1960-ih i 1970-ih godina kontinuirano predstavljani na međunarodnim izložbama keramike, ravnopravno s proizvodima Rosenthala, Arabie, Arzberga, Gustavsberga i drugih velikih europskih tvornica. I mada se o tim proizvodima ne može govoriti u terminima oblikovne ili tehnološke revolucionarnosti, zamjetna je visoka razina njihove tehničke izvedbe te neupitna formalna i funkcionalna suvremenost. Usporednim pregledom formalnih tendencija u dizajnu posuđa, pripadnost Jugokeramikinih dizajnerica paneuropskom dizajnersko-umjetničkom okruženju

SERVIS ZA CRNU KAVU VIVIEN, 1970., DIZAJN: DRAGICA PERHAČTHE VIVIEN BLACK COFFEE SERVICE, 1970., DESIGN: DRAGICA PERHAČ


postaje očita. Zamjetno je, primjerice, isto mooreovsko ishodište u organičkim porculanskim crno-bijelim vazama Jelene Antolčić i srebrnim vazama Henninga Koppela1 iz pedesetih godina; istovjetna geometrijska profinjenost servisa Triennale Marte Šribar i servisa 2025 Heinricha Löffelhardta (izloženih na istom, XI. milanskom triennalu) ili pak slična skulpturalna forma servisa Vivien Dragice Perhač i servisa Tapia Wirkkale2 izloženih u Faenzi 1970. godine.

Dakako, uspjesi i neuspjesi Jugokeramike odjek su cjelokupne društveno-političke situacije u tadašnjoj državi. Pedesete, kada Jugokeramika započinje s radom, vrijeme su ubrzane industrijalizacije, urbanizacije, te pokušaja masovne naobrazbe novopridošlog gradskog stanovništva. Novi poredak zahtijevao je i svoje utjelovljenje u novoj materijalnoj kulturi koja će simbolizirati jasno razdvajanje od starog sistema. U tom smislu, dizajn je osvojio određeni status u stvaranju državnog (gospodarskog) imidža, te je ideja Bernardijevog umjetnika u industriji u početku uživala snažnu institucionalnu podršku. Ideologija se, međutim, ubrzo sukobila s jugoslavenskom svakodnevicom: moderni, funkcionalni izričaj prihvatila je isključivo kulturna elita. Realno gledajući, u pretežito ruralnom jugoslavenskom okruženju bilo je iluzorno očekivati „omasovljenje“ funkcionalizma, a posebice prihvaćanje njegove beskompromisne jednoznačnosti (servis je samo servis!). Brozovo ushićenje tipičnim kič dekorom („Rojžice, rojžice! (...) Pogledaj, Jovanka, lijepi cvjetići, zar ne?“) ovjekovječeno u albumu Jugokeramike3 dovoljno govori o sizifovskom nastojanju približavanja modernizma masovnoj kulturi u Jugoslaviji.

1 Henning Koppel dizajnirao je seriju vaza za danski Jensen.2 Servis Vivien i Wirkkalin servis za Thomas Glas und Porzellan AG, izloženi na 28.

međunarodnoj izložbi suvremene keramike, Faenza, 1970. 3 Riječ je o albumu Drug Tito u Jugokeramici izrađenom u čast Brozova posjeta tvornici 29.

svibnja 1962. godine.


Slučaj Jugokeramike zanimljiv je i zbog specifične rodne politike zapošljavanja: ne samo da u pogonima tvornice u velikoj mjeri rade žene4, već i u Odjelu prototipa tj. Jugokeramikinom odjelu za dizajn rade uglavnom dizajnerice (iako su voditelji Odjela do kraja šezdesetih bili muškarci). Osnovni razlog za taj iskorak u vremenu kada su gotovo svi industrijski dizajneri muškarci jest područje rada. Tekstilna i keramička industrija dva su područja u kojima je sudjelovanje žena prihvaćeno, dijelom zbog njihove percepcije kao tradicionalno ženskog djelokruga5. Dragica Perhač, jedna od ključnih Jugokeramikinih dizajnerica, prisjeća se savjeta profesora na Školi primijenjene umjetnosti (pri odabiru odjela): „Da ste muško preporučio bih vam da odete na kiparstvo, ovako idite na keramiku“.

4 Obilje ženske radne snage bio je jedan od kriterija pri odabiru lokacije tvornice; vjerojatno stoga što

je rad u velikom dijelu pogona keramičke industrije zahtjevao manju fizičku snagu, ali i preciznost,

strpljivost i spremnost na „dosadne“ poslove na traci što se smatralo tipično ženskim osobinama.5 Već od 19. stoljeća, oslikavanje keramike smatra se prihvatljivim hobijem ili čak profesijom

mladih žena srednje klase.

RADNICE U POGONU JUGOKERAMIKE / JUGOKERAMIKA FACTORY WORKERS


6 Buckley, Cheryl. Pottery Women: A Comparative Study of Susan Vera Cooper and Milicent

Jane Taplin. // A View from the Interior / (ed.) Judy Attfield & Pat Kirkham. London : The

Women’s Press, 1989.7 Carpenter, Edward. Statement:The Designing Women. // The Industrial Design Reader / (ed.)

Carma Gorman. New York : Allworh Press & DMI, 2003.8 Primjerice, dizajnom sanitarija – koji se za razliku od dizajna posuđa percepira kao čisti

industrijski dizajn – u Jugokeramici se bave isključivo muškarci.

Drugi razlog za takvu podjelu kompetencija Cheryl Buckley6 vidi i u balansiranju keramičkog i tekstilnog oblikovanja između primijenjene umjetnosti i dizajna. Dok su umjetnost i industrijski dizajn dugo smatrani neprikosnoveno muškim teritorijem7, primijenjena umjetnost – njihov omalovažavani hibrid - bila je društveno prihvatljivije područje ženskog interesa8.

Tema Jugokeramike stoga je dvostruko zanimljiva. Ne samo da začudna količina sačuvanih arhivskih materijala i prototipova skida veo zaborava s jedne od ključnih hrvatskih tvornica druge polovine 20. stoljeća, već razmiče i koprenu anonimnosti u koju su tako često zamotane dizajnerice toga razdoblja.

ALBUM DRUG TITO U JUGOKERAMICI, 1962., DIZAJN NASLOVNICE: ODJEL PROTOTIPA JUGOKERAMIKE / THE ALBUM COMRADE TITO IN JUGOKERAMIKA, 1962., COVER DESIGN: JUGOKERAMIKA PROTOTYPE DEPARTMENT


POČECI

Prvi poznati naziv tvrtke, Keramička industrija Pojatno, datira iz 1949. godine. Naziv je vjerojatno promijenjen početkom 1950., a ime Jugokeramika (industrija je tih godina preplavljena tvornicama s prefiksom Jugo- u nazivu) određeno je u Glavnoj direkciji za građevnu industriju9 jer izvorni naziv (Keramička industrija) nije smatran prikladnim za istupe u inozemstvu.

Odluka o osnutku tvornice donesena je 1948. godine na osnovi Zakona o Petogodišnjem planu razvitka Narodne republike Hrvatske 1947. – 1951.10, no izgradnja je započela tek tri godine kasnije, u veljači 1951. Projekt izgradnje tvornice vodio je Arhitektonski atelier Vitić na osnovi prijedloga tehnoloških procesa njemačke tvrtke Gebrüder Netzsch.11

Prema planu razvoja nove keramičke industrije izgrađene su, gotovo istovremeno, dvije velike tvornice porculana – zaprešićka Jugokeramika te Jugoporculan, tvornica porculanskog posuđa i zidnih pločica u Titovom Velesu – koje uz nove manje tvornice (Keramika Zaječar, Keramična in kemična tovarna Kamnik, Keramika Beograd) te već postojeću Keramičku industriju Liboje (KIL) čine okosnicu proizvodnje posuđa, ukrasnog porculana i pločica u Jugoslaviji 12. Jugokeramika je, međutim, od početka zamišljena kao najveća tvornica keramičke industrije SFRJ, sa zaokruženim asortimanom – od porculanskog posuđa i pločica do sanitarnih proizvoda.

Podizanje cijele nove grane industrije praktički ni iz čega, i to u pasivnom području bez jače manufakturne tradicije, bio je zaista monumentalan projekt, ne samo u fizičkim okvirima izgradnje velikih tvorničkih kompleksa, već i u pogledu obrazovanja velikog broja stručnjaka za rad u keramičkoj industriji. Nezaobilazno mjesto

9 Vlahović, Drago. Prvi put kombinat u 1950. god. // Jugokeramika, br. 85-86, 1973., str. 12.10 Jugokeramika, kombinat keramičkih proizvoda Pojatno. Idejni projekat. Atelje Vitić, 1951.11 – .Pojatno Jugokeramika. // Arhitektura, br. 1-2, Zagreb, 1955., str. 8.12 – .Naša industrija porculana i keramike. // Staklo, porculan, keramika, br. 1, Zagreb, 1959., str. 4.


u obrazovanju stručnjaka za potrebe nove industrije zauzima tadašnja Škola primijenjene umjetnosti te, nažalost kratkotrajna, zagrebačka Akademija primjenjenih umjetnosti. Te dvije institucije (a prije svega ŠPU) obrazovale su sve dizajnerice i dizajnere zaposlene u Jugokeramici. Blanka Dužanec, voditeljica Keramičkog odjela u Školi od 1932. godine, svakako je najzaslužnija za obrazovanje novih stručnjaka u industrijskoj proizvodnji13. Tijekom cijelog radnog vijeka radila je na kontinuiranoj modernizaciji programa Odjela te 1953., uz podršku Udruženja keramičkih tvornica i tvornica vatrostalnih materijala osnovala novi Tehnološki odsjek14. Blanka Dužanec je uvela i nove predmete (Modeliranje i Konstruktivno crtanje uporabnih predmeta za serijsku proizvodnju) koji su edukaciju učenika približili potrebama industrije. Prema zapisima tvorničkog lista15 prvu generaciju učenika na tom odjelu sačinjavali su mahom stipendisti keramičkih tvornica u izgradnji iz Aranđelovca, Mladenovca, Titovog Velesa i Zaprešića, te Liboja.

13 Baričević, Marina. Povijest moderne keramike u Hrvatskoj. Zagreb : Školska knjiga, 1986.14 U sklopu Keramičkog odjela djelovali su Tehnološki i Kreatorski odsjek.15 Vlahović, Drago. Osvajanje tehnologije i obrazovanje kadrova. // Jugokeramika, br. 88-89,

1973., str. 14.

ARHITEKTONSKI ATELIER VITIĆ: PROJEKT TVORNICE JUGOKERAMIKA, PERSPEKTIVA / THE VITIĆ ARCHITECTURAL STUDIO: DESIGN FOR THE JUGOKERAMIKA FACTORY, PERSPECTIVE VIEW


Istodobno na Školi predaje Stella Skopal (Modeliranje i slobodno kreiranje umjetničke forme16) koja učenike također usmjerava prema oblikovanju uporabnih predmeta. Zanimljivo je da je Jugokeramika, na preporuku Blanke Dužanec, stipendirala dvije učenice Škole primijenjene umjetnosti koje će se kasnije isprofilirati u ključne Jugokeramikine dizajnerice: Anicu Kuhta Severin i Dragicu Perhač.

Na Akademiji primijenjenih umjetnosti, na Keramičkom odjelu, obrazuje se buduća Jugokeramikina dizajnerica Marta Šribar. Voditeljica Odjela, keramičarka Mila Petričić, predaje Industrijski produkt koji uključuje „komponiranje raznih uporabnih predmeta i servisa, izvađanje stručnih nacrta te upoznavanje s procesom proizvodnje.“17 Visoku svijest Akademije o važnosti školovanih stručnjaka u industriji dokazuje podatak da je u samom Programu jasno navedena potreba za stručnjacima keramičarima u Kombinatu Pojatno, a Mila Petričić predlaže i osnivanje zasebnog pododsjeka za oblikovanje industrijskog produkta te oblikovanje proizvoda od porculana.

