House on Mars is a contemporary design gallery established in 2020 in London, showcasing contemporary jewellery, objects and furniture for the modern lifestyle.
Born out of passion for design and making, together with the love for playfulness in home goods and jewellery, the gallery aims to offer a carefully curated collection of designed and crafted objects for the modern human.
THE HOUSE ON MARS GALLERY IS A CONTEMPORARY DESIGN GALLERY FOUNDED IN 2020, SPECIALISING IN CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY AND ART OBJECTS.
Our gallery's mission is to offer a collection of meticulously designed and crafted pieces that capture the essence of our times. These objects are a reflection of the present moment. Just as every era in history has been unique, the way artists and designers respond to our current times provides a captivating window into our culture.
Our selection encompasses a spectrum of production methods, some rooted in tradition and others boldly innovative, as well as a variety of materials.
These elements come together to create pieces that are playful, opinionated, and often quite bold, especially in the realm of wearable art and jewellery. Each creation conveys the spirit of a new era in 'making' and consumption, offering insights into our needs, desires, and occasionally bringing a smile to our faces.
The 'playful' element is undeniable in our repertoire, where an enchanting obsession with wearable art and jewellery is evident, alongside a deep appreciation for the human desire to create and adorn. We aim to bring joy. We aim to preserve.
At Collect 2021, the gallery artists Anna Ray was awarded the Brookfield Properties Crafts Council Collection Award, with the Crafts Council England acquiring 2 large scale works form the gallery for their permanent collection. The wonderful ‘Weave’ and ‘Capture’ pieces are now part of the material memory of the Crafts Councils Collection.
At Collect 2022, we were awarded the ‘Outstanding display’ award. A celebration of all of our artists and designers and their labour of love!
CHARACTERS ON YOUR TABLETOP
More here:
https://www.naivetableware.com/
The Naive Tableware collection is about creating small treasures for our daily rituals. Be it coffee or tea drinking or slurping your hot soup. These tableware pieces are meant to put a smile on your face and add a bit of colourful visual spice to your ritual.
Check the new Naive Tableware website:
https://www.naivetableware.com/
The Naive Series is a growing collection of handmade Tableware in clay. The series is inspired by doodles and sketches on walls of urban landscapes where Vanja lives (London, where hipsters like to leave their marks).
The raw, rough look and feel of the collection is another expression of Vanja's ever-obsessive search for the beauty in texture and the aesthetics of the imperfect.
The tableware is created by slab building, which means folding flat clay slabs into 3d shapes.
photography by William To
A complete remake of a Shoreditch based loft in an old industrial building. A true example of the rough&ready aesthetic, striping the place back to its skeleton and adding raw materials in all their honesty and glory. Letting them form patinas. Wood, steel and concrete with simple details. On this project I collaborated with the very talented Luke Zuber and Ricardo Rodrigues Ferreira of Zuber Dobson architects.
Photos by Kofi Paintsil
While working at The Cass, Vanja designed and curated the exhibition together with The Head of School of Design leading a team of projects assistants.
“As part of the The Aram gallery’s ongoing interest in process, The Cass: Hands On was showing new and experimental design at the roots, using this versatile school and its history as the focus. “
We showcased a range of students, alumni and staff presenting the wide variety of courses on offer, including jewellery, silversmithing, furniture, upholstery and musical-instrument making. Alongside finished products, the exhibition also reflected the Cass’s dedication to making within its teaching philosophy. A display of hand tools and a wall of experimental ceramic studies gave a taste of the school’s workshop atmosphere.
The Cosmos Installation was a project led by the London Metropolitan Universities Marketing Team, who approached us at The Cass Projects Office to help them with the installation design and production. The installation represents the LdnMet logo and is housing memorabilia objects of 86 of the University employees. I was lucky enough to be able to design the installation and co-ordinate the production with Kemp Signs.
Leading a team of talented designers and makers Vanja curated the Making Matters exhibition as part of the London Design Festival for The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design and designed the building supergraphics.
Photography by Stephen Blunt
For London Design Festival 2015, as part of Cass Projects, I took our 'Best in Show 2015' students to Tent London. Together with Roxanne Reynolds our Silversmithing and Jewellery alumna, who was our Projects Assistant at the time, we designed the stand and all its furniture, which we also produced ourselves with student help.
Photos by Stephen Blunt.
Rough & Ready is an experimental furniture morphology inspired by exploring potentials of the imperfect, human, unpredictable, the unfinished "finish" look aesthetics and independence in work process. Object designs are focused on exploring ambiguous forms, materials out of context and a playful approach to making; All material is prepared by hand, making each piece a unique version. Tailored cured sheets of wool felt are assembled and tightened into place with rope, forming seating elements.
The wool is embedded with rubber providing the surface not only with graphical patterns but also structural integrity.
Together with designer Juliano Cordano we designed The Cass Summer Show 2015 Supergraphics, way finding graphics and parts of exhibition layout .
Signage produced by Kemp London.
Photos 1-6 by Kofi Paintsil
Co-curated with David Grandorge the Making show was on at The Cass Summer Show 2015 in our Bank Gallery. Celebrating 'making' at The Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design.
Photos by David Grandorge.
Vanja created the exhibition design and co-curated The London College of Furniture Exhibition: Then and Now.
Photos by Stephen Blunt.
Rough & Ready is an experimental furniture morphology inspired by exploring potentials of the imperfect, human, unpredictable, the unfinished "finish" look aesthetics and independence in work process. Object designs are focused on exploring ambiguous forms, materials out of context and a playful approach to making; All material is prepared by hand, making each piece a unique version. Tailored cured sheets of wool felt are assembled and tightened into place with rope, forming seating elements.
Photography by Matjaž Tančič
Rough & Ready is an experimental furniture morphology inspired by exploring potentials of the imperfect, human, unpredictable, the unfinished "finish" look aesthetics and independence in work process. Object designs are focused on exploring ambiguous forms, materials out of context and a playful approach to making; All material is prepared by hand, making each piece a unique version. Tailored cured sheets of wool felt are assembled and tightened into place with rope, forming seating elements.
Photography by Matjaž Tančič
The Big Wonkys were commissioned by Art Director Keith Johnson of Anthropologie New York and are based on the Wonky pots series of 7 small pots. These are however created much larger,
from 80 - 120 cm high.
Continuing the celebration of accidental aesthetics and the beauty of the imperfect, Big Wonky’s are large scale vessels that play games with perception of what material they are created from and how.
The series of 3 large scale chandeliers were commissioned by Art Director Keith Johnson of Anthropologie, New York.
The chandelier shades are created from felted wool, embedded with resin and rubber as structural reinforcement and graphic patterns. The substructure is cnc cut plywood. The largest one is 200cm in diameter and the 2 smaller ones are roughly 100cm in diameter.
(Names: Dumbo, The Squid and Ms Octopus)
Rough & Ready is an experimental furniture morphology inspired by exploring potentials of the imperfect, human, unpredictable, the unfinished "finish" look aesthetics and independence in work process. Object designs are focused on exploring ambiguous forms, materials out of context and a playful approach to making; All material is prepared by hand, making each piece a unique version. Tailored cured sheets of wool felt are assembled and tightened into place with rope, forming seating elements.
