Nika Šantej: Glass is a story of transformation
Nika Šantej: Glass is a story of transformation
One of the youngest glass artists in Slovenia, Nika Šantej, is already among the finalists for the Zagreb Design Week Awards (ZGDW). According to the international jury of this largest regional design festival, her work Res Vertere was recognised as one of the best-designed products in 2025. Responding to the theme of the twelfth edition of ZGDW – Shared Realities – Šantej presented a decorative plate that appears familiar and ordinary but reveals itself to be quite unusual.
Made from recycled glass that the artist found in the waste container at one glassworks in Ljubljana, the plate Res Vertere was presented as a symbol of profound transformation. With its open, reversible form — the front can be the back and vice versa — it conveys the message that there is no right and wrong side, because everything is a matter of perception. The mutability of perception and the fluidity of identities are emphasised through the plate’s wide and wavy facets, which evoke the sense of a continuous, simultaneous flow of multiple realities. Its powerful center – the core from which all the facets seem to emerge or converge – completes the expression of unity and spatial interconnectedness among all these different personal experiences of the world.
Conceived in this way and created through recycling waste, this decorative plate, whose title translates as To Turn Things Around / To Reverse a Situation, powerfully embodies an aesthetic of transformation and renewal, which is why it came close to receiving the prestigious award for best product design.
Glass as a recyclable and smart material
Recycling glass presents a unique challenge in design, as the final result is never entirely predictable due to variations in glass types and melting temperatures. This unpredictability is what makes the process particularly exciting and inspiring for me. In the future, I plan to further experiment with recycled glass, exploring new techniques and creating a variety of functional and design-oriented objects using recycled bottles, windows, and other glass waste.
– Nika Šantej, for Creative Glass Serbia, 2025
Together with industrial designer Jo Zornik, she also developed an innovative product for the wine industry – the Verdant wine bottle. In 2022, they submitted this project to the Glassberries Awards, an annual competition organised by the Portuguese glass packaging manufacturer BA Glass. As that year’s challenge called for innovations in wine packaging through digitalisation, they proposed a hexagonal bottle paired with a software application. The hexagonal form would allow wine producers to place 96 more bottles on the transport pallet, while the digital data matrix on the bottle would enable consumers to learn about its carbon footprint – from production and filling to transport and retail – and, by pressing the recycling button, find the most convenient return point for the empty bottle (a store, recycling station, etc.). Through projects like these, Nika Šantej has gained deep insight into the life cycle of glass and now actively seeks out solutions for sustainable design.
Sharing knowledge about glass is always a two-way street
On the social side, I run many workshops, both independently and in collaboration with Center Rog. Sharing my knowledge and passion for working with glass and clay is very important to me. I want people to feel inspired, connect with their creativity, and enjoy the process of making something with their own hands.
– Nika Šantej, for Creative Glass Serbia, 2025
She also maintains close ties with her hometown community in Sevnica, as well as with the Art Gymnasium in Celje, where she spent her high school years. At the Razborski Evenings, a cultural event traditionally held in the Sevnica region, she had her first solo exhibition in 2018, while today she actively participates in local initiatives that support entrepreneurship and economic development of her hometown. With the help of the local business education program, she succeeded in transforming her creative vision into a business venture – NIXI studio. Under this brand, she now reaches international audiences, offering unique, artistically crafted objects made of glass and ceramics.
Among the best European glass and ceramic artists
Since 2020, while still a student, Nika Šantej has held another solo exhibition and participated in around ten group shows – the Lighting Guerrilla festival in Ljubljana, Medianox Gallery in Maribor, Ana’s Gallery in Rogaška Slatina, the Triennial of Handcrafts at the Koroška Regional Museum, the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, the Posavje Museum in Brežice, as well as in Ljubljana’s galleries Alkatraz, UL PEF, and the Crystal Salon of Rogaška.