16 Baričević, op. cit. 17 Nastavni plan Keramičkog odjela APU za škol. god. 1953/54., vidi: Galjer, Jasna. Dizajn

pedesetih u Hrvatskoj. Zagreb : Horetzky, 2004.

BLANKA DUŽANEC I STELLA SKOPAL U POSJETI BIVŠIM UČENICIMA ZAPOSLENIMA U TVORNICI, SRPANJ 1982. / BLANKA DUŽANEC AND STELLA SKOPAL VISITING FORMER PUPILS EMPLOYED IN THE FACTORY, JULY 1982


UHODAVANJE PROIZVODNOG PROCESA

Prva komorna peć u Jugokeramikinoj tvornici porculana zapaljena je 2. rujna 1953. godine kada je započelo i mukotrpno uhodavanje proizvodnog procesa. Uz problem nestručnih radnika, kao velika zapreka kvalitetnim rezultatima navedeni su i manjak sirovina, neutvrđen sastav masa i ocaklina, česti nestanci struje te nekvalitetan ugljen, što je rezultiralo ogromnim škartovima, pa je prema monografiji tvornice „bilo dana kada se proizvelo tek pedesetak upotrebljivih tanjura“. Među prvim proizvodima Tvornice porculana stoga je bilo tzv. komadno posuđe (pojedinačni tanjuri, lončići, rebraste zdjele) koje je redom odlikovala simplificirana forma i zamjetna debljina stijenki.

Međutim istovremeno se, u suradnji s Blankom Dužanec i Stellom Skopal, probno proizvode daleko naprednije forme boca i čuturica za likere, uglavnom namijenjene tvornici Maraska. Prema sjećanju dizajnerice Anice Kuhta Severin, ti su proizvodi (u tvorničkoj arhivi kasnije vođeni pod skupnim imenom Stara proizvodnja) služili za svojevrsno testiranje mogućnosti proizvodnog procesa. U Muzeju za umjetnost i obrt čuva se više tipova tih boca, čija završna obrada varira od unikatne, ručno oslikane površine do jednostavne crne ili bijele ocakline.

U Odjelu prototipa 1954. godine zapošljava se Jelena Antolčić, prva od četverolista dizajnerica koje su obilježile Jugokeramikinu proizvodnju. U sljedećih nekoliko godina u Odjel pristižu i ostale protagonistice: Dragica Perhač i Marta Šribar 1957., a 1958. Anica Kuhta Severin, koja od kraja šezdesetih i vodi Odjel.18

18 Uz ove četiri dizajnerice, kroz Odjel prototipa do njegova zatvaranja 2009. godine prošli su

Stanko Cerar, Željko Jarnjak, Višnja Habunek, Branko Legčević, Vlado Bizjak, Ivan Čuhaš,

Đurđa Frančić, Željko Nemec, Sonja Hržina, Željko Karaula, Dragica Župančić Filipčić, Vesna

Milić, Nevenka Pasarić.


BOCA ZA LIKER, 1953. - 1956., DIZAJN: BLANKA DUŽANEC / BOTTLE FOR LIQUEUR, 1953 -1956, DESIGN: BLANKA DUŽANEC


Iste godine kada se zapošljava u Tvornici, Marta Šribar kao članica grupe SIO (Studio za industrijsko oblikovanje) ostvaruje i najveći međunarodni uspjeh Jugokeramike: srebrnom medaljom ovjenčan nastup na XI. milanskom triennalu. Naime, njen servis Triennale (1957.), uz već spomenute boce za liker Stelle Skopal, izložen je kao dio nagrađenog jugoslavenskog interijera. Nažalost, ovaj servis – kao uostalom većina proizvoda izloženih u Milanu – nije nikada ušao u velikoserijsku proizvodnju19. U tekstu Jugokeramika oklijeva20, Darko Venturini upravo kroz nesretnu sudbinu Triennala obrađuje problem Jugokeramikine produkcije („od likovno posve promašenih do likovno zrelih rezultata“). Venturini tako navodi uspješnost tog servisa na brojnim izložbama u zemlji i inozemstvu, anketu koja je pokazala da se potrošači odlučno izjašnjavaju u korist ovog servisa, uspjeh probne prodaje koja je „zapanjila i najveće optimiste“ kao i da je „tačno prije godinu dana 14 servisa prodano ( je) u jednoj jedinoj prodavaonici u roku 5-6 dana, premda je cijena bila gotovo 12000 dinara a bio je zadnji tjedan u mjesecu“.

Taj naš najpubliciraniji servis Marta Šribar je izložila i na 2. zagrebačkom triennalu, 1959. godine, a za svoj nastup (izložila je još i set pepeljara Plitica) nagrađena je drugom nagradom21. Na istoj izložbi Jelena Antolčić predstavila je set vaza Trokut i već spomenute crno-bijele vazice. Nastup Jugokeramike vrlo je dobro primljen u stručnoj javnosti: uz brojne pohvalne kritike, tvornica je nagrađena i Znakom likovne kvalitete.

19 U većoj seriji proizvodili su se tanjuri Triennale prodavani kao komadno posuđe.20 Venturini, Darko. Jugokeramika oklijeva. // 15 dana, br. 5, Zagreb, 1961., str. 10-11. 21 Nagradu dijeli s Raoulom Goldonijem i Milanom Vulpeom.


OVALNI TANJUR, 1953. PREMA SVJEDOČENJU ZAPOSLENIKA, PRVI PROBNI TANJUR KOJI JE IZAŠAO IZ TVORNIČKIH PEĆI. ZBOG MJEHURIĆA NA POVRŠINI, TAKVI TANJURI ZVANI SU MLINCI / OVAL PLATE, 1953. ACCORDING TO THE EVIDENCE OF EMPLOYEES, THE FIRST PILOT PLATE TO COME OUT OF THE KILNS OF THE FACTORY. BECAUSE OF THE LITTLE BUBBLES ON THE SURFACE, PLATES OF THIS KIND WERE CALLED MLINCI, OR CARTA DI MUSICA FLATBREAD



SERVIS ZA JELO TRIENNALE, 1957-1962., DIZAJN: MARTA ŠRIBAR /THE TRIENNALE DINNER SERVICE, 1957 -1962, DESIGN: MARTA ŠRIBAR



ODJEL PROTOTIPA - OD PROBA DO PROIZVODA

Sudeći i po broju proizvoda koji nastaju u izuzetno agilnom Odjelu prototipa, šezdesete (a dijelom i sedamdesete) su zlatne godine Jugokeramike. Posebice je živa produkcija servisa – svojevrsne krune dizajnerskog rada – koji u interpretaciji Jugokeramikinih dizajnerica variraju od organskog funkcionalizma svojstvenog tadašnjoj Rosenthalovoj ili Arzbergovoj produkciji (u liniji tankog porculana) do robustnih Arabijinih linija primjerenijih ugostiteljskom asortimanu.

U tom razdoblju, jedan od najznačajnijih proizvoda Jugokeramikine tvornice porculana svakako je Brazil, prvi jugoslavenski servis od tankog porculana. Brazil (Dragica Perhač, 1962.), kompletan servis za jelo i kavu, spadao je kategoriju tzv. domaćinskog porculana. Taj izuzetno uspješan servis proizvodio se u više boja ocaklina i dekora, a jedan je primjerak naručen i za Predsjednikovu rezidenciju u Karađorđevu. Unutar velike donacije tvorničke arhive 2009. godine, Muzeju je predan kompletan servis, a dodatna vrijednost leži u brojnim sačuvanim originalnim nacrtima Brazila koji svjedoče o dugotrajnom i minucioznom procesu njegova oblikovanja. Naime, kompleksnost zadatka projektiranja servisa ne očituje se samo u poštivanju brojnih tehnoloških i funkcionalnih zahtjeva, već i u izuzetnoj disciplini pri sustavnom provođenju osnovne oblikovne ideje kroz veći broj formi. Kvaliteta tog servisa prepoznata je već na beogradskoj izložbi Industrijsko oblikovanje (1962.) gdje je nagrađen posebnom Diplomom za dobro oblikovanje. Servis Brazil pripada u neveliku skupinu dobro dizajniranih domaćih proizvoda koji je doživio i masovno, industrijsko otjelovljenje, te svakako zaslužuje epitet klasika hrvatskog dizajna.

Vjerojatno kao rezultat istraživanja mogućnosti proizvodnje, tih je godina u opusu većine autora zamjetna i produkcija setova formalno sličnih proizvoda diferencirane završne obrade. U toj maniri Jelena Antolčić šezdesetih dizajnira nekoliko tipova vaza, Ivan Čuhaš projektira niz pladnjeva, a Anica Kuhta Severin seriju boca/vaza Votka.


VAZE SVIJEĆNJAK (2-974) 1963.-1964., DIZAJN: DRAGICA PERHAČ / CANDLESTICK VASES (2-974)1963 – 1964, DESIGN: DRAGICA PERHAČ


Krajem šezdesetih dizajnerice eksperimentiraju i s preslikačima22, kojima na pladnjevima (Jelena Antolčić) te vazama i servisima oblikuju apstraktne, op-artovske dekore.

Kvaliteta i kvantiteta tadašnje Jugokeramikine (prototipne) produkcije posebice je došla do izražaja na jubilarnoj izložbi povodom 20 godina ULUPUH-a 1971. godine, gdje su dizajnerice zajedničkim nastupom izazvale izuzetno pohvalne reakcije u tadašnjem tisku i, dakako, već uobičajena pitanja zašto se ti proizvodi viđaju samo na izložbama23. Jedan od brojnih izložaka bio je, nažalost neproizveden, servis Tamar (Anica Kuhta Severin, 1964.). Servis čiji su odjeci očiti u kasnijem komercijalnom servisu Grič, posebno je pohvaljen na prvom ljubljanskom Bijenalu industrijskog oblikovanja 1964. godine.

Nastavljajući tradiciju nastupanja na važnijim domaćim izložbama dizajna, J. Antolčić, A. Kuhta Severin, D. Perhač i M. Šribar izlažu na zagrebačkim izložbama Oblikovanje (1964.) i Produkt dizajn (1970.), na brojnim izložbama ULUPUH-a, na Zagrebačkim salonima posvećenim primjenjenoj umjetnosti i dizajnu, na ljubljanskoj izložbi Savremena oprema stana (1965.). Dokaz sveprisutnosti Jugokeramikinih dizajnerica na jugoslavenskoj dizajnerskoj sceni zasigurno je i Diploma za dobro oblikovanje koju je tvornici u povodu održavanja BIO 1 (Biennale industrijskog oblikovanja 1) dodijelio SLUPUJ 1966. godine. Istovremeno, autorice izlažu svoje radove – mahom industrijske proizvode – na smotrama umjetničke keramike (Triennale u Subotici, godišnje međunarodne izložbe u Cerviji i Faenzi), što još jednom ukazuje na neodređenu poziciju dizajnera/umjetnika u području keramičke proizvodnje.

U međunarodne uspjehe Jugokeramike šezdesetih i sedamdesetih godina svakako treba ubrojiti redovite nastupe dizajnerica na godišnjoj selektiranoj izložbi umjetničke keramike u Faenzi, diplomu

22 Industrijska tehnika ukrašavanja porculana nanošenjem preslikača/naljepnice na (najčešće)

već ocakljen proizvod.23 – . Noviteti i asortiman. // Večernji list, Zagreb, 18. 2. 1967., str. 8.


Marte Šribar na Međunarodnoj izložbi keramike u Istambulu 1967., počasne diplome Dragice Perhač u Gdansku i Cerviji, te nagradu Jelene Antolčić u Vallaurisu.

U ovom kontekstu zanimljivo je spomenuti i specifičan status dizajna sanitarija. Naime, taj tip strogo industrijskog, prije svega utilitarnog dizajna (i s tadašnjeg stanovništa, neugodne tematike) nije, čini se, odgovarao tada općeprihvaćenoj herojskoj predodžbi dizajna u industriji. Taj je element Jugokeramikine produkcije imao znatno manje odjeka u javnosti, iako je dizajner Boško Pogačić svoje garniture sanitarija izlagao na BIO 1, a nagrađen je i diplomom Savezne privredne komore 1972. godine.

