Zanat — from primitive craft technique to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List.

 Zanat was formally launched as a design brand only in 2015 and it has come a long way since. Zanat’s roots, however, are to be found much earlier in history. It started more than a century ago when Gano the great grandfather of Zanat’s founders, Orhan and Adem Niksic, stumbled upon what once was a primitive hand-carving technique that originated from a small village close to our hometown of Konjic, just south of Sarajevo on the Neretva River. Gano learned the carving technique from some pioneer woodcarver-entrepreneurs and teamed up with already established furniture producers in Sarajevo, such as Buttazoni-Venturini.

Gano passed his skills down to his sons Salih, Meho, Adem and Asim. Salih opened the first woodcarving business in the Niksic family in 1919 and trained his younger brothers. Adem, the most entrepreneurial of all, took over the company in 1927 and built a reputable export business.

Today Zanat produces exclusively innovative and conceptual furniture, periodically collaborates with leading Scandinavian and Balkan designers. For several years of existence the company managed to receive several international design awards, such as Elle Deco Design Award, Interior Innovation Award and Golden Chair Award.

On December 6, 2017, the Konjic woodcarving technique perfected and preserved by Niksic family was officially inscribed onto the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. The quality and uniqueness of traditional hand-carved furniture from Konjic has garnered global acclaim; several pieces produced by our ancestors are kept in the Ethnography Museum in Belgrade and the National Museum in Sarajevo and few pieces are under state protection as part of Bosnia’s national cultural heritage.