Ritratto, photo Korosec Primoz  2010 

Toni Kancilja

designer, industrial designer 

Credo

The thought has the power of creation and is the spirit of every civilization.

Designing is a process. First there is a thought which becomes an idea. As a matter of fact, everything revolves around the idea – until it has been materialized into an object. Products are ideas brought to life which reflect clear, simple and innovative thinking. They are made of knowledgeably selected and treated materials. Recognizable, yet always new, unique shapes, that play convincingly their aesthetic role. They bear witness to the designer's ethic attitude since they are the result of a genuine creative process in which I follow the inner need to create.

Design is a play of materials, a language filled with meanings, a secret world of colours and shapes. Form is born of nothing, comes to life, and becomes an appearance. Creation symbolises the cessation of chaos manifesting itself when order and form prevail in the universe.

Education Designer, Bachelor of Design 1989 -1993 – Bachelor of Design program, Department of Design, Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana 1995 – Bachelor of Design degree, Industrial design 2000 - 2003 – Postgraduate studies of Nature Design Oskar Kogoj, Studio Oskar Kogoj 2003 – Master’s Degree in Oskar Kogoj’s Studies of Nature Design 2013 – Appointment as Teaching Assistant, University of Nova Gorica

Work experience

1995 - 1999 – Studio Marketing J. Walter Thompson, Ljubljana - Art direction, creative practice and design 1999 - 2009 – Co-founder of OS Design Studio, Ljubljana - Art direction, research and creative practice

- Design of original products and creations 2013 – Teaching Assistant at University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica

Freelance designer since 2009, Teaching Assistant at the University of Nova Gorica since 2013.

Freelance work and creative practice in the field of industrial design. My body of work as a designer encompasses mass consumption products, exclusive objects, and works reflecting my personal stance on design.

Discovering the meanings of shape and the secrets of design.

Working with masters and attending masterclasses in Slovenia and abroad: - Masterclass with composite bow maker Franc Oblak - Masterclass with wooden bow maker Michael Wolf - Metal & casting art workshop with Janez Kavar

- Bolčič woodworking workshop - Jože Krmelj’s blacksmith’s workshop - Masterclass with candle and honey bread maker Hrabroslav Perger – Perger 1757

Development and creative practice in my own prototype workshop: - Making prototypes and models, developing new products - Making unique products and limited series - The language of hands and shapes

Lectures, public presentations, teaching. Skills and competences

Creativity, design, project planning and management. Workshop organization and instruction, teaching. Mastery of technological processes. Development of new products and technologies, rights and patents. Knowledge of paper, work in the field of paper and cardboard packaging development. Work in the field of new technologies, toolmaking and machine engineering (LED technology and 3D printing). Knowledge of crafts, working with masters and craftsmen. Manual skills, proficiency in wood and metalworking. Knowledge of glass and ample experience in glassblowing. Skills in the field of ceramic and porcelain slip casting. Experience of stone design and stone working.

Awards and achievements

Design of ceremonial gifts for the Protocol of the Republic of Slovenia for the meetings between the President of Slovenia and Pope John Paul II: cane ‘In the Kingdom of the Goldhorn’ (1993), and oil lamp ‘Peace Light’ (1996).

Good Design Award at Biennial of Industrial Design BIO 13, Ljubljana 1992 Honorable Mention at 14th Biennial of Industrial Design BIO 14, Ljubljana 1994 Gold Medal at Brussels Eureka 2000, Brussels 2000 Honorable Mention at America I.D. Annual Design Review 2006

Best of Nation Eulda Award 2006, Award Winner Eulda 2006 First prize at Eat & Drink Design, Month of Design, Ljubljana 2009 Top 10, Ambient, Ljubljana 2010 Faces of Design Award 2011 Top 10, Top of the Top, Ambient, Ljubljana 2011

Exhibitions & Shows

Interior Lifestyle, Tokyo 2006 Design Zakka, Tokyo 2007 Oskar Kogoj Gallery, Celje 2007 Utrip lesa, Ljubljana 2009 Ambient, Ljubljana 2010, 2011 Design Nature, Liège 2010 Silent Revolution, London Design Festival, London 2011 Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven 2011

Triennale, Design Museum, Milan 2012 European Capital of Culture, Maribor 2012 Belgrade Design Week, Belgrade 2012 Helsinki Design Week, Helsinki 2012 Moscow Design Week, Moscow 2013 Designforum Wien, Vienna 2013 Hammerknives, Eisenerz 2015 Ferraculum, Ybbsitz 2015

The whiteness of paper continues to amaze me, and I wonder what black blackness conceals. I wonder why form has no beginning and why it never ends.

Toni Kancilja

toni.kancilja@siol.net / +386 31 229 521 Kadilnikova ulica 1 / SI-1000 Ljubljana / Slovenia / EU