I keep testing the changes in the layout, and trying out Mr.Palkerson typeface in different sizes. The cover appeared, as always, at the very last minute. Sending the issue to the press, I was so inspired by its running number that I thought it would be dope to place a full-length «26» onto the cover. And yes, I wanted a rave of color, so that I could look at the cover for a while, then close my eyes and enjoy the inverted afterimage.
Project #1 «Personification» continues Pavel Ulyanov’s talk about the great Italians of the XX century. Today’s issue is dedicated to Carlo Molino. «Molino was enchanted by immortality, thinking art was the key to it. 2000 erotic photos made by Molina on his Polaroid were found after his death. He would always admire the beauty of a woman’s body, the smooth curves of which can be often seen in the furniture he designed. Carlo Molino is still one of the most mysterious legends of the XX century. Historians and collectors are greatly interested in his heritage. The desk he created in 1949 was sold at Christie’s for $3.8 million in 2005, which set up a new record price for a XX century piece of furniture».
Jonathan Barnbrook, a graphic artist from Britain, has visited St.Petersburg. I could not miss an opportunity of an interview him, so we talked before he showed his works in the Hermitage: «There is always a shade of fashion on graphic design. I would never work only to get into a timely trend. I do my job because I contribute some intelligent content into my projects. I believe it’s important not only to be thinking of how to implement a project but continuously ask yourself why exactly you’re acting like this. This is not likely to answer a question about the future, but this is about the private future. I am quite concerned that we are getting too obsessed with money. I dream of a wide range of challenging projects for designers. Working just for money is too boring».
Long ago I wanted to make a publication about Erken Kagarov. «The 1980s. A handful of experts who refuse decorations and believe in design. The 1990s. Confusion and vacilitation. Criminals and lay people make the experts create something rich and beautiful. Everyone is a designer, from an IT specialist to an engineer. The 2000s. We’ve set the wheels in motion. We’re able to earn money with the job; branding brings more than design, so everyone is into branding. And right now everything is gradually getting better. I mean, it’s getting normal — as everywhere else in the world».
Some time ago I was scrolling the feed on Facebook and noticed a photo of Yuri Gulitov looking out from behind a Parisian light box with a typo poster he designed. So what’s the new case with the a popular typeface made a long ago? In project #3 «Lettering», Yuri Gulitov is telling how his Calligraphy invaded the street advertising in Paris.
Next comes Object, where Pavel Ulyanov shares another item of his collection —the armchair by George Nakashima. «I first saw this chair in a private collection in Holland. It was on display with the most valuable exhibits, but anyway stood out even against that background. Its Japanese origin was distinctly clear. The wood and the woodwork were just perfect. The walnut blocks of incredibly beautiful texture assembled a polyhedron in cross-section, and the side face bevels looked like the pointing of a samurai’s katana. That was George Nakashima’s masterpiece — Conoid chair of 1947».
For «Environment» section, Maria Elkina has had an interview with the architect Totan Kuzembaev. Totan’s woodworks are amazing. I don’t know anyone else on the architectural scene of Russia, so skillfully combining traditional material and the burning issues in architecture. «Wood seems to be bounding a designer, but in fact it never does. You can curve wood same as concrete. Those who don’t like wood like to say it easily burns, but it’s not so true. Nothing is going to burn with proper engineering systems. This is just the question of how thorough and professional the plan and its implementation are».
In project #8 «School», Sergey Helmyanov shares some facts about «space design», i.e. the tools which are used in space. They were designed at St.Petersburg Stieglitz Academy of Art and Design «…by its students and teachers, and Science Research Council employees — over the past 15 years of collaboration with the Rocket Space Corporation we have conducted a great deal of research and projects. We have been doing routine tasks, studying prospective fields, we got a tremendous experience and had a number of implemented projects. The archives of the design faculty at Stieglitz School still carefully keep the models and prototypes of every station and instrument for the astronauts’ work outside the spacecraft. All of them illustrate this article».
Next, there is another «scholar» but a very professional graduation project of Oxana Paley for the «Territory» festival. Oksana and her curator Lonid Slavin: «After the customer approved the concept, the diploma project changed the status and became a real commission. I defended it in late June, and the festival was held in October. After that, I was offered to keep working for the festival after my graduation: design all the print and souvenirs within the general concept of the festival within precise detail. For me, it was crucial to implement the project entirely the way I saw it — from A to Z».
Mikhail Karasik keeps sharing the stories about the masterpieces of book design of the 1920s to 1930s. This issue is dedicated to IzoStat: «There is no such a club or a library or a sсhool where people would not be making and displaying diagrams. Showcases, brandmauers, and even entire squares were decorated with diagrams for every national festival and anniversary. By the end of the 1920s, the old methods of statistical diagrams such as curves, columns, circles, or any other image lacking class and political consciousness had become unable to achieve the goal of popularizing the statistics, so there was a call for a more direct and convincing graphic system».
The ninth issue of AboutArt in Projector is entirely dedicated to counting creative spaces of St.Petersburg. Danila Shiryaev, the author of the project, and Mikhail Grigoriev, photographer, started this serial last autumn. So far, they have visited 10 creative spaces which influence the cultural landscape of St.Petersburg pretty much. It’s no secret that Loft Project Etagi was the pioneer of this movement. For the three happy and busy years it housed our editorial board. Many of today’s startups take the concept of Etagi as a basis. In this column, we still haven’t mentioned the Architect in Millionnaya street, Treugolnik on the embankment of the Bypass canal, and several more interesting locations, which means next issue is to continue this counting.
