The cultural heritage of Russia is enormous. Can I talk about it with a picture? It turned out that yes. The artist and designer Yevgenia Miro became the real conductor of Russian culture to the European world Yevgenia Miro graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Incredible range of her creativity is surprising: the artist creates a design for textiles, porcelain, jewelry, ceramics, lamps, furniture. To see the design items of Eugenia Miro was on March 5 at the exhibition-sale in Desing & Decoration Center. Portal etk-fashion.com acted as an information partner of this event. 
Today Evgeniya Miro told Roomble about hernew projects, about the peculiarities of working with different companies and how you can show a whole story using a drawing. - - Eugene, at the exhibition-sale on March 5, a lot of design items were presented. Tell us about some of them. - - Not so long ago I created an art project - this is a staircase lamp called "Eternity of the Path", which can be both floor and table. None of the designers had anything like this, so it would be very interesting to launch this project into production. I also collaborated with the French Granville Gallery in Paris, which invited 25 French designers to create an object design based on the Secret Box theme. For me, the main secret in the world is the human soul, and I really wanted to reflect this in my work. At first there was an idea to make a sculpture out of a single glass, but in France it would be very difficult to order it in production. Therefore, all the work was done by hand. The result is a sculpture called "Angel's Wing", it is a sphere in which there is a feather that symbolizes the human soul. Another project of mine is a panel lamp that can withstand daylight, and in the evening it works as a source of soft lighting. - - You are known for your collaboration with the House of Hermès. How did it start? - - My first meeting with the House of Hermès took place in England - I left for London after graduating from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. One of my friends, musician Yura Stepanov, said: "Zhenya, you are a real treasure, let's go!" This is how we got to the Mikimoto company. At Mikimoto, we had a meeting with the vice president of the company, Mr. Takahashi. We were very lucky that he was in the boutique at this time. Mr. Takahashi liked my work, we talked for an hour and a half. He asked me if I could design for 100 shawls? I really do not like to repeat myself, so I refused. In the end, we agreed that I would create a design for ten scarves. Hermès representatives saw my work later, and I even received a letter of recommendation, which, unfortunately, was lost. Three years after these events, I ended up in Moscow on business (at that time I lived in St. Petersburg, then in London). When I arrived in the capital, we walked with friends, went to the Hermès boutique and I told this story. That is how I met Irina Vasilyevna Pedko, the first art director of the Hermès boutique in the capital. She also liked my work, and soon they told me to wait for the call. A year later, I ended up in Moscow again. And suddenly a call: come urgently to the boutique. A wonderful meeting took place, at which the French looked at my work and immediately invited me to come to Paris. In June, Irina Vasilievna and I went to the capital of France. - - What was the very first assignment from the House of Hermès? - - I really wanted to show all the versatility of the cultural heritage of Russia. My work was seen by Pierre-Alexis Dumas, head of the House of Hermès. Our meeting lasted 2.5 hours, a very long time by European standards. I was asked to come the next day, and then I was already painting in the studio. As a result, I received directions for 15 designs in three departments (scarves, bracelets, porcelain). Of course, there were some difficulties - I have never drawn dishes and jewelry. And the scarves are definitely mine. 
- - Each scarf is made in several colors.Primary colors are set by the House of Hermès or the artist? - - Yes, each scarf is presented in eight colors, this is their feature. House Hermès has the right to change colors, as the artist completely transfers the copyright. By the way, each design is created only by hand and handed over on paper. Every stroke is drawn! Therefore, Hermès shawls in painting are created from two to six months. On average, this is 2-3 months of serious work. The designer has certain rights - for example, he can suggest different names for the scarf. In addition, it is important to find a beautiful image of the typeface, and where exactly in the design of the scarf the name of the House will appear. For example, there is a scarf "Zabavushka", where children play with blocks, and it is from them that the name of the company is formed. Each scarf has a designer's signature. The scarf is being prepared for production for about two years - the image is scanned, transferred by hand, a cliché is developed for each color. This ensures an accurate match - color to color. The House of Hermès has a very high level of production, style, culture, so every design developed by the House is a work of art. 
