Ana Kraš ( sr-Cyrl, Ана Краш; born July 25, 1984) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

n furniture designer, photographer and fashion designer who is based in New York City. She has gained recognition for her Bonbon Lamps and for her photography for the Copenhagen Fashion Week sets, as well as for swimwear.

Background

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

, Kraš studied furniture design at the

University of Arts in Belgrade The University of Arts in Belgrade ( sr-cyr, Универзитет уметности у Београду, Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu) is a public university in Serbia. It was founded in 1957 as the Academy of Arts to unite four academies. ...

. In her final year of studies, she won the Young Balkan Designers contest, allowing her to exhibit a plywood chair Hug at the

Milan Furniture Fair The Milan Furniture Fair ( it, Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countrie ...

(Salone del Mobile) in Italy. The designer

Konstantin Grcic Konstantin Grcic ( sr-cyr, Константин грчић, born 1965) is a German industrial designer known for creating mass-manufactured items, such as furniture and household products. He has participated in leading design shows and his work ...

, who headed the jury, gave her some valuable advice, encouraging her to be more free in her work. As a teenager, she briefly modeled in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

after declining modeling contracts in New York and Paris. She moved to Los Angeles in 2011 before settling in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in 2013.

Career

Design

Kraš has exhibited at NYC Design week,

Maison et Objet Maison et Objet is a major French trade fair for interior design. Held bi-annually in Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, it has been described as "among the 3 most important European events for interior design ... a huge collection of innova ...

in Paris, and at design weeks in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. Naomi Smart of ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' appreciates her "slick personal style" and her "organic-modernist mash-up aesthetic". Kras first gained attention for her handmade lamps, especially her Bonbon Lamps, made with recycled threads from the fashion industry. In 2019, Kraš collaborated with the Danish company HAY to produce a version of the Bonbon Lamps to be sold in their stores. Kraš has a varied portfolio touching many aspects of design as well as

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is emplo ...

. She has designed tables, lamps, wallpaper, and swimwear. In 2017, Kras oversaw visuals for the fashion designer Maryam Nassir Zadeh and also designed the set at Copenhagen Fashion Week for fashion designer Ganni. Other fashion houses she's collaborated with include Martin Margiela and Etudes Studio. ''

'' and '' W Magazine'' have named Kras the "

It Girl An "it girl" is an attractive young woman, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. ...

" of good taste.

Ambra Medda Ambra Medda (born 1982) is a London based design consultant who is the co-founder and director of Design Miami. She also co-founded the design website L’ArcoBaleno and headed a department at Christie's auction house. Career In 2005, Medda co ...

, co-founder and former director of

Design Miami Design Miami/ is an American design company that holds two annual flagship collectible design fairs in Miami, Florida and Basel, Switzerland. Design Miami/ also holds fairs in Paris and Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard M ...

, has listed Kras as one of her favorite young designers.

Photography and fine art

Regarding her photography, Kraš has done work for Ganni, as well as for Lou & Grey (see Ann Inc.). This includes the Lou & Grey look book and their online magazine ''Ampersand''. In 2016, Kras released her photography book ''Ana Kraš: Ikebana Albums'', which focuses on both portraits and landscapes. In 2017, Kraš collaborated with Natalie Weinberger for a showing at the Picture Room gallery in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. The exhibition, entitled "Family", consisted of ceramic sculptures and drawings which explored the "emotional interplay between inanimate objects".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kras, Ana 1984 births Living people American photographers American fashion designers Furniture designers Fashion designers from Belgrade Photographers from Belgrade Serbian emigrants to the United States Serbian female models Models from Belgrade American women fashion designers 21st-century American women