Goran Lelas was a Croatian designer and illustrator expressing creativity in many different ways. He began his long career as a “professional child” the moment he was born, and like any other highly- experienced child, he showed various interests and possessed numerous skills and magical powers.
Graduating in illustration from the University of Design Zagreb in his native Croatia, Lelas first exhibited in Milan in 1985, showing a series of costume designs inspired by the colourful, graphic furniture of Alessandro Mendini and the Memphis design movement. Sculptures for the iconic shoe design house Sergio Rossi and book collaborations with product manufacturer Alberto Alessi in Milan followed. Lelas then came to New York in 2000, to work on costume designs for a Chinese version of the opera Aida. He transformed his toy-designs into a puppet TV show “Na slovo, na slovo”, originally produced in 1963, in Serbia. He is the only designer from the SEE region whose works are permanently exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York – MOMA. Despite those talents, Goran had a great sense of humor and liked to travel the world incognito, letting people believe he was just an amazing multidisciplinary Croatian artist, fashion & theatre designer, illustrator, writer and art director for the Italian Vogue.