Novi srednjoročni plan razvitka tvrtke donesen 1970. i službeno je odredio novu strategiju proizvodnje usmjerenu na tzv. ugostiteljski porculan24. Naime, od svih tvornica u SFRJ, jedino je Jugokeramika bila osposobljena za proizvodnju ugostiteljskog asortimana, a zbog naglo rastućeg turizma potražnja za tim proizvodima bila je

24 Ugostiteljski porculan razlikuje se od tzv. domaćinskog ili tankog porculana

čvrstoćom, izdržljivošću, te posebnim funkcionalnim zahtjevima.

VAZE VOTKA, 1964. -1967., DIZAJN: ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN / VASES VOTKA, 1964 - 1967, DESIGN: ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN


sve veća. Takvim preusmjerenjem proizvodnje Jugokeramika je osigurala prodaju zaliha: u tvorničkim novinama iz 1975. navodi se podatak da domaći kupci hotelskog asortimana preuzimaju čak 90% Jugokeramikine proizvodnje ugostiteljskog posuđa. Upravo tih godina nastaju dva komercijalno najuspješnija (i najdugotrajnija) Jugokeramikina servisa za ugostiteljstvo. Veliki servisi Arena i već spomenuti Grič (u početnoj produkciji sastoji se od 44 komada posuđa) u očima su mnogih generacija ostali sinonim za jugoslavensku turističku industriju.

Od kraja sedamdesetih, produkcija Odjela prototipa značajno usporava. Osamdesete su obilježene ozbiljnom financijskom i energetskom krizom u cijeloj bivšoj državi, te se sve manje ulaže u razvoj novih proizvoda. Krajem osamdesetih tvornicu napuštaju uzdanice Odjela prototipa: nesretnim slučajem pogiba Marta Šribar (1988.), a u mirovinu odlaze Dragica Perhač (1988.) i Anica Kuhta Severin (1990.)25. Devedesete – raspad Jugoslavije i rat – donose Jugokeramici daljnje probleme s opskrbom sirovinama iz Vojnića, gubitak dotad značajnog domaćeg tržišta, te promjene u vlasničkoj strukturi. Ubrzo nakon stvaranja nove države i otvaranja tržišta kapitala, tvornica se restrukturira te 27. srpnja 1991. mijenja ime u Inker i postaje dioničko društvo. Godine 1996. Inker je prodan inozemnim kupcima, nakon čega je promijenio više vlasnika.

Ironijom sudbine, ova izložba u Muzeju za umjetnost i obrt posvećena Pogonu porculana Jugokeramike koincidira s njegovim gašenjem u prosincu 2009. godine.

25 Jelena Antolčić odlazi iz tvornice već 1970.


SERVIS ZA JELO I KAVU BRAZIL, 1962.-1963., DIZAJN: DRAGICA PERHAČ / THE BRAZIL DINNER AND COFFEE SERVICE, 1962 -1963, DESIGN: DRAGICA PERHAČ



SERVIS ZA KAVU KOLUMBIJA, OKO 1964., DIZAJN: ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN / THE KOLUMBIJA COFFEE SERVICE, CA 1964, DESIGN: ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN



SERVIS ZA JELO ARENA, 1968.-1976., DIZAJN: MARTA ŠRIBAR, ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN (ČAJNICI I VRČEVI) / THE ARENA DINNER SERVICE, 1968 -1976., DESIGN: MARTA ŠRIBAR, ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN (TEAPOTS AND JUGS)



PARALELNI KOLOSIJECI

U Jugokeramikinom Odjelu prototipa, svim preprekama unatoč, već pedesetih godina razvila se živa jezgra dizajna. Tipično za hrvatski industrijski dizajn, ta mala dizajnerska zajednica nastala je prvenstveno na krilima stvaralačkih ambicija snažnih autorskih osobnosti, a više ili manje uspješno živjela je s tvornicom do kraja osamdesetih godina. Uspoređujući službeni proizvodni program tvornice s predmetima nastalima u Odjelu prototipa koji su izlagani na domaćim i međunarodnim izložbama suvremene keramike ili dizajna, čini se da su ta dva entiteta – tvornica i njen Odjel – kroz povijest hrvatskog dizajna putovala paralelnim kolosijecima (i u suprotnim smjerovima).

Stihijsko rukovođenje dizajnom u tadašnjoj industriji uočio je Radoslav Putar još 1969. godine26 kada je dijagnosticirao četiri najčešća načina uvođenja novih proizvoda u proizvodnju, sva četiri u većem ili manjem obimu prisutna u Jugokeramici. Od inicijativa dizajnera koje su uglavnom rezultirale uspjelim oblikovnim rješenjima, no koje zbog svoje parcijalnosti i izoliranosti nisu mogle polučiti uspjeh, do nemuštih sugestija komercijale (posebice očitih u odabiru dekora), imitiranja formalnih trendova i otvorenog kopiranja tuđih proizvoda27.

Međutim, za razliku od velikog broja potencijalnih, no nerealiziranih dizajnera „koji nemaju mogućnosti za razvoj jer nemaju pristup industrijskoj praksi“28, Jugokeramikine dizajnerice ipak djeluju u sklopu tvornice, a svoj pristup pogonu itekako koriste. O tome svjedoči velik broj prototipova – pladnjeva, zdjela, vaza i servisa – koji su, mada neproizvedeni, tehnološki promišljeni i projektirani po uzusima jasno definiranih mogućnosti konkretne tvorničke proizvodnje.

26 Putar, R. Dizajn proizvoda u jugoslavenskoj industriji, Bit international, br. 4. (Vidi: Vukić, Feđa.

Od oblikovanja do dizajna. Zagreb : Meandar, 2003., str. 289-297.) 27 Prema sjećanju dizajnerica, jedan od prvih Jugokeramikinih hotelskih servisa kopija je

njemačkog, a servis za jelo Sava izveden je iz poljskog originala.28 Richter, Vjenceslav. Uloga umjetnika u industriji. Referat na Saveznoj konferenciji SLUPUJ,

Beograd, ožujak 1959. (Vidi: Vukić, Feđa. Od oblikovanja do dizajna. Zagreb : Meandar, 2003.,

str. 87-94.)


Prema sjećanju Anice Kuhta Severin, projekti su uglavnom pokretani na osnovi narudžbi ili prema zahtjevima komercijalnog odjela, a zatim pobliže definirani na sastancima tima Odjela prototipa. Međutim, dio sačuvanih prototipova čine samoinicirani radovi koji bi u najboljem slučaju dosezali tzv. B-probu29. U tom samonicijativnom djelovanju (na što se u tvornici nije uvijek gledalo blagonaklono) Odjel prototipa zauzimao je zamalo gerilsku poziciju, neslužbeno preuzimajući ulogu Umjetničkog odjela kakav je, recimo, postojao u finskoj tvornici Arabia30.

Naime, u području oblikovanja predmeta od stakla i keramike, čvrste granice između primjenjenih umjetnosti i dizajna nikada nisu uspostavljene, dijelom zbog zanatsko-umjetničkog obrazovanja dizajnera keramike i stakla, dijelom zbog samih karakteristika materijala, a i polumanufakturnog tehnološkog procesa koji je omogućavao maloserijsku ili unikatnu proizvodnju. Dizajneri velikih serija proizvoda – poput Wirkkale, Sarpaneve ili Lindberga – istodobno i s jednakim žarom oblikuju unikatne predmete. Tvornice poput Arabie, Rosenthala i Arzberga rado su poticale i takve, uglavnom nekomercijalne projekte, svjesne da upravo umjetnikova/dizajnerova potreba za pomicanjem granica – među ostalim, istraživanje mogućnosti materijala – može dovesti do inovacija unutar industrijskog procesa.

Nažalost, ambicioznost svojih dizajnerica Jugokeramika nije znala (a najvjerojatnije nije ni mogla) niti poticati niti iskoristiti. Metodička primjena dizajna tražila bi od rukovodstva tvornice ozbiljan zaokret u poslovnoj politici i metamorfozu tvornice koja je od osnutka svoju konkurentnost gradila na jeftinom proizvodu u tvornicu umješnu u strateškoj primjeni dizajna. Realno gledajući, za takav ideološki pomak u tadašnjoj konstelaciji društveno-političkih i ekonomskih snaga u SFRJ naprosto nije bilo sluha, posebno u svjetlu činjenice da je Jugokeramika od 1970. poslovala u relativno zaštićenom okruženju kao jedini domaći proizvođač ugostiteljskog porculana.

29 A-proba izvodila se u desetak, a B-proba u pedeset i više primjeraka.30 Umjetnički odjel Arabie osnovan je 1932. godine.

VAZICA SA RUČKOM, 1958., DIZAJN: JELENA ANTOLČIĆ / SMALL VASE WITH HANDLE, 1958. DESIGN: JELENA ANTOLČIĆ




Unatoč izuzetno naprednim teorijskim raspravama o metodologiji industrijskog oblikovanja (Matko Meštrović, Fedor Kritovac, Radoslav Putar), koje su se tada vodile na hrvatskoj likovnoj sceni, u stvarnosti tj. jugoslavenskom industrijskom sektoru, dizajn je uglavnom ignoriran31. Dizajn je kao tema u bivšoj državi, unatoč nastojanjima Centra za industrijsko oblikovanje, prisutan gotovo isključivo u području kulture, a tematikom se bave likovni kritičari, dok su vodeći ekonomisti i/ili političko vodstvo nezinteresirani ili tek deklarativno zainteresirani za dizajn. Stoga je razumljivo da je dizajn isprva prihvaćen na formalnoj razini – kao kreator državnog gospodarskog imidža – da bi kasnijih godina čitav projekt bio više-manje prepušten ambicioznim pojedincima.

Sudbina izloženih Jugokeramikinih proizvoda, odloženih u trenutku nastanka i zaboravljenih na policama Odjela prototipa, prikladna je ilustracija statusa koji je domaći dizajn uživao u javnosti. Pogon porculana Inkera zatvoren je u prosincu 2009. godine, a time su – kako se sada čini – čvrsto zatvorena vrata bilo kakvoj inicijativi za oživljavanje dizajna porculana u Hrvatskoj. Međutim, zahvaljujući donaciji arhivskog materijala Muzeju za umjetnost i obrt, šezdesetogodišnja produkcija tvornice sačuvana je od zaborava i zasigurno čini vrijedan prilog upotpunjavanju slagalice povijesti hrvatskog dizajna.

AUTORICA I MUZEJ ZA UMJETNOST I OBRT ZAHVALJUJU NA POSUDBI MATERIJALA, SURADNJI I SAVJETIMA: JELENI ANTOLČIĆ, NEVENKI ČUHAŠ, ANICI KUHTA SEVERIN, DRAGICI PERHAČ, SONJI ŠRIBAR GRBIĆ, MARIJI ŠUNJIĆ.

31 Iznimke su slovenska Iskra i hrvatski Rade Končar, koje u tom razdoblju u sklopu svojih

instituta razvijaju metodološki pristup dizajnu proizvodnog programa.

DRAGICA PERHAČ:SKICA ZA SERVIS STELLA, OKO 1974. / DRAGICA PERHAČ:SKETCH FOR STELLA SERVICE, CA 1974


BIOGRAFIJE DIZAJNERICA

Jelena Antolčić (r. Belanji) rođena je 15. ožujka 1934. u Kraljevu. Školu primijenjene umjetnosti završila je 1954. u Zagrebu u klasi prof. Stelle Skopal i prof. Blanke Dužanec. Iste godine zaposlila se u Jugokeramici kao dizajnerica („kreator“) u Pogonu porculana, u Odjelu prototipa. Prvi put je izlagala na 2. zagrebačkom triennalu 1959. godine. Dizajnirala je velik broj vaza i zdjela koje karakterizira organička, sofisticirana forma. Često eksperimentira s površinskom obradom koristeći različite tipove glazura na vazama i zdjelama. Pladnjeve dekorira preslikačima inspiriranim folklornim te op-artovskim motivima. U Jugokeramici je zaposlena do 1970., a zatim prelazi u tvornicu Josip Kraš, gdje radi kao grafička dizajnerica do mirovine 1984. Članica je ULUPUH-a od 1960.

