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Interior architect, artist
Alma Hudović Kljuno
Name:
Vesna Bugarski
Life Dates:
1930-1992
Country:
Positions:
Interior architect in various positions, independent artist
Field of expertise:
Interior design, product design
Education:
Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo University, graduated in 1955
Awards:
Association of fine and applied artists of BiH (ULUPUBiH), 1975
Vesna Bugarski was born in Sarajevo in 1930. After completing school she wanted to study architecture even though it was a man dominated profession at that period. She started with her studies at the Architecture Faculty in Belgrade and when the Faculty of Architecture was established in Sarajevo in 1949, she returned to Sarajevo to complete her studies. After her graduation in 1955, Vesna Bugarski was the first Bosnian woman to graduate in architecture.
She has one brother Ranko, born in 1933 with whom she spent her childhood and youth in Sarajevo until he went to Belgrade to study Anglistics. Their father was an English teacher who insisted that his children were brought up bilingual. Therefore, Vesna and her brother spoke English from an early age.
Vesna got married to her architecture colleague Ivan Ramljak in 1960, but they divorced in 1965. She did not have any children of her own, but she took great care of her brother’s two sons. Besides her passion for fashion and design, she loved to travel and to drive her racing car.
There are not many documents left that provide insights to her work and life, but there are many stories from people who knew Vesna and who remember her as a lively and extravagant, yet warm and welcoming person who was living her dream and had an unusual lifestyle for the period and place she lived in. The most accurate information about her life and work are presented in the “Book about Vesna” (Knjiga o Vesni) written by her brother Ranko in 2020.
Vesna Bugarski was killed in Sarajevo on 22.08.1992, at the very beginning of the aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though she had several opportunities to leave, she chose to stay in Sarajevo, the city she loved so much.
After her graduation in 1955, Vesna Bugarski started to work at the architectural/planning office ‘Prosperitet’ in Sarajevo. However, the time she spent working as an architect in Kopenhagen 1965-1968 influenced Vesna’s professional development and directed her towards interior architecture. Upon her return to Sarajevo, she started to work as an independent interior architect/designer and artist.
Vesna Bugarski was interested in traditional crafts and product design. She was designing interior equipment such as lamps or different types of wall garnish, but also cloths. Her designs were exhibited several times in Sarajevo and Belgrade. Being very active in the field of crafts and design, Vesna was elected president of the art council of the Association of fine and applied artists of BiH in 1975.
As an architect, Vesna was working on the interior design of many public buildings such as hotels, hospitals, schools, factories, etc. and public spaces such as supermarkets, restaurants, clubs, etc.
Some of the projects Vesna was working on include Mountain holiday resort near Sarajevo ‘ŽTP Sarajevo’, restaurant ‘Mimoza’ in Dubrovnik, residency for Juan Antonio Samaran (the President of the Olympic Committee) for the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo in 1984.
https://sarajevskasehara.com/2020/06/prva-sarajevska-arhitektica-vesna-bugarski-nepravedno-zaboravljena-dama-koje-se-potrebno-sjecati/ (last accessed on 09.02.2023)
https://www.federalna.ba/promovisana-knjiga-o-vesni-prva-iz-edicije-zenska-lica-bosne-0twnh (last accessed on 09.02.2023)
https://tarikjazic.wordpress.com/2020/06/21/vesna-bugarski-sarajevska-dama-koje-se-potrebno-sjecati/ (last accessed on 09.02.2023)
Bugarski, Ranko “Knjiga o Vesni”, SPKD Prosvjeta : BZ Preporod, Sarajevo, 2020
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