Perspectives from Gallerists. Interview with Vanja Bazdulj from House on Mars

Upon asking Vanja Bazdulj to share her profound view on what defines a contemporary jewellery gallery, her response is unequivocal. For the founder of House on Mars since 2020, it is about supporting, celebrating, showing, and promoting contemporary artists and designers. With a keen eye for collecting, she not only gathers pieces but also strives to share her passion with a wider audience, making it her modus operandi.

Based online only, House on Mars does pop-up exhibitions and has participated in the Collect Art Fair since 2020, receiving the 'Outstanding Display' award in 2022.

Her approach is inclusive, embracing artists she admires. Sometimes, it's not the work; sometimes, it's the person behind the work that resonates with her. Each piece holds a personal connection, not necessarily items she would wear, but ones she understands where they are coming from and wants to promote them.


Gallery Space. Photo by Ceri Davies


Very much inspired while working in a Special Projects office at a Faculty of Arts in London, Vanja was employed as an architect (while running her own design studio) and worked on exhibition design, curating, and events… She had the pleasure of observing, learning about, and experiencing firsthand many processes and materials being moulded into beautiful pieces.

From textiles, silversmithing, and jewellery to furniture design and more, she developed an appreciation and a bit of an obsession with them. Gathering objects from the Design department, specifically for various exhibitions, was her first step towards promoting art and design pieces. She has always been interested in innovation and conceptual ideas in materials, and a university environment is the best place for the flair for experimentalism found in many of the pieces exhibited in her House on Mars. 


Which artists and/or pieces have particularly marked you in discovering contemporary jewellery?
All of them in some specific way. But there was a project at the University where I worked, a silversmithing and jewellery collection, that really got me hooked; it was about instruments for tending to the sick, a collection of ‘tools’ to use to say sip water or clean yourself made from silver and sea sponges… I sadly forgot the name of the student. But this was so beautifully crafted and obscure for me at that time, that was over 10 years ago… that I started thinking about these wonderful ideas and creations that are so innovative and unique, we need to share them. These are luxuries and thought-provoking.


How would you describe the artist-gallerist relationship, and what roles do each play for those who want to know more? 
I am sure this must be very much dependent on the gallery. I don't really run a tight ship. I work on an honour system and with artists and designers with whom I can also get along on a personal level. We are all very different, and I guess with a gallery, you have the luxury of choosing. I am flexible, and they must be too. I have so far worked with the most pleasant and smart group of people that I care about, and I feel a responsibility towards them to show their work well and with respect.

Depending on how much time I have, but with some of them I will work on gallery specific projects, say like the prolific textile artist Anna Ray. She is absolutely not a jeweller. But her work is so immersive and inviting that I wanted to have it on a scale that I could use to put on my body and touch. And so, I asked her to create pieces to be worn (but they can also be hung on a wall as decoration). There have been a few projects like that that are quite fun.


Weave by Anna Ray, 2020. Winner of the 2021 Brookfield Properties Crafts Council Collection Award.


How do you expect an artist to approach your gallery to be represented by you?
We have artists writing to us regularly, and that's a fine way to do it. I don't think I ever took someone that way, but it's not impossible, I'm sure. I normally seek them out at end-of-year shows (universities), through other artists, and at exhibitions.


On the other side, can you tell us about your clientele? Could you let me know what type of people you are targeting and who is interested in your choice? Does it happen that customers buy something purely for investment? 
The clientele are not ‘regular’ people. Knowing how to appreciate these kinds of pieces requires knowledge and, I suppose, obsession. They are mostly collectors, curators, museum curators, artists, or design professionals.

I am trying to target a wider range of clientele also with smaller-scale pieces that are also in a lower price range. This is turning out to be a slow process. With a few pop-ups I have had recently, most people didn't even recognise what the work was. Is it a brooch or a sculpture? What are you supposed to do with it? So I do hope to educate a bit… but those are happy accidents if they happen.
House on Mars's selection is experimental and playful, and so we are niche. I am sure they have made a couple of investment purchases. But mostly, they come to explore, try, and see something new. I mean, trying to establish an appreciation for non-precious material works is, as you can imagine, hard.

Another thing we are facing in our modern world is oversaturation with bad cheap items, just swallowing endless amounts of things and stuff. It is a world suffocating in overproduction and consumerism of cheap goods as the meaning of life… so … on a philosophical level, our mission is even more important. Trying to educate about quality, meaningful purchases and professional artists.


As a gallery without a physical and static point of sale, I find it important to share John Martin's observation in the New York Times in 2018: 'Collectors aren't going to galleries anymore; they're going to art fairs.'  What do you think about this? 
That is absolutely my experience, we are not a ‘walk in off the street’ type ‘show’. So the flexibility of going to fairs, for me, is ideal. It makes absolute sense in the super oversaturated world, to now more than ever, select, curate, purge and help people find real works of art. Especially for us as a fairly new gallery, we need to be able to reach out to the right people, and I think established fairs are indeed the best place for that.


In today's context, virtual space serves as a place of exhibition.
You presented the virtual exhibition Unordinary Characters during Munich Jewellery Week 2023. What is your opinion on the digitisation of exhibition methods? Are people more open to discovering a piece virtually?
Online fairs are a decent PR campaign, but they aren't a good way to show this kind of work. Our pieces need to be seen, touched, worn, and experienced. Their impact is on the ‘live’. I don't think it does much for the work itself. In our experience, it did not yield more online sales from new customers.


Unordinary Characters poster. Photographer: Ceri Davies and Stylist: Katie Phillips


How do you value the experience of putting on sale pieces at Klimt02?
For House on Mars, it has been a very good experience expanding our clientele. We are still fairly new in the gallery world, so being present on this platform is so well appreciated among those who understand the work. It is great!


After three years of curating and presenting your gallery in various contexts, what do you think can be improved in the contemporary jewellery art world, particularly in relation to the art market?
I think we need even more curation, even more selection… trying to keep the quality high and not the numbers. Again, I am being tormented by the sheer volume of the new new new things popping up constantly, and I think there should be space for old as well. Things that have to be seen more than just one time should be appreciated, too. Giving artists and designers time to work on their concepts and skills.

I also think fairs need to really support galleries. And we have received a lot of ‘love’ in the UK and from the Crafts Council England - Collect art fair, where we started. I really felt that they were excited about a new gallery popping up on the scene, as I can imagine it might just be a dying art. It takes an incredible amount of passion, time, love, investment, to make it work. So we do need and appreciate the support when we get it!

I am sure we could benefit from a few more jewellery collections in museums around the world!


Could you share some of the highlight events planned for House on Mars in the upcoming year?
First up is the Slovenian Jewellery Week in May 2024. We will also have a pop-up at the end of the year locally, here in Ljubljana. And our goal is to next year try and get to Frame in Munich, wich this year we sadly had to miss.


Collect 2022 display


Collect 2022 display. Photographer: Maria Psillos