Važnije skupne izložbe primijenjene umjetnosti i dizajna1959. - 2. zagrebački triennale, Zagreb1963. - Oblikovanje, MUO, Zagreb1964. - Savremena oprema stana, Ljubljana - 1. BIO, Ljubljana1967. - Keramika, staklo, porculan, ULUPUH, Zagreb - 1. triennale keramike, Subotica

ANICA SEVERIN, DRAGICA PERHAČ I JELENA ANTOLČIĆ (ODJEL PROTOTIPA) I MILIVOJ KRUC (ODJEL DEKORACIJE), 1973. / ANICA SEVERIN, DRAGICA PERHAČ AND JELENA ANTOLČIĆ (PROTOTYPE DEPARTMENT) AND MILIVOJ KRUC (DECORATION DEPARTMENT) 1973.


1969. - Zagrebački salon - 27. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1970. - Produkt dizajn, Umjetnički paviljon, Zagreb - Drugi biennale umjetničke keramike, Vallauris (Francuska) - 28. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1971. - Salon ŠPU: Keramika, porculan, staklo, Zagreb - Jubilarna izložba povodom 20 godina ULUPUH-a, Zagreb1972. - ŠPU Keramika 1, ULUPUH, MUO, Zagreb

Samostalna izložba1998. - Tanjuri – keramika Jelene Antolčić, Gradska knjižnica, Zagreb

Nagrade1959. - Prva nagrada na izložbi suvenira za Kvarnersku rivijeru (članica grupe)1967. - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb – diploma i zlatna medalja1968. - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb – diploma i zlatna medalja1970. - Drugi biennale umjetničke keramike, Vallauris (Francuska) – diploma za tanjur/ pladanj

Dragica Perhač (r. Hercigonja) rođena je 6. siječnja 1935. u Feričancima. Zagrebačku Školu primijenjene umjetnosti završila je 1957. u klasi prof. Stelle Skopal i prof. Blanke Dužanec, kao stipendistica Jugokeramike. Iste godine se i zapošljava u Jugokeramici, prvo u Odjelu dekora, a zatim u Odjelu prototipa u Pogonu porculana. Uglavnom izrađuje servise za domaćinstvo (Brazil, Vivien, Ljubljana, Nina, Minas), koje karakterizira tankoća stijenki i elegantna linija forme. Dizajnira serije vaza kroz koje istražuje metamorfoze osnovne prstenaste forme. Umješna je u dizajnu dekora, pa često na vazama i servisima koristi vlastite dekore. U Jugokeramici je bila zaposlena do mirovine, 1988. godine.Članica je ULUPUH-a od 1966. godine.

Važnije skupne izložbe primijenjene umjetnosti i dizajna1962. - Industrijsko oblikovanje, Beograd1964. - Oblikovanje, MUO, Zagreb - Savremena oprema stana, Ljubljana1965. - Sajam ugostiteljske opreme, Maribor1967. - Keramika, staklo, porculan, ULUPUH, SC, Zagreb - 25. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija) - Izložba savremene keramike, Istanbul (Turska)1968. - 1. triennale keramike, Subotica - 26. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1969. - Zagrebački salon - 27. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)


1970. - Produkt dizajn, Umjetnički paviljon, Zagreb - 8. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Cervia (Italija) - 28. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1971. - Salon ŠPU: Keramika, porculan, staklo - Izložba Savezne privredne komore, Zagrebački Velesajam - 29. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike Faenza (Italija) - Izložba umjetničke keramike, Perugia (Italija) - Jubilarna izložba povodom 20 godina ULUPUH-a, Zagreb1972. - ŠPU Keramika 1, ULUPUH, MUO, Zagreb - 30. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike Faenza (Italija) - Izložba umjetničke keramike, Perugia (Italija) - Izložba Matije Skurjenija i dizajnera Jugokeramike, Zaprešić1973. - 31. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija) - Međunarodna izložba keramike, Gdansk (Poljska) - Izložba umjetničke keramike, Perugia (Italija)1974. - 31. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija) - 2. triennale keramike, Subotica - Stalna izložba u Njegoševom muzeju (Crna Gora)1975. - 7. Majski salon ULUPUS, Eksperiment 71976. - 31. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1977. - 12. Zagrebački salon

Nagrade1959. - Prva nagrada na izložbi suvenira za Kvarnersku rivijeru (članica grupe)1962. - Industrijsko oblikovanje, Beograd – diploma za dobro oblikovanje (servis Brazil)1963. - nagrada Jugokeramike (servis Brazil)1967. - 1. nagrada za suvenir grada Zagreba (sa Zlatkom Arambašićem) - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb - diploma i zlatna medalja1968. - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb - diploma i zlatna medalja1969. - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb - diploma i zlatna medalja1970. - 8. Međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Cervia (Italija) - Počasna diploma - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb - Posebno priznanje sa zvoncem Lotrščak1971. - diploma za dobro oblikovanje od Savezne privredne komore povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena1972. - Zagrebački velesajam - Prva nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Savezne privredne komore povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Grič1973. - Međunarodna izložba keramike Gdansk (Poljska) – Počasna diploma - nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Privredne komore Zagreba povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena1974. - nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Privredne komore Zagreba povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) za servis Arena - pohvala Prviredne komore Jugoslavije za komplet za crnu i bijelu kavu Stella 1975. - Diploma s izložbe Eksperimenat 7, na 7. majskom salonu ULUPUS1986. - Suvenir Zagreba i Univerzijade ‘87 - Velika nagrada Univerzijade


Anica Severin (r. Kuhta) rođena je 3. studenoga 1934. u Jakovlju, Donja Stubica. Školu primijenjene umjetnosti završila je 1958. u Zagrebu u klasi prof. Stelle Skopal i prof. Blanke Dužanec, kao stipendistica Jugokeramike. Iste godine se i zapošljava u Jugokeramici, u Odjelu prototipa (Pogon porculana). Krajem 60-ih postaje voditeljica Odjela. Bavi se dizajnom servisa – od tzv. domaćinskog (Pingvin, Kolumbija, Tamar, Irena) do ugostiteljskog tipa (koautorica na servisima Arena i Grič) te vaza/boca (Votka, Tikvica, Mastika). Njen rad karakterizira geometrizam, koji rezultira jednostavnom i elegantnom formom.Članica je ULUPUH-a od 1966., od 1970. članica je ULUPUH-ove Sekcije za industrijski dizajn. U Jugokeramici je bila zaposlena do mirovine 1990.

Važnije skupne izložbe primijenjene umjetnosti i dizajna1964. - Savremena oprema stana, Ljubljana - 1. BIO, Ljubljana1967. - Keramika, staklo, porculan, ULUPUH, SC, Zagreb1968. - 1. triennale keramike, Subotica1969. - 27. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1970. - 27. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija) - Produkt dizajn, Umjetnički paviljon, Zagreb1971. - Salon ŠPU: Keramika, porculan, staklo, Zagreb - Jubilarna izložba povodom 20 godina ULUPUH-a, Zagreb1972. - Izložba Matije Skurjenija i dizajnera Jugokeramike, Zaprešić1973. - Izložba Keramički tanjuri, Kula Lotrščak

Nagrade1964. - 1. BIO, Ljubljana - Počasna diploma1968. - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb – diploma i zlatna medalja1969. - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb – diploma i zlatna medalja1970. - Sajam cvijeća, Zagreb – Posebno priznanje sa zvoncem Lotrščak1971. - diploma za dobro oblikovanje od Savezne privredne komore povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena1972. - Zagrebački velesajam – Prva nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Savezne privredne komore povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Grič1973. - nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Privredne komore Zagreba povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena1974. - nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Privredne komore Zagreba povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena


Marta Šribar (1924. – 1988.) rođena je 3. rujna 1924. u Sevnici ob Savi, Slovenija. Školu primijenjene umjetnosti završila je 1950. u Zagrebu u klasi prof. Stelle Skopal i prof. Blanke Dužanec. Završila je zagrebačku Akademiju primjenjene umjetnosti 1955., na Keramičkom odjelu (prof. Mila Petričić). Zapošljava se u Jugokeramici 1957. kao dizajnerica u Odjelu prototipa (Pogon porculana). Autorica je najpoznatijeg Jugokeramikinog servisa Triennale, te nekoliko servisa za crnu i/ili bijelu kavu (Mocca, Dom, Beograd). Dizajnira i velike ugostiteljske servise (1961, Arena, Grič), te veći broj vaza namijenjenih ugostiteljstvu. Kao članica grupe SIO izlaže na XI. milanskom triennalu 1957. Članica ULUPUH-a od 1955.

Izložbe1955. - 1. zagrebački triennale1957. - Izložba primjenjene umjetnosti, Dubrovnik, Rijeka - Jugoslavenska primjenjena umjetnost, Poljska, SSSR, Bugarska, Mađarska - XI. milanski triennale, Milano (Italija) – kao članica grupe SIO1959. - 2. zagrebački triennale1963. - Oblikovanje, MUO1964. - Savremena oprema stana, Ljubljana - 1. BIO, Ljubljana1967. - Keramika, staklo, porculan, ULUPUH, SC, Zagreb - Izložba savremene keramike, Istanbul (Turska) - 25. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1968. - 1. triennale keramike, Subotica1969. - Zagrebački salon - 27. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1970. - Produkt dizajn, Umjetnički paviljon, Zagreb - 2. biennale umjetničke keramike, Vallauris (Francuska) - 28. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1971. - Salon ŠPU : Keramika, porculan, staklo - Jubilarna izložba povodom 20 godina ULUPUH-a - 29. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)1972. - ŠPU Keramika 1, ULUPUH, MUO1973. - 28. međunarodna izložba umjetničke keramike, Faenza (Italija)

Nagrade - Nagrada grada Zagreba1957. - XI. milanski triennale – Srebrna medalja (kao članica grupe SIO)1959. - 2. zagrebački triennale – 2. nagrada1967. - Izložba savremene keramike, Istanbul (Turska) – diploma1971. - diploma za dobro oblikovanje od Savezne privredne komore povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena


DIPLOMA DODIJELJENA TVORNICI NA 2. ZAGREBAČKOM TRIENNALU, 1959. /CERTIFICATE AWARDED TO THE FACTORY AT THE 2ND ZAGREB TRIENNIAL, 1959

1972. - Zagrebački velesajam - Prva nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Savezne privredne komore povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Grič1973. - nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Privredne komore Zagreba povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena1974. - nagrada s diplomom za dobro oblikovanje od Privredne komore Zagreba povodom Zagrebačkog velesajma (grupa: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – dekor) – za servis Arena

PORCELAIN DESIGN : JUGOKERAMIKA / INKER 1953. – 1991. 49

JUGOKERAMIKA AS METAPHORBETWEEN ASPIRATION AND OPPORTUNITY

Koraljka Vlajo

The case of Jugokeramika, from its foundation to transformation (i.e. privatisation), as well as in its later metamorphoses, is an excellent example not only of the political and economic but also the social and cultural situation in Croatia in the last sixty years. One of the biggest factories in the former Yugoslavia, and built out of nothing just after the end of World War II, Jugokeramika went through grievous delivery pangs before at least some kind of production began. In time, it attained the position of the biggest and most successful factory in the Yugoslav ceramics industry (with its own holiday resort in Crikvenica and its own staff estate); and yet it did not evade the consequences of political changes, business decisions that made no sense and constant economic squalls.The story of the history of design in Jugokeramika is, inevitably, a story of the history of industrial design in Croatia as a whole, always torn between aspirations and opportunities: in its sixty years of existence, Jugokeramika was an active participant in most of the successes (and failures as well) of Croatian design.Jugokeramika was also the scene of the first attempts at concrete implementation of design in domestic industry, in the very demanding conditions of mass production at that (the planned initial capacity of the factory came to 5500 tons of ware a year). It was among the first in Yugoslavia to start employing designers (as early as 1954), which shows a remarkable level of awareness on the part of the management of the time about the importance of introducing design into the production process.

