Melisca Klisanin’s creative talent has touched virtually every continent – whether creating retail spaces, home environments, gardens & landscapes; branding cosmetics, chocolates, or clothing; designing carpets, baby cribs, perfumes, or curating experiences – she is inspired by nature, technology, and ancient techniques and she brings to each endeavor a passionate love of originality keenly balanced with an appreciation and respect for the imagination and intuition.
Klisanin believes she was fortunate to have become involved in design and branding at the time of an explosion of design movements in Milan- The Memphis Group, Paris - The Barbarians, Garouste and Bonetti, and Philippe Stark. “At the beginning of my design career I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to follow an idea from inspiration through production and into placement. I was able to purchase and place cutting-edge contemporary furniture pieces along with 19th century antiques and flea markets finds and to commission artists such as photographers Chris Makos and Antoine Bootz, painter Richard Giglio, illustrator Jeffrey Fulvimari, and set designer Dain Marcus to add their expertise to many creative projects in literally hundreds of locations.”
From such experiences Klisanin refined her approach to both residential and commercial design and became interested in the concept of experiential play – “the customer’s experience and sense of comfort in a retail environment, that which brings them back time and time again.” She approaches each project individually – creating a unique environment based on the client’s preferences. She infuses an unoccupied space, retail or residential, with a living spirit through using her keen creative eye to merge stylistic contradictions – simplicity meets luxury – perfecting the balance between scale, proportion, and intimacy.
For her signature products, “artifacts of domesticity” she is inspired “by the poetic – by nature, gardens, emotions.” Her award winning “Tall Grass Crib” was conceived as she lay in “a field of wild grass thinking how nice it would be for a baby to be surrounded by soft moving lines verses the straight strict rails of conventional cribs.” “The Flower Stream” rug was inspired by an urban community garden and is based on her experience walking through the flower garden, her eye catching “glimpses of flowers” that she later simplified to circles of color “representing the movement of a flower being slightly blown by the breeze.” She is currently working on a fragrance inspired by “strolling through gardens in Persia at twilight when the roses and orange blossoms are breathing while incense and spice drift by on the breeze.”
Having seen the power of branding and its influence on consumers firsthand, Melisca is interested in using her skills and expertise to support the emergence of worldviews that support and protect the natural world. She believes we can use technology to bring global citizens closer through online community building, but is also firmly committed to building real world community interaction. She is co-founder at Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, Inc., where she serves as the Chief Creative Officier. Her convictions are exemplified by her work as a team member on Cyberhero League, an edtech gaming adventure played both online and in real-life gamers complete missions while apprenticing with nonprofit partners. As well as her vision for “Sacred Time,” a non-denominational, multicultural, open-air classroom and eclectic spiritual space for urban environments she is currently designing. She hopes to see the project replicated in major cities worldwide.