LAB #4(43) 2008

LAB interview _

of furniture are doomed to extinction? Don’t you think that such a point of view is some kind of stagnation? Yes, I am afraid that trendy objects will be of interest for a short period of time only. I have been working for quite a long time, and I man- aged to notice quite a large number of tenden- cies in design, but unfortunately only a few of those tendencies have remained interesting until now. It is absolutely thoughtless to produce ultra-fashionable goods. Today they are on the peak of their popularity, and tomorrow they will be thrown to the dumping ground. People need to feel stable, secure and protected, therefore the task of a designer is to offer them something they could settle on, instead of throwing new fashionable trends at them all the time. Does the fate of an object depend on the name of its author? Yes, definitely, the designer’s name plays a certain role, but it is not only important factor. In order for the object to be always of interest, the object has to be of high quality. The name of the manufacturer is far more important. He should be connected to interesting history and culture of design. A lot depends on how efficient the PR campaign of the product is. Design of the object is one of the elements of success, but not the most important one. When the designer’s name is known better, than the manufacturer’s name, the product will not be successful. The best is when both names are equally important. And if

In 1970 you founded your own interior and de- sign studio. Was it because you felt a necessity to change the situation in the field of design? Or did you have some other reasons? The thing is that for a long period of time I worked on interiors, my task was to fit products of other designers into the space. Then I started watching what exactly is lacking on the designer market, I wanted to fill this niche with goods of my own. This is how I founded my own studio. My first works expressed the spirit of the times, my first objects were of the same nature as pop culture. They were bright and colourful. The pieces of furniture I made at that time looked quite eccentric – they combined orange and pink, black and white, olive and violet. But since the sixties were an epoch of calling all conven- tions in question and accepting pop art and op art, the Beatles and hippies, objects with such a colour scheme did not seem to be shocking. Initially you write a scenario of people’s everyday life, when you create a piece of furniture or design space. You lay in some basic conditions, how a person will sit, lie, what he will be thinking of, when lying comfortably on a bed or a couch. Do you have a specific prototype that you take into consideration or is it a casual client? I always imagine my friends as prototypes. I can assume, what my acquaintances can be talking or thinking about, when they comfortably sit on a couch or an arm-chair. An independent artist can afford not to care about the commercial element that limits his freedom. Can a designer afford such a luxury? What peculiarities of your job interfere with your self-expression? Are you free? To what extend? When I work, I do not think of money. I think about the piece of art I am creating, instead of thinking about the market and market studies. Art is primary for me, the financial element of it is less important; I will take care of that later. I work on an order of some firm or company. I get a specific order and start contemplating how I can design it. There are certain limiting factors. First of all, it is the specific character of the company itself (before I start work with some or other company, I study its style in detail). My main task as a designer is to manage and imple- ment my idea in the best possible way, to create a product that will fit into the general concept of the company. I also have to think about the price of the product. Actually, when I make furniture, I have to have a very clear understanding of whether the manufacturing process will fit into the sales price limit for this object. One should remember that design is first of all an economi- cal process, and one cannot avoid economical limitations here. Such factors as the philosophy of the company that I work for, its specific char- acteristics and the sales price of the object are imposing certain limitations on me. When I met the students of the Academy of Architecture in Yekaterinburg, I tried to commu-

nicate one simple idea to them, «in order to be a successful designer, you have to take specific characteristics of the company you work for into consideration. One should not impose his own vision; study the peculiarities of the company and adapt your work to the preset conditions. At the same time try to maintain your own style». I was lucky in this regard. I managed to find such companies as Ligne Roset, for example, which I do not have to educate on design and which are flexible enough to adapt to me. We just complement each other. In one of your interviews you admitted that you had become a classical author. Such position is much obliging. Your works are used as instructional aids in studying design, and you are not offended by your colleagues’ criticism and opinion. But are there any people who you would be willing to learn from, whose experience is invaluable to you? I cannot agree that criticism is of no impor- tance to me. I participate in various design events, where I present my works. Participating in various exhibitions, I expose my creations to criticism right away. There are many col- leagues in the field of design, whose opinion is important to me, but designers of Bauhaus times have special value for me. I try to create objects that would have importance for longer than just one season, that can live long. Many of the objects I created have already become classical objects of design. Are you certain that new-fashioned trendy pieces

кресло Circo-Solo, COR, Германия

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№4 _ 43 _ 2008