50 THE PORCELAIN GLEAM OF SOCIALISM


The (women) designers of Jugokeramika took part in all the major domestic exhibitions of applied art and design, and were also involved in the biggest success of Croatian design, the silver medal at the 11th Milan Triennial of 1957. However, in spite of the initial wind in their sails, the factory production programme was over the years to undergo constant oscillations from mass produced and average (as well as below average) products for the market to individual appearances of superlative design at specialised exhibitions. In the 1960s and 1970s Jugokeramika products were never absent from international pottery exhibitions, right alongside the products of Rosenthal, Arabia, Arzberg and Gustafsberg and of other major European works. And although it is impossible to speak of these products in terms of revolutionary form or technology, one has to observe a high level in their technical production and undeniable formal and functional contemporaneity. In a parallel review of the formal tendencies in the design of crockery, the place of Jugokeramika designers in the pan-European art and design environment becomes patent. One can see, for example, the same Moore-ish origin in the organic porcelain black and white vases of Jelena Antolčić and in the silver vases of Henning Koppel1 of the 1950s; the identical geometrical refinement in the Triennale service of Marta Šribar and the 2025 service of Heinrich Löffelhardt (shown at the same 11th Milan Triennial); or the similar sculptural form of the service called Vivien by Dragica Perhač and the Tapio Wirkkala2 services exhibited in Faenza in 1970. Naturally, the successes and failures of Jugokeramika were a reflection of the whole social and political situation in the state of the time. The fifties, when Jugokeramika started working, were a time of accelerated industrialisation and urbanization, as well as attempts at the mass education of the incoming population from the countryside. The new order required its embodiment in a new material culture, to give a clear signal of the departure from the old system. From this point of view, design won a certain status in the creation of the national economic image, and the idea of Bernardi’s artist-in-industry enjoyed powerful institutional support, at the beginning. But ideology

1 Koppel designed a series of vases for Denmark’s Jensen.2 The Vivien service and Wirkkala’s service for Thomas Glas und Porzellan AG were exhibited

at the 28th international exhibition of contemporary ceramics at Faenza in 1970.

VASES, 1958, DESIGN: JELENA ANTOLČIĆ VAZICE, 1958., DIZAJN: JELENA ANTOLČIĆ


quickly came into conflict with the Yugoslav quotidian: a modern, functional idiom was accepted only by the cultural elite. Looked at realistically, in the still mainly rural Yugoslav environment, it was illusory to expect the massificaiton of functionalism, and in particular the acceptance of its uncompromising monosemy (a service is a service is a service...). Tito’s delight with typically kitschy decoration (“Roses, roses [with regional accent]... Look Jovanka, pretty little flowers, right?”) immortalised in the Jugokeramika album3 tell eloquently enough of the Sisyphean endeavours to bring Modernism close to mass culture in Yugoslavia.

3 Here meant is the album Comrade Tito in Jugokeramika, made to honour Broz’s visit to the

factory on May 29, 1962.


4 An abundance of female labour was one of the criteria for siting the factory; probably because

work in most of the ceramic industry’s plant required less physical strength, but more precision,

patience and willingness to put up with the tedium of the conveyor belt, which were considered

typically feminine features.5 From the 19th century the decoration of ceramics was considered an acceptable hobby or even

profession for young middle-class women.6 Buckley, Cheryl. Pottery Women: A Comparative Study of Susan Vera Cooper and Milicent

Jane Taplin. // A View from the Interior / (ed.) Judy Attfield & Pat Kirkham. London : The

Women’s Press, 1989.7 Carpenter, Edward. Statement : The Designing Women. // The Industrial Design Reader / (ed.)

Carma Gorman. New York : Allworh Press & DMI, 2003.8 For example, sanitaryware design, which was perceived as pure industrial design, unlike the

design of crockery, was left up to men only in Jugokeramika.

The case of Jugokeramika is also interesting because of the specific gender policy in employment. Not only did a large proportion of women work in the plant4 but also in the prototype department, i.e. the design department of Jugokeramika, it was also mainly women that were employed as designers (although until the end of the sixties the department heads were men). The basic reason for this departure at a time w hen almost all industrial designers were men was the area of work. The textile and ceramic industries are two areas in which the participation of women was accepted, partly because they were perceived as being part of the traditional female sphere of influence.5

Dragica Perhač, one of the key Jugokeramika designers, recalls the advice of a teacher at the School of Applied Arts (while she was choosing her major): “If you were a man, I would advise you to go to sculpting, as it is, off you go to pottery!”

Cheryl Buckley6 sees another reason for such a division of competences in the balance of design in textiles and ceramics between applied art and design. While art and industrial design were long considered unimpeachably male territory7 applied art – their underrated hybrid – was a socially more acceptable area for female interest.8

The theme of Jugokeramika is thus doubly interesting. Not only does the sheer amount of preserved archival material lift the veil of oblivion from one of the key Croatian factories of the second half of the twentieth century, but it also pushes aside the shroud of anonymity in which the designers of this period were often wrapped.

PHOTO FROM THE ALBUM COMRADE TITO IN JUGOKERAMIKA, 1962 / FOTOGRAFIJA IZ ALBUMA DRUG TITO U JUGOKERAMICI, 1962.


ASSEMBLY OF THE WORKING PEOPLE OF THE PORCELAIN FACTORY OOUR (BASIC ORGANISATION OF ASSOCIATED LABOUR), 1973 /ZBOR RADNIH LJUDI OOUR-a TVORNICE PORCULANA, 1973.


MARTA ŠRIBAR IN SCHOOL OF APLIED ARTS, IN A CLASS GIVEN BY STELLA SKOPAL / MARTA ŠRIBAR U ŠKOLI PRIMIJENJENE UMJETNOSTI, NA SATU PROF. STELLE SKOPAL


BEGINNINGS

The first known name of the firm, the Pojatno Ceramics Industry, dates from 1949. Its name was probably changed at the beginning of 1950; the name Jugokeramika (industry was in these years swamped with factories with the prefix Jugo [Yugo] in their titles) was determined by the Main Directorate for the Construction Industry9 for the original title of Ceramics Industry was not considered suitable for making appearances abroad.

The decision to found a factory was made in 1948 pursuant to the Five Year Plan of Development of the People’s Republic of Croatia 1947-1951 Law10, but the development started only three years later, in February 1951. The development plan was managed by the Vitić Architectural Studio, on the basis of a proposal for the technological process by the German firm Gebrüder Netzsch11.

According to the plan of development of the new ceramic industry, almost at the same time, two big factories of porcelain were built – Jugokeramika in Zaprešić and Jugoporculan in Titov Veles – which with some new smaller factories (Keramika Zaječar, Keramična in kemična tovarna Kamnik, Keramika Beograd) and the already existing Keramička industrija Liboje (KIL) constituted the backbone of the production of crockery, decorative porcelain and tiles in Yugoslavia.12 Jugokeramika, however, was from the beginning imagined as the biggest ceramics industry of the Socialist Federal Republic, with a complete range from china cups to tiles and sanitaryware.

Setting up a whole new branch of industry, practically ab ovo, in a fairly impoverished area at that without any strong manufacturing tradition was a monumental project indeed, not only in the physical

9 Vlahović, Drago. Prvi put kombinat u 1950. god. // Jugokeramika, no. 85-86, 1973, p. 12.10 Jugokeramika, kombinat keramičkih proizvoda Pojatno. Idejni projekat. Atelje Vitić, 1951.11 – .Pojatno Jugokeramika. // Arhitektura, no. 1-2, Zagreb, 1955, p. 8.12 – .Naša industrija porculana i keramike. // Staklo, porculan, keramika, no. 1, Zagreb, 1959, p. 4.


framework of the construction of great factory complexes, but also from the point of view of training a large number of experts for work in the ceramics industry. An essential part in the training of experts for the new industry was played by the School of Applied Arts and the alas short-lasting Zagreb Academy of Applied Arts. These two institutions and above all the School of Applied Arts trained all the designers (men and women) employed in Jugokeramika. Blanka Dužanec, head of the ceramics department in the school from 1932 was absolutely mainly to be credited with the training of new experts in industrial production.13 During the whole of her career

13 Baričević, Marina. Povijest moderne keramike u Hrvatskoj. Zagreb : Školska knjiga, 1986.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE FACTORY, 1952-1953 / IZGRADNJA TVORNICE, 1952. – 1953.


14 Within the ceramics department were the technological and the creative sections.15 Vlahović, Drago. Osvajanje tehnologije i obrazovanje kadrova. // Jugokeramika, no. 88-89,

1973, p. 14.16 Baričević, op. cit.17 Syllabus of the ceramic department of the AAA for 1953-1954; see Galjer, Jasna. Design of

the Fifties in Croatia. Zagreb : Horetzky, 2004.

she worked on the ongoing modernisation of the curriculum of the department and in 1953 with the support of the association of ceramic factories and factories of fireproof materials she founded a new technological department.14 Blanka Dužanec also brought in new subjects (modelling and constructive drawing of use objects for mass production) which brought the education of the pupils closer to the needs of industry. According to the records of the factory paper15 the first generation in this department consisted almost entirely of scholarship holders of the ceramic factories then being built in Aranđelovac, Mladenovac, Titov Veles, Zaprešić and Liboje.

At the same time, Stella Skopal was teaching at the school, taking the class of modelling and the free creation of artistic form16, which also oriented the pupils towards the design of use objects. It is interesting that at the recommendation of Blanka Dužanec Jugokeramika gave scholarships to two students of the School of Applied Arts, girls who were later to turn into key Jugokeramika designers: Anica Kuhta Severin and Dragica Perhač.

The future Jugokeramika designer Marta Šribar was then being trained in the ceramics department at the Academy of Applied Arts. The head of the department, the potter Mila Petričić, lectured on the industrial product, which included “the composition of various use objects and services, the rendering of technical drawings and familiarisation with the production process”.17 The fact that the curriculum clearly stated the need for expert potters in the Pojatno Firm shows the considerable awareness in the Academy of the importance of training experts for industry, while Mila Petričić proposed the founding of a separate subsidiary department for the design of the industrial product and the design of china products.


RUNNING-IN THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

The first chamber kiln in the Jugokeramika porcelain factory was fired up on September 2, 1953, when the laborious running-in of the production process started. As well as the problem of untrained workers, great obstacles in the way of quality results was said to be shortages of raw materials; the compositions of clay mass and glazes had not been established; there were frequent outages in the grid, and there was a lack of quality coal, which resulted in a vast amount of rejects and according to a book written about the factory, “there were days when no more than 50 usable plates were produced”. Among the first products of the china factory then were what was called “piece ware” – individual plates, mugs, fluted bowls, which were regularly characterised by simple forms and perceptible thicknesses.

However at the same time, in collaboration with Blanka Dužanec and Stella Skopal, there were essays at producing much more advanced forms of bottles and flasks for liqueurs, mainly meant for the Maraska firm. According to the memory of designer Anica Kuhta Severin these products (in the factory archive later referred to under the collective term Old Production) were used for a kind of testing of the capacity of the production process. The Museum of Arts and Crafts keeps several types of these bottles, the final working of which varies from one-off, hand painted surfaces to simple black and white glaze.

In 1954 Jelena Antolčić got a job in the prototype department; she was the first of the quartet of women designers who marked the production line of Jugokeramika. In the next few years, the other leading figures arrived in the department: Dragica Perhač and Marta Šribar in 1957, and in 1958 Anica Kuhta Severin, who from the end of the sixties was also the head of the department.18

18 Along with these four designers, until its closure in 2009, the following also worked in the

prototype department: Stanko Cerar, Željko Jarnjak, Višnja Habunek, Branko Legčević, Vlado

Bizjak, Ivan Čuhaš, Đurđa Frančić, Željko Nemec, Sonja Hržina, Željko Karaula, Dragica

Župančić Filipčić, Vesna Milić, Nevenka Pasarić.


