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team Librag prototypes

All Inclusive Sarajevo

Academy of Fine Arts, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzogovina, 25 - 29 May 2009

Metal street products

Team Librag

Team leader: Freddie Yauner
Regional Leader: Sanja Bencetic

Librag has a well-equipped metal workshop specialising in bending and welding steel rods and sheet metal. Their main products are drainpipes, wrought iron fencing and grilles for construction projects. They have also produced lamps and plant holders of excellent quality but because of lack of design appeal they have not attracted sales.

The team focused on the possibilities of the materials and construction methods, aiming to exploit the craftsman's expertise by adding a design premium. They created a series of simple low-cost products imbued with wit, observation of deep-seated local habits and a realistic chance of sales to public sector and private clients.

  • Street Ashtray by Sanja Bencetic: The streets of Sarajevo are strewn with cigarette ends discarded by the numerous Bosnians who smoke. Embedded in the pavement, the Street Ashtray aims to alleviate this. A steel box construction with a hinged lid, it allows discarded cigarette ends to be stubbed out, stored inside the box and can be emptied easily.
  • Giant Lamp and Standard Lamp: A giant version of a conventional sitting room lamp with a damask shade and tassels blown up for public commercial spaces and a standard lamp with a zinc shade with embossed detailing at the rim.
  • Seating: A bench and stool from zinc with slatted seats of wood off-cuts.
  • Ashtrays: Copper ashtrays and holders engraved with the faces of Sarajevans made in collaboration with Pismolik.