The story behind the Planet brand written by Iva Supić Janković, founder and owner of Planet
After 20 years of living (mostly) in Amsterdam where I finished my studies in fine art and artistic research, I came back to Zagreb, my hometown.
As an artist I yearn for the feeling of belonging- to the art I make, to the community, to the city I live and work in. Coming back to Zagreb after 20 years of living abroad has been both a blessing and a challenge and the PLANET(as a place and as a brand) has been a way for me to land back home.
from the museum in Amsterdam to the PLANET in Zagreb
My work in fashion is inseparable from my artwork and fashion has always been one part of what I do. It all started when I fell in love with silk-screening printing during my study master artistic research in the Hague. At that time I ran a project called the Zolder Museum , an art space in Amsterdam ,which very quickly became recognized by the artistic community as an authentic space with a feeling of home for art and for artists (zolder is a Dutch word for attic and the Zolder Museum was a museum in the attic of my Amsterdam home in Da Costastraat 26, west Amsterdam). The project was research based and I spent most of my time either organizing and producing events or reading and writing in the library, which made me miss making art, just the physical act of making art with the movement of my body, be it drawing, performing, doing.
This was how I got into silk screen printing- I started a fanzine for the Zolder Museum and I decided to print it using silk screen technique; silk screen is physically very demanding, there is a lot of movement, during preparation and during printing. Also, the idea of touch became very important for me- the fact that i printed and folded each fanzine really mattered to me, this is how I connected to the public and to the work.
Besides printing fanzine, I stared to print on textile- tees and sweaters. This process I just described is in the very core of my brand PLANET- and, even though the Zolder Museum is non active for over 10 years now, in many ways Planet in Zagreb is the echo of the work I did with the Zolder Museum in Amsterdam; that is why I feel it is important to share it with the PLANET community in Zagreb, which is growing day by day.
finding my Planet in Zagreb
2 years after coming back to Zagreb (2021) I was walking through the center of the city trying to find a blacksmith place where I can make extra keys for my new apartment. The search led me into the closed yard of Ilica 37 at the end of which I saw an empty shop space for rent- the shop used to be Planet Music- a place where you could buy tickets for the first raves in Zagreb during the 90s, records and band merchandise, T-shirts and badges. I decided to rent the space and leave the name PLANET.
From the very beginning the PLANET transformed from my studio space to pop up shop for other designers to space for music events and finally, into a street style brand and a platform for creative collaborations.
It grew from a small garage space to a unique space for fashion and art in Zagreb, recognized by locals as well as people visiting Zagreb from all over the world. Next to the showroom, there is a Planet silk screen workshop where all my ideas for new prints and designs come from. Just like the PLANET showroom, the workshop used to be a garage space which I turned into a small silk screen heaven where I give workshops for artists and designers from the local scene.
PLANET clothing is made in a Croatian factory in the city of Čakovec, PLANET accessories are made in Samobor and in Zagreb. Printing is done either by me and my team or by Pitsome,a local silk screen studio. My team is my family- designs are created by me and by my nephew Edo, a student of product design department at the Faculty of Architecture, Zagreb, Rahela is the general manager of the store and my right hand in the workshop, Antonia was my first employee- being a professional model she became the face of the PLANET and is the star of most of our editorials, Marija Jelena Zen is my best friend and the woman behind the woman and my make-up artist, art gallery Kamba is PLANET’ s first neighbor and a close collaborator. Planet srijeda, an event production designing and organizing party events in Zagreb, is our latest adventure with bravo utorak and DJ Felver. I will write more about these specific collaborations in my future posts. For now, this is Planet HOME.