The same year she got a job in the factory, Marta Šribar, member of the group SIO or Studio for Industrial Design, won for Jugokeramika its biggest international success: the appearance at the 11th Milan Triennial, which was crowned with a silver medal. Her service Triennale (1957), along with the liqueur bottles of Stella Skopal already referred to, was exhibited as part of the prize-winning Yugoslav interior. Unfortunately, this set – like most of the products exhibited in Milan – did not get into mass production.19 In an article called “Jugokeramika hesitates” 20 Darko Venturini uses the unhappy fate of Triennale to discuss the problem of Jugokeramika production (“from artistically completely worthless to artistically mature results”). Venturini mentions the success of this service at numerous exhibitions at home and abroad, an opinion poll which showed that consumers came determinedly out in favour of this service, the success of pilot sales that “amazed even the greatest optimists” and the fact that “exactly a year ago 14 services were sold in the only one retail shop in a period of 5 to 6 days, although the price was almost 12000 dinars and it was the last week in the month”.

Marta Šribar also exhibited this most highly publicised Croatian service at the 2nd Zagreb Triennial in 1959, and for her appearance (she also exhibited a set of ashtrays called Plitica) she was awarded the second prize.21 At the same show Jelena Antolčić presented the set of vases called Trokut and the little black and white vases already mentioned. The Jugokeramika appearance was very well received in the professional public: as well as numerous critical lauds, the factory was rewarded with the Artistic Quality Mark.

19 Bigger runs of the Triennale service plates were sold as individual pieces.20Venturini, Darko. Jugokeramika oklijeva. // 15 dana, no. 5, Zagreb, 1961, pp. 10-11.21 Sharing the prize with Raoul Goldoni and Milan Vulpe.


SERVIS ZA CRNU KAVU 1955. DIZAJN: VIŠNJA HABUNEK / SERVICE FOR BLACK COFFEE 1955, DESIGN: VIŠNJA HABUNEK


THE PLITICE SET OF ASHTRAYS, 1958, DESIGN: MARTA ŠRIBAR / SET PEPELJARA PLITICE, 1958., DIZAJN: MARTA ŠRIBAR



BOTTLES FOR LIQUEUR, 1956, DESIGN: STELLA SKOPAL / BOCE ZA LIKER, 1956., DIZAJN: STELLA SKOPAL



THE PROTOTYPE DEPARTMENT –

FROM PILOTS TO PRODUCTS

Judging from the number of products that were created in the extremely quick-thinking prototype department, the sixties and partially the seventies were the golden years of Jugokeramika. There was a particularly lively production of services – the crown of a designer’s work as it were – which in the interpretation of the Jugokeramika designers varied from the organic functionalism typical of the production of Rosenthal or Arzberg of the time (in a range made of delicate porcelain) to the more robust Arabia lines appropriate for catering ranges.

At that period, one of the most important products of the Jugokeramika porcelain factory was certainly Brazil, the first Yugoslav service made of fine porcelain. Brazil (Dragica Perhač, 1962), a complete service for dining and coffee, was categorised as household china. Exceptionally successful, it was produced in several glaze and decoration colours, and one example was ordered for the residence of the president in Karađorđevo. In the great donation of the factory archives of 2008, the museum was handed over a complete set; an added value lies in the many preserved original drawings for Brazil which tell of the long-lasting and minute process in which it was design. The complexity of the task of designing a service is not registered only in the respect paid for the many technological and functional demands, but also in outstanding discipline systematically carrying the basic formal ideas through a large number of forms. The quality of this service was recognised as early as the Belgrade exhibition of Industrial Design in 1962, where it was awarded with a special Good Design Certificate. The Brazil service is part of the very small group of well designed domestic products that also underwent mass, industrial embodiment, and certain deserves the epithet of classic of Croatian design.

Very likely as a result of research into the productive capacities, in these years in most of the artists’ oeuvres one can see the production of sets of formally similar products with differentiated workings of the


surface. In this manner in the sixties Jelena Antolčić designed several types of vase; Ivan Čuhaš designed a sequence of platters, and Anica Kuhta Severin a series of bottles or vases called Votka. At the end of the sixties the designers were experimenting with transfers22, with which they designed abstract, Op Art decorations on platters (Jelena Antolčić) and vases and services.

The quality and quantity of the Jugokeramika prototype production of that time came particularly to the fore at the ULUPUH 20th anniversary show in 1971, when the designers with a joint appearance elicited outstanding laudatory reactions in the press and

22 The technique of putting transfers onto an already glazed surface.

THE TAMAR SERVICE FOR BLACK COFFEE AND CAFÉ AU LAIT, 1963, DESIGN: ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN /SERVIS ZA CRNU I BIJELU KAVU TAMAR, 1963, DIZAJN: ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN


of course the already common questions as to why these products were seen only at exhibitions.23 One of the many exhibits was the, alas not produced, Tamar service (Anica Kuhta Severin, 1964). The service the reverberations of which would be clear in the later commercially produced service called Grič was particularly lauded at the first Ljubljana Biennial of Industrial Design in 1964.

Carrying on the tradition of appearing at the major domestic design exhibitions, Antolčić, Kuhta Severin, Perhač and Šribar showed their work at the Zagreb exhibitions Design (1964) and Product Design (1970), at numerous ULUPUH exhibitions, at those Zagreb

23 – .Noviteti i asortiman. // Večernji list, Zagreb, 18. 2. 1967, p. 8.


Salons dedicated to the applied arts and design, at the Ljubljana exhibition Contemporary Dwelling Furnishing (1965). A proof of the omnipresence of the Jugokeramika designers on the Yugoslav design scene must have been the Good Design Certificate that was given by SLUPUJ in 1966 on the occasion of the BIO 1, the first Industrial Design Biennial.At the same time, the artists exhibited their pieces – mainly industrial products – at exhibitions of artistic ceramics – the Triennial in Subotica, the annual international shows in Cervia and Faenza, which once again shows the indeterminate position of the designer/artist in the area of ceramic production.

One should certainly include among the international successes of Jugokeramika in the sixties and seventies the regular appearances of the designers at the annual select exhibition of art ceramics in Faenza, the certificate of Marta Šribar at the International Ceramics Exhibition in Istanbul in 1967, the honorary certificates given to Dragica Perhač in Gdansk and Cervia and the prize of Jelena Antolčić in Vallauris.

In this context it is interesting to mention the specific status of sanitaryware design. This type of strictly industrial and above all utilitarian design (and an embarrassing topic for the population of the time) did not, it seems, suit the then generally accepted heroic idea about design in industry. This element of the Jugokeramika production line made far fewer ripples in the public, although designer Boško Pogačić exhibited his sanitaryware set at BIO 1 and was awarded a certificate of the Federal Chamber of Commerce in 1972.

A new medium-term plan for the development of the firm was adopted n 1970, and it officially determined the new strategy of production aimed at what was called catering porcelain.24 For of all the factories in Yugoslavia, only Jugokeramika was capable of producing a catering or hotel range, and because of the sudden

24 Catering industry china was distinguished from what was called household or delicate china by

its strength, robustness and by special functional requirements.


growth in tourism, demand for such products was ever greater. Such a reorientation of production let Jugokeramika sell its inventories: in the factory paper of 1975 it is stated that domestic purchasers of the hotel range took as much as 90% of the Jugokeramika production of hotel and restaurant crockery. In these years, in fact, the two commercially most successful (and most long-lasting) Jugokeramika services for the hospitality industry were produced. The great services Arena and the already mentioned Grič (in the initial production it consisted of 44 items of crockery) were in the eyes of many generations a synonym for the Yugoslav tourist industry.

From the end of the seventies, the production of the prototype department slowed down very considerably. The eighties were marked by a serious financial and power supply crisis in the whole of the state as it was then, and increasingly little was invested in the development of new products. At the end of the eighties the factory was deserted by the stalwarts of the prototype department. Marta Šribar died in an accident in 1988, and Dragica Perhač and Anica

THE GRIČ SERVICE, 1968 -1986, DESIGN: MARTA ŠRIBAR, ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN (TEAPOTS AND JUGS) / SERVIS ZA JELO GRIČ, 1968.-1986., DIZAJN: MARTA ŠRIBAR, ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN (ČAJNICI I VRČEVI)


Kuhta Severin retired in 1988 and 1990, respectively.25 The nineties brought new problems with the collapse of Yugoslavia and the war – that of obtaining raw materials from Vojnić, the loss of the previously considerable domestic market, and changes in the equity structure. Soon after the creation of the new state and the opening up of the capital market, the factory was restructured; on July 17, 1991, it had its named changed to Inker and became a joint stock company. In 1996 Inker was sold to foreign purchasers, and since then it has changed owners several times.

By an irony of fate, this exhibition in the Museum of Arts and Crafts dedicated to the porcelain works of Jugokeramika coincides with its extinction in December 2009.

25 Jelena Antolčić had left the factory as early as 1970.



MOCCA BLACK COFFEE SERVICE, 1961 - 1963, DESIGN: MARTA ŠRIBAR / SERVIS ZA CRNU KAVU MOCCA, 1961. - 1963., DIZAJN: MARTA ŠRIBAR



DRAGICA PERHAČ: DRAWINGS FOR THE BRAZIL DINNER AND COFFEE SERVICE, 1962 -1963 / DRAGICA PERHAČ: NACRTI ZA SERVIS ZA JELO I KAVU BRAZIL, 1962.-1963.


PARALLEL TRACKS

In the Jugokeramika prototype department, in spite of all the hurdles, a lively core of design had developed as early as the fifties. Typically of Croatian industrial design, this little design community came into being primarily on the wings of the creative ambitions of powerful artistic and creative personalities, and lived more or less successfully with the fact to the end of the eighties. Comparing the official production programme of the factory with the objects created in the prototype department and exhibited at domestic and international exhibitions of contemporary ceramics or design, it seems that these two entities, the factory and the department, travelled on parallel tracks (or in opposite directions) through the history of Croatian design.

The haphazard management of design in the industry of the time was noted by Radoslav Putar in 196926 when he diagnosed the four most common ways of putting new items into production, all four of them in a greater or lesser extent present in Jugokeramika. From the initiatives of designers that mainly resulted in successful design solutions, but which because of their partiality and isolation could not achieve success, to the inchoate suggestions of the sales department (particularly clear in the choice of decorations), the imitation of formal trends, and the unabashed copying of other people’s products.27

But as distinct from the great number of potential but unpractised designers “who have no possibility to develop because they have no access to industrial practice”28 the Jugokeramika designers did after all work as part of a factory, and made extremely good use of their access to the plant. This is shown by the great number of prototypes – platters, bowls, vases and services – that, although not

26 Putar, R. Dizajn proizvoda u jugoslavenskoj industriji, Bit international, no. 4. (See: Vukić,

Feđa. Od oblikovanja do dizajna. Zagreb : Meandar, 2003.)27 According to the memories of the designers, one of the first Jugokeramika hotel services was

a copy of a German, while the dining set called Sava was derived from a Polish original.28 Richter, Vjenceslav. Uloga umjetnika u industriji. Paper at the federal conference of SLUPUJ,

Belgrade, March 1959. (See: Vukić, Feđa. Od oblikovanja do dizajna. Zagreb : Meandar, 2003.)


JELENA ANTOLČIĆ:DRAWING FOR THE TRUBA VASE, 1963-1965 /JELENA ANTOLČIĆ: NACRT ZA VAZU TRUBA, 1963.-1965.


produced, were technologically thought through and drawn according to the habits of the clearly defined capacities of the given factory production.

