The one photo of my hometown of Sarajevo that I took. Usually, I’m much more prolific but this time around I just wanted to live there…without the camera around my neck.  A friend of mine asked me why I loved this city so much, and I was surprised by the question and had no poetic answer. I still don’t. Maybe because the city is still so real, it’s not cookie-cutter pre-packaged. It’s raw. It’s unorganized. It’s unapologetic. It has problems, and maybe to a designer such as myself these challenges present themselves as opportunities, as genuine, honest design-soul-bread that’s ready to be cracked. I once heard that designers will never be happy because the world is so ugly, constantly throwing in our face endless problems to solve—but that’s exactly what makes me happy—the challenge of making the bad, good. I want to prove to myself and others that things can be better, that there is progress, that with the combination of right attitude, skills and most of all empathy for ourselves and others, we can improve bit by bit. Call me an idealist, go ahead, I’ll own that title proudly.  As I leave Sarajevo for now, I leave optimistic and inspired. December couldn’t come fast enough.  Until we meet again…
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The one photo of my hometown of Sarajevo that I took. Usually, I’m much more prolific but this time around I just wanted to live there…without the camera around my neck. 

A friend of mine asked me why I loved this city so much, and I was surprised by the question and had no poetic answer. I still don’t. Maybe because the city is still so real, it’s not cookie-cutter pre-packaged. It’s raw. It’s unorganized. It’s unapologetic. It has problems, and maybe to a designer such as myself these challenges present themselves as opportunities, as genuine, honest design-soul-bread that’s ready to be cracked.

I once heard that designers will never be happy because the world is so ugly, constantly throwing in our face endless problems to solve—but that’s exactly what makes me happy—the challenge of making the bad, good. I want to prove to myself and others that things can be better, that there is progress, that with the combination of right attitude, skills and most of all empathy for ourselves and others, we can improve bit by bit. Call me an idealist, go ahead, I’ll own that title proudly. 

As I leave Sarajevo for now, I leave optimistic and inspired. December couldn’t come fast enough. 

Until we meet again…

Ecofutura is a new eco-village that is a brief drive out of Sarajevo, towards Hresa, and is run by the same folk that are behind Vegehana, a super yummy restaurant in Sarajevo. I’ve had my fair share of falafel, but I must admit without any bias that the cooks at Ecofutura make some mean good falafel that can easily rival those from the Middle East…or Dearborn. Ecofutura community is still in process of being completed, but it looks extremely promising and I’m excited to see it grow and succeed. As per their website, their mission:

We are the team strongly connected by the idea of life in healthy, natural surroundings. Our wish for balanced living is practically expressed through construction of an attractive eco-tourist village in the midst of intact natural beauties, as well as the eco/bio farming and promotion of renewable energy sources.

Our vision is to, as a sustainable eco-tourist village, show by our example that living in harmony with nature is possible, using all advantages of modern technology. Besides this, we vision ourselves as a center of spreading the culture of a healthy lifestyle which offers education in this field to all generations and which, by its unique services, significantly contributes to the development of the entire region.

Lovely. Brilliant. Onwards!

The little town of Počitelj literally and figuratively took my breath away. I left inspired.

This place has been around for a while, since at least the 1400s and has served as a place of strategic importance to the Hungarian Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire. Today it is a UNESCO world heritage site and has one of the oldest art colonies in southeastern Europe. The tiny city has colorful historical details throughout, such as the tree that grows in the mosque’s garden that was brought in from Lebanon and planted in the 15th Century. 

Blagaj is a small town south of Mostar, situated at the spring of the Buna river—which itself is one of the finest examples of underground karstic springs, and largest such spring in Europe. At the river’s spring, built into the cliffs is a Blagaj Tekke—a Sufi monastery—which was built sometime in the 1600s. It is currently under renovation and repair and closed to public, however one can hire a guide and venture into the cave by the Tekke, to check out Buna’s source and see the Tekke up-close. The cliff that towers over the spring and the Tekke has a breathtakingly powerful and dwarfing presence, and my standard lens does not do justice in capturing its magnificence. 

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