From Place To Space: Café Uzitak In Belgrade, Serbia

Serbia's capital Belgrade is very vibrant. The city's young and creative crowd is shaping the city's face from day to day and there is hardly any other European city transforming and reinterpreting itself at such a speedy pace. One of the city's latest additions is the cute and super welcoming café named 'Uzitak' (the 'z' has to be pronounced like a French 'j') which means something like 'pleasure'. 

The café is located in downtown Belgrade not far away from the central Terazije square and the bohemian Skadarlija quarter. The pretty happy interior design was created by Belgrade based architect Aleksandar Spasojevic and reflects the welcoming and relaxed concept behind the café. The owner Dragutin Hadzi-Boškovic wanted to create a relaxed place for people who appreciate good coffee from the best plantations, organic food and no-highstreet brands. 

The interior design of 'Uzitak' is a real pleasure for the eye. The colour palette focuses on red, yellow and black combined with wood set against a white background. The walls on one side of the café are large chalkboards featuring the offers and highlighting the strong logo - a hashtag and the word 'Uzitak' written in Serbian Cyrillic letters. One more detail worth noticing is the urban jungle vibe with potted plants throughout the café - I think I know where I'll have my next coffee when in Belgrade!

The café features also a small outdoor seating area with the cheerful signature colours and wooden furniture. Whether you prefer an alfresco atmosphere or a cosy corner inside the café - one thing is for sure: it will be pure pleasure or as we say in Serbian: Uzitak!

Photography by Nemanja Zdravkovic

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From Place To Space: Mikser House In Belgrade, Serbia

The first week in March I want to kick off with an inspiring creative space in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Some of you already know that I have Serbian roots but I thought it would be also interesting to share this place as few people know Belgrade and its creative spaces.

The Mikser House has been born out of the Mikser platform, a multidisciplinary and multicultural platform that aims to affirm the region's cultural industry and organize the largest festival of creativity and design in the Balkans region. The recently opened Mikser House is basically a multifunctional space for educational, cultural, entertaining and commercial activities in a converted industrial faculty. It is located in the up and coming creative Savamala district of Belgrade which booms with galleries, bars, creative spaces. 

The super inspiring Mikser House not only provides open spaces for all kind of creative activities, but also hosts a fab Balkan Design Store and a restaurant, the so-called Mikser Kantina. Later this spring, from May 28th to June 2nd, the Mikser Festival will transform the entire city of Belgrade into the creative center of the Balkans with lots of local design and design talents. Probably a good idea for little city weekend escape!

If you ever consider a weekend city escape to Belgrade, you might want to check my blog post about the Serbian capital with my personal discoveries HERE. And of course you can always drop me an email with questions. I am here to help!

I hope you feel inspired and invigorated to kick off the new week! I wish you a creative one!

Photography by Nemanja Maraš for Mikser 

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From Place To Space: Belgrade

A new week, a new voyage! Buckle up, grab your cameras slash iPhones, put your shades on and enjoy. We are off to explore yet another city - this time the Serbian capital Belgrade. I assume most of you have never been there. Being of Serbian decent I had the opportunity to hop over for a few visits and stay at my friend's place. I was surprised by the city in many ways.

In Belgrade you will encounter a lot of juxtaposed sceneries - new, modern complexes versus old, sometimes dilapidated buildings, oriental Ottoman architecture mixed up with central European classic facades and counterbalanced by chunky socialist buildings. A weird mix of cultures, influences that reflect Belgrade's vibrant and sometimes rough history. Being settled at the confluence of two huge European rivers, the Danube and the Sava, Belgrade enjoys a lovely scenery and a good part of the nightlife happens on 'floating clubs', so called 'splavovi'.

Apart from the vibrant nightlife, you will spot some very cute and picturesque quarters such as the Bohemian Skadarlija quarter with many traditional restaurants, the huge Kalemegdan fortress overlooking the city and the river confluence, the impressive, Byzantine inspired St. Sava Cathedral and the village-like borough of Zemun. 

Some of my favorite spots in town are the following: The cute and charming bar/pop-up store 'Smokvica' (Little Fig) in the old Dorcol quarter, the stylish concept store and restaurant 'Supermarket' (a real Eames heaven and the average price of a dinner is 10 Euros!!!), the cosy courtyard garden of the traditional restaurant Jevrem, also in Dorcol, the amazing restaurant 'Mala Fabrika Ukusa' (literally: Little Taste Factory) with yummy traditional Serbian food is close to the St. Sava Cathedral, and the riverside cafés, restaurants and galleries at 'Beton Hala' like the 'Cantina de Frida'.

Speaking of my friend: I am sharing a few pics of my friend's Belgrade apartment. I love his taste and talent to transform a normal city apartment into a creative urban abode with a stunning high-gloss wooden floor, dark walls that highlight decorative elements, indirect lighting - lucky me that I get to stay in such a stylish place when visiting Belgrade. But no worries, there are very nice hotels, too! Have a happy new week!

Photography: Supermarket via Studio EM and 1984 Productions; Cantina de Frida via Cantina de Frida; Mala Fabrika Ukusa via its website; my friend's place by Slobodan Hrnjak; all others by Igor Josifovic.

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