According to the memories of Anica Kuhta Severin, the projects were on the whole generated by orders or the requirements of the sales department, and then defined in more detail at sessions of the prototype department team. However, some of the prototypes preserved consist of works done because the designers wanted to do them, and that in the best case scenario would reach the level of the B pilot.29 In this self-initiated work (that the factory did not always look upon kindly) the prototype department took a somewhat guerrilla-position, unofficially taking of the role of the art department of the kind that existed in, for example, the Finnish Arabia factory.30

In the area of designing objects of glass and ceramics, no firm lines between applied art and design have ever been drawn, partly because of the artisan-cum-artist education of ceramics and glass designers, partly because of the very characteristics of the materials and the semi-manufactory technological process, which enabled the production of small runs or one-offs. Designers of big series of products – like Wirkkala, Sarpaneva or Lindberg – at the same time and with equal ardour designed one-off products. Works like Arabia, Rosenthal and Arzberg were happy to encourage suchlike mainly uncommercial projects, well aware that it was the artist’s or designer’s need to push back the borders – among other things, exploring the capacities of materials – that might lead to innovation in the industrial process.

Unfortunately Jugokeramika was incapable of encouraging or exploiting the ambitions of its designers. The methodical application of design would have required from the factory management a serious about-turn in its business policies and a metamorphosis of the factory that had from the beginning based its competitiveness on cheap products in a factory adroit in the strategic application

29 A-pilots were done in runs of ten and B-pilots in runs of fifty or more pieces.30 The art department of Arabia was founded in 1932.



of design. Realistically, there was simply no feeling for that kind of ideological shift in the then current line-up of social, political and economic forces in Yugoslavia, particularly since from 1970 Jugokeramika had operated in a relatively protected environment because it was the only domestic producer of hospitality industry china.

In spite of exceptionally advanced theoretical discussions of the methodology of industrial design (Matko Meštrović, Fedor Kritovac, Radoslav Putar) which were then being featured on the Croatian art scene, in reality, that is, in the Yugoslav industrial sector, design was on the whole dismissed.31 Design as topic in the former state, in spite of the endeavours of the Industrial Design Centre, was present almost entirely only in the area of culture, and the theme was handled by art critics, while the leading economists and/or political leaders were not interested, or only interested in design on paper. Hence it is understandable that design was at first accepted at a formal level – as creator of the state economic image – and in later years the whole project was more or less resigned to a few ambitious individuals.

The fate of the Jugokeramika products on show, put aside when they were made and then forgotten on the shelves of the prototype department, is a fitting illustration of the status that domestic design enjoyed in the eye of the public. The china plant of Inker was closed in December 2009, and thus, as it seems for the present at least, the door was firmly closed against any initiative for revivifying the design of china in Croatia. However, thanks to the donation of archival records to the Museum of Arts and Crafts, the sixty-year-long production of the factory has been saved from oblivion and constitutes, without any doubt, a very important contribution to the completion of the jigsaw puzzle of the history of Croatian design.

THE AUTHOR OF THE EXHIBITION AND THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND CRAFTS ARE GRATEFUL TO THE FOLLOWING FOR LOANS OF MATERIALS, COLLABORATION AND ADVICE: JELENA ANTOLČIĆ, NEVENKA ČUHAŠ, ANICA KUHTA SEVERIN, DRAGICA PERHAČ, SONJA ŠRIBAR GRBIĆ, MARIJA ŠUNJIĆ.

31 Exceptions were the Slovene Iskra and the Croatian Rade Končar, which at that period within

their institutes were developing a methodological approach to the design of the production

programme.

TRUBA VASE, 1963-1965, DESIGN: JELENA ANTOLČIĆ/ VAZA TRUBA, 1963. -1965., DIZAJN: JELENA ANTOLČIĆ


DESIGNERS BIOGRAPHIES

Jelena Antolčić (née Belanji) was born on March 15, 1934 in Kraljevo; graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb in 1954, class of Stella Skopal and Blanka Dužanec. The same year she was employed as designer (“creator”) in Jugokeramika in the porcelain plant, prototype department. She exhibited for the first time at the 2nd Zagreb Triennial in 1959. She designed a large number of vases and bowls characterised by sophisticated organic forms. She often experimented with surface treatments, making use of various types of glaze on her vases and bowls. She decorated serving dishes with transfers inspired by folk art and Op Art motifs.She was employed in Jugokeramika until 1970, and then moved to the Josip Kraš factory, where she worked as a graphic designer until she retired in 1984.She became a member of ULUPUH in 1960.

Major Collective Exhibitions of Applied Art and Design1959. - 2nd Zagreb Triennial, Zagreb1963. - Design, MUO, Zagreb1964. - Contemporary Dwelling Design, Ljubljana - 1. BIO, Ljubljana

ANICA SEVERIN, DRAGICA PERHAČ AND JELENA ANTOLČIĆ (PROTOTYPE DEPARTMENT) AND MILIVOJ KRUC (DECORATION DEPARTMENT) 1973./ ANICA SEVERIN, DRAGICA PERHAČ I JELENA ANTOLČIĆ (ODJEL PROTOTIPA) I I MILIVOJ KRUC (ODJEL DEKORACIJE), 1973.


1967. - Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass, ULUPUH, Zagreb. - 1st Ceramics Triennial, Subotica1969. - Zagreb Salon - 27th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1970. - Product Design, Art Pavilion, Zagreb - 2nd Biennial of Art Ceramics, Vallauris (France) - 28th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1971. - Salon of the Applied Art School: Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass, Zagreb - The 20th ULUPUH Anniversary Exhibition, Zagreb1972. - Applied Art School, Ceramics 1, ULUPUH, MUO, Zagreb

Individual Exhibition1998. - Plates / the Ceramics of Jelena Antolčić, Municipal Library, Zagreb

Prizes1959. - First prize at exhibition of souvenirs for the Kvarner Riviera (member of a group)1967. - Flower Fair, Zagreb – certificate and gold medal1968. - Flower Fair, Zagreb – certificate and gold medal1970. - 2nd Biennial of Art Ceramics, Vallauris (France) – certificate for serving dish / platter

Dragica Perhač (née Hercigonja) was born on January 6, 1935 in Feričanci; she graduated from the Zagreb School of Applied Arts in the class of Stella Skopal and Blanka Dužanec, while on a Jugokeramika scholarship. The same year she got a job in Jugokeramika, first in the decoration department, and then in the prototype department in the porcelain plant.On the whole she did services for households (Brazil, Vivien, Ljubljana, Nina, Minas), characterised by thin walls and elegant lines of form. She designed series of vases through which she researched into metamorphoses of a basic annular form. She was skilled in the design of decorations, and often used her own decorations on vases and services.She was employed in Jugokeramika until her retirement in 1988.She became a member of ULUPUH in 1966.

Major Collective Exhibitions of Applied Art and Design1962. - Industrial Design, Belgrade1964. - Design, MUO, Zagreb - Contemporary Dwelling Design, Ljubljana1965. - Catering Equipment Fair, Maribor1967. - Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass, ULUPUH, SC, Zagreb - 25th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy) - Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramics, Istanbul (Turkey)


1968. - 1st Ceramics Triennial, Subotica - 26th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1969. - Zagreb Salon - 27th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1970. - Product Design, Art Pavilion, Zagreb - 8th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Cervia (Italy) - 28th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1971. - Salon AAS: Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass - Exhibition of the Federal Chamber of Commerce, Zagreb Fair - 29th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics Faenza (Italy) - Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Perugia (Italy) - The ULUPUH 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Zagreb1972. - Applied Art School Ceramics 1, ULUPUH, MUO, Zagreb - 30th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics Faenza (Italy) - Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Perugia (Italy) - Exhibition of Matija Skurjeni and the Designers of Jugokeramika, Zaprešić1973. - 31st International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy) - International Ceramics Exhibition, Gdansk (Poland) - Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Perugia (Italy)1974. - 31st International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy) - 2nd Ceramics Triennial, Subotica - Permanent display in the Njegoš Museum (Montenegro)1975. - 7th May Salon, ULUPUS, Experiment 71976. - 31st International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1977. - 12th Zagreb Salon

Prizes1959. - First Prize at an exhibition of souvenirs for the Kvarner Riviera (member of a group)1962. - Industrial Design, Belgrade – good design certificate (the Brazil service)1963. - Jugokeramika Prize (Brazil service)1967. - 1st prize for a souvenir of the city of Zagreb (with Zlatko Arambašić) - Flower Fair, Zagreb - certificate and gold medal1968. - Flower Fair, Zagreb - certificate and gold medal1969. - Flower Fair, Zagreb - certificate and gold medal1970. - 8th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Cervia (Italy) – Honorary Certificate - Flower Fair, Zagreb – Special commendation with Lotrščak Bell1971. - Good design certificate from the Federal Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Arena service 1972. - Zagreb Fair – First prize with good design certificate from the Federal Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Grič service 1973. - International Ceramics Exhibition Gdansk (Poland) – Certificate of honour, - Prize with Certificate for good design from the Zagreb Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Arena service


1974. - Prize with good design certificate from the Federal Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Arena service) - Commendation of the Chamber of Commerce of Yugoslavia for the Stella set for black coffee and café au lait 1975. - Certificate from the exhibition Experiment 7, at the 7th May Exhibition of ULUPUS1986. - Souvenir of Zagreb and the University Games 1987 – University Games Grand Prix

Anica Severin (née Kuhta) was born on November 3, 1934, in Jakovlje, Donja Stubica. She graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb in 1958, class of Stella Skopal and Blanka Dužanec, having had a Jugokeramika scholarship. In the same year she got a job in Jugokeramika, in the prototype department of the porcelain plant. At the end of the 1960s she became head of the department. She dealt with the design of services, including domestic ware (Pingvin, Kolumbija, Tamar, Irena) and the catering type (co-author on the services Arena and Grič) and with vases and bottles or flasks (Votka, Tikvica, Mastika). Her work is characterised by geometrical treatments, which resulted in simple and elegant forms. She joined ULUPUH in 1966, and in 1970 became a member of the ULUPUH section for industrial design.She was employed in Jugokeramika until her retirement in 1990.

Major Collective Exhibitions of Applied Arts and Design1964. - Contemporary Dwelling Design, Ljubljana - 1st BIO, Ljubljana1967. - Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass, ULUPUH, SC, Zagreb1968. - 1st Ceramics Triennial, Subotica1969. - 27th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1970. - 28th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy) - Product Design, Umjetnički paviljon, Zagreb1971. - Salon AAS: Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass, Zagreb - The ULUPUH 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Zagreb1972. - Exhibition of Matija Skurjeni and the Designers of Jugokeramika, Zaprešić1973. - Exhibition of Ceramic Plates, Kula Lotrščak Tower

Prizes1964. - 1st BIO, Ljubljana – Honorary certificate1968. - Flower Fair, Zagreb – certificate and gold medal1969. - Flower Fair, Zagreb – certificate and gold medal1970. - Flower Fair, Zagreb – Special commendation with Lotrščak bell1971. - Certificate for good design from the Federal Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Arena service


1972. - Zagreb Fair – First prize with certificate for good design from the Federal Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Grič service 1973. - Prize with certificate for good design from the Zagreb Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Arena service1974. - Prize with certificate for good design from the Zagreb Chamber of Commerce marking the holding of Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Arena service

Marta Šribar (1924. – 1988.) was born on September 3, 1924, in Sevnica ob Savi, Slovenia. She graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb in 1950, class of Stella Skopal and Blanka Dužanec. She completed the Zagreb Academy of Applied Arts in 1955, ceramics department, taught by Mila Petričić. She got a job in Jugokeramika in 1957 as designer in the prototype department (porcelain plant). She designed the best known Jugokeramika service called Triennale and several sets for black coffee or café au lait (Mocca, Dom, Beograd). She also designed some large catering services (1961, Arena, Grič) and a large number of vases meant for the hospitality industry.As a member of the SIO Group, she exhibited at the 11th Milan Triennial in 1957. She was a member of ULUPUH from 1955.

