A group of designers who freshened up wooden ware products characteristic for Ribnica, and made them more likeable, had a busy year. They won the Red Dot award, and designed a new collection Izbrano za hrano (Wood for Food).

The three new products, a set of hook magnets, a set of egg platters, and a cocktail muddler for crushing ice and mashing herbs, are designed following the same philosophy. They follow the Ribnica tradition, and show respect for wood. All the products are made by local artisans from Ribnica, as the designers believe that "the brand increased the recognition of the Ribnica craft".

The Ribrandbrand was created less than a year ago on the initiative of Janez Mesarič, in cooperation with the Rokodelski center Ribnica (Ribnica Handicraft Centre), where Mesarič is teaching industrial design, with the intention of emphasizing good practice of connecting contemporaneous Slovenian design with local craft. The design of the products is the result of work of a young team of Studio Mashoni designers (Janez Mesarič, Maša Majce Mesarič, Petra Bukovinski), who this year won the Red Dot Award 2016 for design of 3-piece kitchen utensil set of a basic geometric form, with inside magnets for better and easier storage, or mounting to a metal surface.

They consider the award mostly as a confirmation, "but it is too soon to say whether we will be able to take advantage of the award to promote the sale", Janez Mesarič says, and explains that they intend to design also products for use outside kitchen as well. "Also new products will be useful, of good quality, and made with precision."

They intend to remain a boutique brand
In spite of their grand plans for future, they are building the Ribrand brand slowly, as they want to remain a "boutique brand". The collection for food was designed mostly because the demand for smaller products is larger. "Visitors from abroad show more interest in our products, as it is easier to tuck small and light items in one's baggage. That's the main reason we decided to complete our collection with smaller products."

They claim the collection Ribrand proved successful in practice as well, no significant flaws were noticed, and there were no claims. "We will only modify the salt and pepper set in the form of wooden houses; the new generation has built-in magnets which allow more precise positioning of the closing lid on the bottom. We are also considering the possibility of adding a »special edition« collection."

K. Št.

Translated by G. K.