Ana Koncul is a professor, artist and entrepreneur behind the successful Art Konculica brand. In an interview for the readers of Sense, she revealed about how her career path changed and what guides her through life
In an interview for Sense readers, Ana Koncul revealed how her entrepreneurial story began. The departure from the teaching career was accompanied by the development of the new Art Konculica brand, which offers a line of decorative products for decorating spaces of various purposes, and what is the most joyful thing about entrepreneurship and how it deals with stressful periods, we present below.
1. Among other things, you are a professor, an artist and an entrepreneur. But how would you best describe yourself? What makes you the person you are the most?
Exactly as you defined: professor, artist and entrepreneur – in other words: I am a lifelong dreamer who stands firmly on the ground looking for another shore of my own sea. I am a creative person and as such I cannot and do not want to tear myself away from observing and questioning my own knowledge of what I have seen. Everything that surrounds us are the shapes of a certain moment in some color of the influence of light; our handwriting is lines that record a moment of thought – I, like any living being, am surrounded by artistic elements (lines, colors, surfaces and shapes), and it is up to the individual to apply and experience them in his own way.
In any further presentation, the answer to the questions: ‘What makes you the person you are?’ is creativity and steadfastness towards myself and the environment, which is part of my life.
2. At one point, you decided to end your teaching career and the Art Konculica project was born, which combines art and entrepreneurship. Can you tell us more about the brand itself – what exactly is Art Konculica and how was the idea of its creation born?
Yes, at one point I decided to move away from direct teaching and the role of an art teacher and I started the Art Konculica project or a line of my own decorative products for decorating spaces with different purposes. Art Konculica is paintings, ceramic tiles and lamps – this is a segment that will be transferred to other useful objects in the near future, and it is the application of the abstract for the purpose of aesthetics, decoration and function.
Art Konculica began to be realized during the pandemic, which represented a stopped moment and a lot of anticipation – a time that is ideal for me to refine my own creative energy, which is not an easy step in the rut of years, middle age and a serious health diagnosis (MS).
3. Art Konculica brings art into our everyday life – is this a path you would recommend to your colleagues from the Academy?
The purpose of Art Konculica is aesthetics that draws the viewer in and prompts them to question – the individual experience of the individual – visual and tactile, since all products are a combination of shape and color.
It is difficult to say whether my path is the one that I would recommend to colleagues from the Academy. It is not, because creativity is a free path that is sought after. Otherwise, we are performers according to the given template – masters of craft, artistry without emotions that must be felt in anything you do.
4. What does your average working day look like?
My average working day is an alternating current – work, work, thinking, thinking and constantly looking for the current experience that I imposed on myself or the client gave me. The working day depends on one’s own strength, on the deadline, on inspiration and on the phases of the product that are physically demanding.
5. When you started your entrepreneurial adventure, did you encounter any obstacles? When stressful periods occur, whose help can you always count on?
The entrepreneurial adventure began, like every adventure – in a moment, three years ago. Since my entrepreneurship is ongoing and not a one-summer dance, I would say that I am in serious entrepreneurial waters.
Obstacles are an integral part – half-information of the system, poor quality of materials, irresponsible individuals… I solve stressful situations with rest and the support of loved ones.
6. What fulfills you the most in entrepreneurship, and what is the hardest for you?
In entrepreneurship, I am most fulfilled by the realization of my own ideas, the satisfaction of clients and constant competition with myself, and the hardest thing for me is fashion, placing in imposed standards of beauty and dependence on the opinion of others – as a society, we are increasingly oriented towards imitating other people’s styles instead of trying it ourselves or asking for it. custom made.
7. Since you have been involved in art for a long time and it is somehow woven into every pore of your life, what fulfills you the most about it? Is there a favorite product offered by Art Konculica?
Art is a part of my life, from sketching in childhood to researching different types and mediums of expression to imparting knowledge through work with children and young people. Art is the activity of the soul that expands and directs its own spirit from itself to the environment. In addition to many years of teaching and numerous art workshops, after the Academy of Fine Arts I painted modern pictures of birds and made sculptures from paper and polyester, from which sculptures of handball players and rowers could be seen in the area of the RŠC Jarun.
Art Konculica products are made in one copy and as such are like children, so it is difficult to single out which one is my favorite. My paintings are predominantly abstract and represent a combination of love for design and painting – they are associative motifs of expressive structure on wooden panels. I would single out the images Corrida, Antarctica, Leptir, Sonata – four completely different images, but equally powerful in space. My favorite approach to realization is the individual, personal, application of manual painting on ceramic tiles for the purpose of forming a whole for wall and floor surfaces and the recycling of wooden panels in conversion to another purpose through the production of lighting.
8. Why is it important that we love and live the work we do?
The answer to your question is love, because as has been said and written down so many times somewhere: love is a driver – a driver of energy, thoughts, feelings and strength, and then all obstacles are easier.