Her work Keeping Things Whole, shown at the Traces of Presence exhibition at the Alkatraz Gallery in Ljubljana in 2023, received notable praise from critics and the professional community. This installation of anthropomorphic glass figures, inspired by Mark Strand’s poem, was perceived as the standout piece because it most significantly amplified the gallery space. It articulated her awareness of the urgent need for a more authentic communication within the fragmented and alienated (post-)pandemic society. To point out the disintegration of individuals and communities, she hung cold and colorless, icicle-like figures on ropes – figures without character, even with hollow heads, devoid of empathy. Moving among them, the viewer was getting the impression that each one could easily fall and shatter, much like the dehumanised society they represent.
The very next year, 2024, her distinctive ceramic work propelled her onto the international art scene. At the triennial European Ceramic Context exhibition, held at the Bornholm Center for Arts and Crafts (Denmark), she showcased three exceptional vases, titled Reverse Times. Their lower sections are ceramic, while the upper parts are woven from willow branches. Finding inspiration in the craft traditions of the region where she grew up, specifically the basketry practiced by her grandfather, Nika collected the clay on her family’s estate, used the ancient technique of pit firing, and harvested the willow branches from the very trees her grandfather once used. This achievement placed her among Europe’s top ceramic artists – out of 350 applicants, the Bornholm triennial featured only 64 who best addressed the pressing question – How can ceramics, designers, and artists adapt to more sustainable practices?
The wisdom of youth
It seems that young artists like Nika Šantej are the ones who most readily find answers to these big questions. They have been educated in the spirit of The European Green Deal, and the tools needed to achieve what earlier generations strived for – meeting public interest, competitiveness, digitalisation, branding, interactivity – are already at their fingertips. They also proved to be the most resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is no surprise that older generations are now seeking intergenerational dialogue and advice from the youth. Nika Šantej would certainly be an insightful and valuable person from whom much can be learned.
I also love combining traditional craft techniques with modern tools. Using 3D modeling and 3D printing for prototypes and molds allows me to experiment and explore new possibilities, while still keeping the hands-on, tactile nature of glass and clay work alive.
– Nika Šantej, for Creative Glass Serbia, 2025
With the Reverse Times vases, the Res Vertere plate, and other original works like the vases Duality and the platters Zephyr and Fluence, Nika Šantej established a strong foundation for her brand, NIXI studio. By deeply diving into the interactions and transformations of her primary materials, particularly post-consumer glass, Nika arrives at original expressions that are not merely visually attractive but serve as mediums for connecting the distant past with a discernible future, the one where today’s societies must meet sustainable development goals. Giving importance to what is outdated, forgotten, or discarded, her designs encourage circular art practices and distinctively complement contemporary, socially responsible lifestyles.
References
- BA Glass Group. (2022). Glassberries Design Awards 2022 (Catalogue). Avintes: BA Glass Group.
- Creative Glass Serbia. (2025). A short interview with Nika Šantej. Paraćin: Creative Glass Serbia.
- Černohorski, A., Krawczyk, S. & Grobler, A. (2023, April 6-28). Traces of Presence – a group exhibition of students of The Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALOU). Alkatraz Gallery, Ljubljana.
- Domjan Alenka & Darja Poglajen (2024). KORAKI — za jutri 2 : katalog ob 20. obletnici umetniške gimnazije – likovna smer na Gimnaziji Celje – Center. Celje: Gimnazija Celje – Center.
- Journal. (2025, September 1). Največji oblikovalski festival v regiji prinaša močan slovenski pečat. JOURNAL (Umetnost in dizajn).
- Mavsar, M. (2024, December 19). Poslovni zajtrk o delu na regionalni razvojni agenciji. Posavski Obzornik: Časopis za pokrajino Posavje, br. 26, p. 4.
- Nixi studio. 2025. https://nixistudio.myportfolio.com/
- S.R. (2024, October 8). Mlada sevniška umetnica navdušuje s steklom in keramiko. Posavski Obzornik (Kultura).
- Tomšić, T. (2025, January). BOŽIČNI BUTIK umetnin, vina in unikatnih izdelkov. Grajske novice – glasilo za območje občine Sevnica br. 206, p. 9.
- Zagreb Design Week. (2025, September 9-21). Nika Šantej: Res Vertere. Zagreb Design Week 2025 (ZGDW Award, Produkt dizajn).
