Vesna Dobričić recalls her first “creations” coming to life through her part-time makeup artist job, which she pursued around her high school studies. Today, she is an adept digital fashion artist, crafting dreamy digital fabrics and engaging her Instagram audience with her ethereal designs and otherworldly filters.
Her niche ascent into this flourishing creative realm is intriguing. Vesna, whose name was borrowed from the Slavic goddess of Spring, kickstarted the design studio Orchidea3D just last year. Since, she has established a large social media following who enjoy her whimsical creativity, which bends the boundaries of physical design and, in contrast to the dominant space-age aesthetics in this space, offers a more effeminate and graceful approach to 3D creation.
GLITCH had the pleasure of tapping into Vesna’s back story, and understanding why she left the makeup brushes for digital software, and dared to forge a career within this new fashion space.
Having dabbled in makeup artistry, Vesna had a sneak peek into the backstage production that props up the fashion industry. She recalls working on editorials, with publications including Harper’s Bazaar and Esquire, which then motivated her transition into studying photography. With a keen interest in analog and experimental photography, Vesna was always driven to create outside of expectation. But it was the pandemic, when galleries and other methods of showcasing her work were abruptly shut down, that Vesna began to explore digital worlds and their capacities, initially as a means of sharing her artwork with new eyes.
“The digital design space gave me a newfound courage to create as I wished”, Vesna recalls. Explicating how she began to design freely, Vesna’ recounts that she was able to grasp 3D skills quite easily. “It felt like I was finally in the right place, where I could just bring to life any vision I had. Being able to materialize my ideas quickly, and without wasting materials or resources, was one of the main reasons why I became hooked with the digital realm”.
Vesna’s background in photography still shapes some of her early creative processes today, “free experimentation is always a fundamental first step”, she tells GLITCH. “In the past, I had spent a lot of time in the photography dark room, playing around with textures and the tangible images I was developing. Today, I still feel like this process of performative testing is key to my creative strategy”.
“Today, with Orchidea 3D, I tend to design the fabrics and the clothing collections separately to the digital environments and landscapes they are backgrounded with. I then work to piece the clothing and their landscapes together, I like to think of it as a creative puzzle, pairing the piece with a mood and an energy reflected in its backgrounding”.
The creative world or Orchidea3D sings to the aesthetics of mythicism and fantasy, and yet Vesna also seeks deep inspiration from the structures and intricacies of the natural world at her fingertips. Vesna’s digital studio sits in a niche space that converges imagined realities of gaming and adventure, with the tangible world and practicality of digital design.
“I am really excited for the future of the digital art space”, Vesna tells GLITCH. “On one level, the use of 3D systems and artificial intelligence is completely rewriting production processes, and I would love to explore through my brand how we can partner with physical creatives to right the wrongs of the fashion world. But also, digital identity is becoming a much more important and curated concept, and digital art is curating some really special communities”.
When asked about the future of her brand, Vesna teases that Orchidea3D may transition into a phygital brand, with the prospect of a physical collection being something that has played on her mind.
For now, Vesna is focused on building her own creative community, and taking on more projects in this evolving space. Just this February passed, she was able to showcase some of her florid violet AR filters at the Izy Studio Digital Fashion party during MFW, where guests socialised, connected and “played” with her digital artwork. Her striking filter headpieces added an aesthetic and underground twist on the photos and content emanating from the party. She has also been working with DressX and Zero10’s platforms, producing garments available for phot-try ons, and which allow users to play dress up as they step into the fairytale pieces and the Orchidea3D portal.
“Digital Fashion is fun!”, Vesna tells us in conclusion. “And right now there are more and more ways to consume it and be a part of the action”.
Written by Hebe Street from GLITCH Magazine
Words by Vesna Dobričić from Orchidea
