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Milena
(6 posts)
Written August 30 2011
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On The Frontier of Eco-Luxury An alumnus of Carnegie Mellon and Wake Forest Universities, Milena Cvijanovich’s career has always been driven by her passion for sustainable luxury and social responsibility. Over the course of the past 18 years she has built MCM Designstudio, her architecture and design firm, into a multi-faceted company with international projects. With its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland and her trusted back office in Poland, the company employs up to fifteen staff members around the world. The focus on luxury and sustainability in design and architecture has been the platform for its projects in the residential and commercial market including work on EMEA headquarters for such large U.S. based corporations as Autodesk, Logitech, Sales Force and Johnson & Johnson. With its roots in Switzerland, MCM has also designed for the world-famous Swiss Watch industry, creating a living museum/workshop for Blancpain and a breathtaking, and energy efficient, headquarters for Rama Swiss Watch.
After more than a decade of participating in the advancement of sustainable technologies, MCM Designstudio continues to be involved in innovative projects in the industry. The company’s latest projects include a luxury 180m long avant-garde eco-friendly boat design, and a sustainable luxury camping concept for extreme conditions.
The company’s direction towards sustainable luxury and Milena’s support of social equality, particularly for working women in underdeveloped countries, has also lead to the creation of Ethnosphere, a social enterprise that supports the symbiotic relationship between consumer, producer and the environment. Operating under a Fair Trade charter, Ethnosphere will act as an advocate of eco-luxury living by assisting in the development and distribution of authentic cultural designs, promoting socio-environmental awareness and equality and delivering high-end luxury products to the world market.
In addition to heading up an international firm and a non-profit organization, Milena makes time to actively participate in several women’s groups and charity organizations such as Friends of Humanity. She is also the godmother of an association in Cameroon for young mothers in distress. Through her work she is an active advocate and supporter of women’s issues around the globe.
Milena resides in her native Switzerland with her husband and business partner of 20 years. Her husband, Denis Muller, an avid wine collector and 5-star chef, serves as Co-founder and Director of MCM Designstudio as well as running the finances of Ethnosphere. Their eighteen-year-old son is in his last year of high school and will obtain the International Baccalaureate diploma. He intends to do a sabbatical year working with a humanitarian organization to build homes and schools before going on to University studies in architecture, film or design. |
