Studio Vilenica Textile and Wallpaper Design
Maja Jakšić graduated in Textile Design at the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. She pursued her MA degree in Germany, where she attended Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and enrolled in the fine art course. After the school, she immediately looked for a job in the industry and worked at Rasch Textile. She worked as a designer and values the experience of working in a big company. However, she always wanted to work with hands, and after two years living in the far north of Germany continued to pursue her goals independently.
- Name of Craft in the local language
- Dizajn i izrada tekstila i tapeta
- Type of Craft
- Textile and Wallpaper Design
- Knowledge Holder
- Maja Jakšić
- Location, Website
- Molerova 62a, 11 000 Belgrade, Serbia Link to website
- Type of Business
- Newly established
- Year of Establishment
- 2017
- Successors
- No
- Workshop and sales space
- 200 m2
- Materials
- natural pigments, paints, textiles, variety of papers
- Technology / Tools / Machines
- simple silk-screen printing system
- Techniques / Processes
- silk-screen printing, freehand painting, drying
- Education of the Craftsperson
- Textile Design
- Best-selling product
- Custom-made wallpapers
- Average time of production
- Varies and depends on the scale
- Average price per item
- 100 €/m²
She started her own studio in Germany and worked for another five years, doing design for various companies.
After returning to Serbia in 2017, she sou-rced a temporary, spacious 200 m² workspace in an old industrial facility in lower Dorćol neighbourhood. She intended to set up a silk-screen printing studio, in which also other designers could come to execute their own designs. That is how Vilenica studio was born, which is a nickname affiliated with her family. The studio is focused on handmade wallpaper production, as well as textile design and production. Besides working with individual customers, Maja is looking into a bussiness-to-bussiness direction, where she could have long-term associations with architectural studios, furniture producers and alike. All of the sales and client relations happen on recommendation, so no external marketing is involved aside from maintaining a regular website, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
After running a 200 m² studio in the Dorćol neighbourhood, Maja moved uptown to Vračar. Her studio usually requires lots of space, big tables and natural light, as well as cleaning facilities for the printing screens. This is also where she welcomes her clients and customers, and the entire production process is done in-house.
When it comes to wallpapers, silk-screen printing is not that much used, aside for the special details. New effects and aesthetics emerge from experiments, and materials vary depending on the desired result. A variety of papers are used, as well as textile-like paper boards. This all usually depends on the interior and the size of the space.
Maja uses natural pigments for colours, as well as self-made creams and paints. All work is done manually, so no machines are used whatsoever, beyond the primitive silk-screen printing system. This is usually applied in textile production, but in a freehand way. Depending on the client, the process may take different amounts of time, with many test samples being made and checked. A good brief is also very important. For example, 10 m² of wallpaper can take up to a week to produce, mainly due to necessary drying processes and application of multiple coats of colour.
Wallpapers and textile are sometimes distinct product lines for Maja, but often enough someone orders matching wallpapers with textile for furniture or curtains. She also works for designers who create custom dresses and clothes, delivering them the raw material for tailoring.
Maja does not have a catalogue of patterns, all the products are custom-made. She has a portfolio which showcases the diversity of possibilities, after which each case becomes unique. She also works closely with the Serbian brand Nitea and will be exclusively working with them for interior projects.
The end customers are mostly upper-middle class population who are (re)decorating their homes. Custom-made wallpapers cost around 100 euros per m².
