25 years of sharing the design culture in Russia
A look at the state of contemporary art in Russia, where Interior + Design has been influencing the tastes and choices of professionals and passionate creatives for the last 25 years, throwing open the doors of the Russian market to the masters of modern design.
Natalia Timasheva – editor in chief of the Russian magazine Interior + Design – has taken an encompassing leap over more than 20 years, which seem to have passed in the blink of an eye – to report on the state of contemporary design. Just think back to when Britney Spears’ songs were playing on the radio (which could also be saved to an iPod for the first time), while the Pantone Color Institute named the blood-red True Red the colour of the year. Design during the 2000s was driven by the energy of the multinationals – says Timasheva, but 2020s design is founded on craftsmanship, local production and the conservation of resources, particularly in regard to the environment and our health.
We have discovered that we can live with less. More and more people are looking for functional objects and thus design is leveraging technology rather than lofty dreams. Technology is also what makes our homes independent of the rest of the world, and it helps us turn them into flexible and adaptable spaces, where we can study, work and cook. When it comes to it, we would all rather not spend our lives in the office and work at home more.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the magazine, a panoply of protagonists discuss their views of the design world of today: “It has become clear just how important the places we live in are. Over the next 25 years, we will rediscover the importance of safety, of beauty, of comfort in our homes and this will again raise questions on the quality of the furnishing and the design objects with which we fill them,” said Maria Porro, while Claudio Feltrin stressed that “predictions for the next 25 years are for ongoing growth in the design sector. We will see people’s sensitivity towards and receptivity of design grow year on year, while high quality design will become steadily more accessible, all over the world.” Their contributions are followed by those of designers Ron Arad, Philippe Starck, Alfredo Häberli, Patricia Urquiola, Sam Baron, Rossana Orlandi, Bjarke Ingels, Antonio Citterio, Jasper Morrison, Vincenzo De Cotiis, Oki Sato, Elisa Ossino, Karim Rashid, Kengo Kuma, India Mahdavi, Todd Merrill and Pavel Abramov, as well as Alexandra Sankova, Natalia Loginova, Eduard Zabuga, Paul Cocksedge, Errol van de Werdt, Ma Yansong and Junya Ishigami, reconstructing the magazine’s trajectory over the last twenty-plus years.
The following pages feature novel photographic “postcards” from contributors to Interior + Design, new addresses (and names) of places to trawl for original pieces and, particularly, a wide selection of houses to dream about. This issue ends with a focus on both the iconic and the debut products from European design firms: Boffi, Poliform, Asko, Valcucine, Scavolini, Leicht Liebherr, Antoniolupi, Hansgrohe, Grohe, LG, Artceram, Cea, Tece and Roca.
Credits
Video: Michele Foti
Original Text: Natalia Igorevna Timasheva
Photo: Michele Foti
Magazine: Interior+Design
Published by: LLC Forward Media Group