Exhibitions1955. - 1st Zagreb Triennial1957. - Applied Arts Exhibition, Dubrovnik, Rijeka - Yugoslav Applied Art, Poland, USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary - 11th Milan Triennial, Milan (Italy) – as member of the SIO group1959. - 2nd Zagreb Triennial1963. - Design, MAC1964. - Contemporary Dwelling Design, Ljubljana - 1st BIO, Ljubljana1967. - Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass, ULUPUH, SC, Zagreb - Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramics, Istanbul (Turkey) - 25th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1968. - 1st Ceramics Triennial, Subotica1969. - Zagreb Salon - 27th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1970. - Product Design, Art Pavilion, Zagreb - 2nd Biennial of Art Ceramics, Vallauris (France) - 28th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)1971. - Salon AAS: Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass - The ULUPUH 20th Anniversary Exhibition - 29th International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)


CERTIFICATE AWARDED TO THE FACTORY FOR ITS APPEARANCE AT THE 11TH MILAN TRIENNIAL, 1957 / DIPLOMA DODIJELJENA TVORNICI ZA NASTUP NA XI. MILANSKOM TRIENNALU, 1957.

1972. - Applied Art School Ceramics 1, ULUPUH, MAC1973. - 31st International Exhibition of Art Ceramics, Faenza (Italy)

PrizesCity of Zagreb Prize1957. - 11th Milan Triennial – Silver medal (as member of the SIO group)1959. - 2nd Zagreb Triennial – 2nd prize1967. - Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramics, Istanbul (Turkey) – certificate1971. - Certificate for good design from the Federal Chamber of Commerce to mark the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Arena service 1972. - Zagreb Fair – First prize with certificate for good design from the Federal Chamber of Commerce to mark the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the Grič service1973. - Prize with certificate for good design from the Zagreb Chamber of Commerce to mark the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the service Arena1974. - Prize with certificate for good design from the Zagreb Chamber of Commerce to mark the holding of the Zagreb Fair (the group: Šribar, Severin, Perhač – decoration) – for the service Arena; commendation from the Chamber of Commerce of Yugoslavia for the Stella services for black coffee and cafe au lait


RAZVOJ ZNAKA, LOGOTIPA I ŽIGA

1950. – 1953. Prema zapisima u tvorničkom listu iz 1973. i 1975. godine1 prvi znak i logotip Jugokeramike datiraju najvjerojatnije iz 1950., kada je Keramička industrija Pojatno promijenila naziv u Jugokeramika, kombinat keramičkih proizvoda Pojatno. Izdanje tvorničkog časopisa iz 1973.2 donosi crno-bijeli preslik u originalu trobojnog zaglavlja tvorničkog memoranduma (očito pogrešno otisnutog) s tekstom na hrvatskom i francuskom jeziku. Ovaj znak nije otiskivan na proizvodima Jugokeramike.

1953. – 1954. Drugi zaštitni znak tvornice dizajnirao je akademski slikar Ivo Režek iz Zagreba po narudžbi Upravnog odbora Tvornice. Prema članku iz tvorničkih novina3, Upravni odbor se 28. travnja 1953. godine između nekoliko rješenja odlučio za rješenje pod oznakom A1, uz zahtjev autoru da promijeni dio teksta. U Muzeju za umjetnost i obrt čuva se nekoliko predmeta s ovim žigom. (Zbog kratkoće upotrebe i uvođenja proizvodnje, ovaj žig se na predmetima nalazi izuzetno rijetko.)

1954. – 1964. U rujnu 1954. godine raspisan je opći natječaj za zaštitni znak prilagođen potrebi tiskanja na proizvode. Na natječaj je, prema pisanju tvorničkog lista, stiglo više radova iz raznih krajeva Jugoslavije. Prema odluci ocjenjivačke komisije, prva nagrada dodijeljena je Marijanu Gašperšiću iz Krope (Slovenija), no ovaj znak nije postao i službeni znak Jugokeramike. Naknadno je odlučeno da novi znak Jugokeramike postane drugonagrađeni rad Zlate Janković, nastavnice iz Šibenika. U središtu izabranog znaka nalazi se simbolički prikaz šalice na tanjuriću a oko nega je upisano Jugokeramika Jugoslavija. Autorica je obrise tvornice iznad šalice naknadno docrtala prema traženju uprave tvrtke. U prvoj polovici 1960-ih, na proizvodima se javljaju i varijacije ovog žiga, gdje je tekst Jugokeramika Jugoslavija zamjenjen tekstom Porcelan Jugoslavija ili Porcelan Zagreb ili je, pak, u potpunosti izbačen gornji element naziva. Prema tekstu iz

1 – .Zaštitni znakovi Jugokeramike. // Jugokeramika, srpanj 1975., br. 3, str. 8. 2 – .20 godina Jugokeramike. // Jugokeramika, siječanj-veljača 1973., br. 85-86, str. 12.3 – .Zaštitni znakovi Jugokeramike. // Jugokeramika, srpanj 1975., br. 3, str. 8.


tvorničkih novina4 ovakav žig se upotrebljavao da bi se izbjegla kriva interpretacija u inozemstvu („keramika“ u nazivu tvornice zbunjivala je kupce).

1964. – 1978. Povodom pretvorbe tvornice Jugokeramika u Kombinat (1963.), u proljeće 1964. godine raspisan je natječaj za novi znak. Na natječaj je pristiglo 112 radova. Prva nagrada nije dodijeljena, a drugu nagradu podijelili su Mišo Mihalić i Jelena Antolčić. Mihalićevo rješenje je, uz određene preinake, odabrano kao novi službeni znak Jugokeramike. U upotrebi je i veća varijanta znaka u kojoj su ime i sjedište tvrtke ispisani duž stranica zakrenutog kvadrata. Prema pisanju tvorničkih novina, neko vrijeme se – no isključivo na memorandumima – koristio i „potpuni“ znak u kojem je Mihalićevom znaku dodan dio rješenja Jelene Antolčić (stilizirana zdjela za voće).

1978. – 1990. U proljeće 1978. godine Jugokeramika je potpisala s Agencijom za marketing „Vjesnik“ Sporazum o poslovnoj suradnji u oblasti marketinga5. Novi zaštitni znak izabran je kroz interni natječaj (na koji je prijavljeno čak 60 rješenja). U dizajnerskom briefu zadani su sljedeći elementi: kvadrat kao simbol proizvodnje pločica, krug kao simbol proizvodnje porculana i sanitarija, te početno slovo imena tvrtke (J). Znak Aleksandra Zdunića koji je pobijedio na agencijskom natječaju dobio je “visoke ocjene po atributima prepoznatljivosti, originalnosti, autoritativnosti, komunikativnosti, propagandne vrijednosti, ekonomičnosti, vizuelnog dojma, pamtljivosti i simboličnosti.“ Kao tipografija logotipa izabrana su Data 70, “kompjuterska slova iz porodice letraseta koja karakterom simboliziraju građevinsku djelatnost tvrtke.” Za kućne boje izabrane su ultramarin plava i žuta.

Agencija za marketing “Vjesnik” dizajnirala je cjelokupni vizualni identitet Jugokeramike – od osnovnih elemenata identiteta (memorandum, posjetnica, čestitka) do monografije, zaglavlja tvorničkog lista i brošura. Pretvorbom 1990. godine, tvornica mijenja ime u Inker d.d., no zaštitni znak tvrtke ostaje nepromijenjen.

4 –.Tradicija i sentimentalnost. // Jugokeramika, siječanj 1966., br. 41, str. 13.5 Zdunić, Aleksandar. Jugokeramika – od zaštitnog znaka do kućnog stila. // Industrijsko

oblikovanje 45-46, Beograd, 1978., str. 34-35.


1950. – 1953.

1953. – 1954.

1954. – 1964.


1978. – 1990.

1964. – 1978.

1978. – 1990.


DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRADEMARK, LOGO AND STAMP

1950-1953 According to writings in the factory paper from 1973 and 19751, the first trademark and logo of Jugokeramika probably date to 1950, when the Keramička industrija Pojatno had its name changed to Jugokeramika, Kombinat keramičkih proizvoda Pojatno [Jugokeramika, Ceramics Products Complex in Pojatno]. An edition of the factory journal of 19732 gives a black and white copy of the originally three-colour heading of the factory notepaper (clearly wrongly printed) with wording in Croatian and French. This sign was not impressed on Jugokeramika products.

1953-1954 The second trademark of the factory was designed by the painter Ivo Režek, BFA, of Zagreb, commissioned by the factory’s board of management. According to an article from the factory paper3, on April 28, 1953, the board of management decided, from among several proposals, on that marked A1, while asking the artist to change part of the wording. Several items that have this stamp are kept in the Museum of Arts and Crafts. (The short time of the use of this sign in combination with the dynamics of product introduction led to this stamp being placed on rather few products.)

1954-1964 In September 1954 an open competition was announced for a trademark adapted to the purpose of being printed on the products. According to the factory paper, several designs were submitted, from all over Yugoslavia. The panel of judges gave the first prize to Marijan Gašperšić of Kropa (Slovenia), but his design never became the official Jugokeramika trademark. A subsequent decision was made to adopt the second prize-winning design by Zlata Janković, a school teacher from Šibenik, and use it as the official new trademark of Jugokeramika. In the centre of the trademark chosen is a picture of a cup and saucer, and around it the wording Jugokeramika Jugoslavija is written. In the first half of the 1960s,

1– . Zaštitni znakovi Jugokeramike [Trademarks of Jugokeramika]. // Jugokeramika, July 1975, no. 3, p. 8.2– . 20 godina Jugokeramike [20 years of Jugokeramika]. // Jugokeramika, Jan.-Feb. 1973, no. 85-86, p. 12.3 – .Zaštitni znakovi Jugokeramike [Trademarks of Jugokeramika]. // Jugokeramika, July 1975, no. 3, p. 8.


variations of the stamp appeared on the products, with Jugokeramika Jugoslavija being replaced by the wording Porcelan Jugoslavija or Porcelan Zagreb, or indeed, sometimes this element of the name was left out completely. According to the article from the factory paper4 this stamp would be used to avoid mistaken interpretations abroad (since the word ceramic in the title was likely to confuse customers).

1964-1978 As a result of the official transformation of the Jugokeramika factory into a Kombinat – Conglomerate or Complex – in spring 1964 a new competition for a trademark was announced. One hundred and twelve designs were submitted. No first prize was announced, while the second prize was shared by Mišo Mihalić and Jelena Antolčić. Mihalić’s design, with certain changes, was adopted as the official new Jugokeramika trademark. A larger version of the trademark was in use, in which the name and place of business of the firm were written along the sides of a rotated square. According to the factory paper, for some time – though only on headed notepaper – the full version of the logo was used, in which part of the approach of Jelena Antolčić (a stylised fruit bowl) was added to the Mihalić design.

1978-1990 In spring 1978, Jugokeramika signed a “business collaboration agreement in the domain of marketing” 5 with the Vjesnik Marketing Agency. The new trademark was selected via a closed, internal competition (in which as many as 60 designs were submitted). The design brief contained the following elements: a square as a symbol of the production of tiles, a circle as the symbol of the production of porcelain and sanitaryware and the initial letter of the firm (J). The logo of Aleksandar Zdunić, which won the agency’s competition, “gained high marks for its identifiability, originality, authoritativeness, communicativeness, advertising value, economy, visual impression, memorability and symbolism.” The font Data 70 was adopted for the typography of the logo – “computer letters from

4 –.Tradicija i sentimentalnost [Tradition and Sentiment]. // Jugokeramika, January, 1966., no. 41, p. 13.5 Zdunić, Aleksandar. Jugokeramika – od zaštitnog znaka do kućnog stila. [Jugokeramika – from

trademark to house style] // Industrijsko oblikovanje 45-46, Belgrade, 1978, pp. 34-35.


the Letraset family that in their character symbolised the construction activity of the firm”. Ultramarine and yellow were chosen as house colours.

Vjesnik Marketing Agency designed the entire visual identity of Jugokeramika – from basic elements of the identity (headed paper, visiting cards, greeting cards) to the monograph, masthead of the factory paper and brochures.

In the transformation of 1990, the factory had its name changed to Inker d.d., but the trademark of the firm remained unchanged.

Porculanski sjaj socijalizma Dizajn porculana Jugokeramika - Inker 1953. - 1991. / Porcelain Gleam of Socialism Porcelain Design Jugokeramika Inker 1953 1991

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