About us

DIANA HAJDIN

BEc

"My graduation thesis on motivation and remuneration in hospitality was the result of 12 years of co-managing the La Cantina restaurant, which my family opened 12 years ago. In addition to running the family restaurant, I am also in my second year of the post-graduate program on HR management at the Maribor Faculty of Economics and Business. I am a foodie and a traveler. I share this passion with my partner, so we spend a lot of time on out travels trying traditional, modern and trendy dishes. Food can reveal a lot about a country. This is what inspired the project. It is time we put our environment’s potentials and resources to good use. I believe that working together can get us very far, and that this project could help us build a community open to new challenges."

• +386 41 656 075
• diana@tastingmaribor.com

MAJA KNEZ

BEc

"I am a level 2 sommelier. I come from a wine and fruit growing family, and I developed passion for wine growing and making at a very young age. I also grow and sell walnuts. After graduating, I got a job at the Vinag wine company, where I worked at different positions, as a salesperson in the domestic and foreign markets, sales promoter, retail facilitator in tourism, guide through the cellar, a taster and sommelier. I worked closely with visitors from home and abroad, and learned that Maribor has a lot of potential to become a popular travel destination. Alongside its cultural and historical heritage and tradition, Maribor can also offer abundant local cuisine, a diverse culinary scene, and a lot of knowledge about food and wine. Let’s show foodies what Maribor has to offer!"

• maja@tastingmaribor.com

IGOR UNUK

Curator

“Tasting Maribor photographs are selected from the series Soft HDR Maribor, which has been in the making since 2012. They depict the city during different seasons, in different light conditions and moods, inviting locals to compare internally and showcasing city sights using a non-classic perspective for tourists. The basic concept is street photography with the focus on architecture instead of people. It is a locally upgraded – softened and additionally colour-adjusted – HDR style of photography, which depicts the focus object in detail, adding a note of spatial ambiance using colours. As a curator and photographer, I also expand on classic curator activities with activist, photographic, multimedia and internet projects.

The selected photographs are available as prints on premium art paper in three different sizes at www.unuk.si/shop. You can follow the developing photographic story of our city on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/igorunuk/.

NINA KURNIK

A BA visual artist

Being curious about the visuals all around has been something I just do.  All my life. My first choice to spend afternoons was always something I ended up doing A LOT in my life. I have always had a kind of special relation to colours and compositions, shapes and athmosphere which is given by the whole image. I am revealing my perceptions and also my imaginary world through painting and illustration -  both linking with design and photography. My showcase manners in drawing are charcoal drawings of figures on big formats, watercolor animals and nature.

Graduated of College of Visual Arts Ljubljana. I work as a freelance artist designer, mostly in advertising. Projects like: Ljubljana Fashion Week “on show” illustrations (September, 2016), ’Eliminating Imaginary’ for Pristop advertising Agency (June, 2016), Souprise Tozd Campaign (April, 2016 - nomination for best Illustration in advertising at Slovenian Advertising Festival - SOF) creating the concept and visuals for digital story of Vila Mravljevi (August, 2016) and finally, to illustrating the new covers for Aero Slovenia.

You can follow  me on Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/ninchopgallery/

MATIC LIPOVNIK

Traveller, local guide

I come from a small family in which the most important values are kindness and empathy. That is the reason why I like to gather a lot of different experiences from different people of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. I studied tourism by the beautiful coast of Slovenia at the Faculty for tourist studies – Turistica Portorož. I worked in the mystical lands of Wales, travelled through most of Europe and explored a bit of the northern part of the New world. As a person I am always thirsty for more knowledge, different experiences and mostly new people who willingly share their past lessons from their lifes. To all the people who will come to try all the delicacies this beautiful town has to offer, I solemnly swear to tell all the stories, myths and legends of my hometown to entertain you during. When we travel we expand our horizons so as to not just see black and white, but all the facets of the rainbow.

JERNEJA LOJEN

BA, local guide

I'm a die-hard travel lover with an inability to stay home for long, and a translator in the making, currently wrapping up my translation studies at the University of Graz. I see languages as a key to the world, which is just waiting to be discovered, and a window into that which we would otherwise call foreign. I have a keen interest in different cultures, and my travels have taken me as far as Japan. I also find myself drawn to the British Isles again and again. But I also believe there is nothing quite like coming home, retuning to the same place gain and again no matter how your travels have changed you. Maribor is that home for me, and I would love to share the town and all its charm with everyone who’s willing to open themselves to the experience.