- - Can you say that cooperation withDid Hermès have a huge impact on your entire professional career in the future? - - Yes, for me it was a very significant professional moment. When the design for the House of Hermès is created, serious work is done on every millimeter, and this becomes your professional trait for life. The level of work on projects in this House is very high. Therefore, I am very grateful for the experience I received. It was after working with the House of Hermès that I got to the Maison & Objet exhibition, where I met the presidents of other companies. - - Evgeniya, you also designed tableware for the House of Hermès? - - Yes. The task sounded very difficult and unusual - it was necessary to express the theme of Diaghilev's theatrical seasons in the ornaments in a pointless way. It was pretty tricky. I made a dish, and for it - six dessert plates. Before me, no one has done so that the border of the cymbal breaks into its own separate rhythms - this allowed us to create patterning. In general, the Russian soul is characterized by love and passion for rhythm, for decorativeness. When I studied the world culture of symbolism, I realized that the cultural heritage of each country gave the world an individual plasticity and rhythm, which are very clearly expressed in decorative objects. 
- - You cooperate with many Europeancompanies and quite actively talk about Russian culture with the help of design. - - It is very interesting to transform Russian culture into modern design for European brands. For example, I work with the Emaux de Longwy company and have created a ceramic collection where each project was painted by hand. We have released four collections with this company. In collaboration with J.Seignolles, I have created a dessert collection "Parsley", made of porcelain. Moreover, this is not even a dessert collection, but a small table set. An interesting experiment was with the Vassilissa collection for the plumbing company Serdaneli. My task was to make a porcelain part - handles for hot and cold water - with a complex and delicate pattern. But this is only 3 cm. It was necessary to create a beautiful, unusual thing in the Russian style. Not everything was done according to my design, but production is a very complex process. There was a wonderful presentation of this collection in Moscow at the Référence Moskva exhibition, and we found a solution to present my drawings in frames under glass. There was also interesting work for Pierre Frey on the topic of Russian theater. I have developed several projects for him. For Beauvillé I created a design for a collection of tablecloths. Everything was drawn by hand and in full size. When creating the design, it was important to take into account the production moment, since the contacts must go joint to joint. We can say that in some ways it was a routine job. But as our teacher at the academy said: "If an artist does not like dirty work, then he is not an artist." If we talk about the future, then I want to deal with the world of glass and I would like to make one project that will be associated with Russian culture on a large scale. 
- - You said that you want to make a project,which will be associated with Russian culture on a large scale. Tell us more about this. - - At first I would like to collect a lot of different material. I want to note that few designers and fashion designers are really and deeply involved in the topic of Russian culture. One of the brightest representatives is the artist-fashion designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev. For me, this is a person of unique culture, strength, nobility and love for what he does. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich has deep respect for every creative person. 
- - What was the most difficult thing for you in working inEurope? - - At first, the most difficult thing for me was doing work for several companies at the same time. Because when you are simultaneously developing designs for five or six companies, you should be aware that each has its own style and direction. The second important point is the knowledge of how the design for production is created. I definitely studied production - it gives an understanding of how you need to create. There are set production parameters that must be taken into account, but when you create a work of art, you put your soul and love, and this helps a lot in your work. It turns out that we, designers, are very dependent on conditions. However, even with the given parameters, you can create a wonderful thing. It is an important task to find a balance. - - With whom of the Russian manufacturers would you like to work? - - Not so long ago I took part in Andrey Popov's wonderful project "The Peace Shop", during which each artist creates his own image on the bench. And for the opening of the New Jerusalem museum and exhibition complex, I painted a triptych on wooden benches, and one of them was signed by guests - Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill and Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov. Another organization with which I collaborated in Russia is the Desing & Decoration Center. On February 26, I was asked to give a master class. I also do projects with the Lomonosov plant. In addition, I had a meeting with the Pavlovo Posad manufactory, next week I will go to production. I would like to create new collections for Russian brands, to reach the modern level of design. I want to say that Pavlovsky Posad has a good production, they also draw everything by hand, but these are rather complex ornaments. I used to be very busy in France, I came to Russia as a visit. But now I will be here more often. 
- - What do you think, Russian manufacturers inable to pay for work at the same level as European ones? - - I think that you can always agree on exactly what conditions you do your job. One of the options is to go for percentages when creating a design. This is very convenient when the work diverges on a large scale. You can sell your design as an idea. - - Evgenia, did you manage to work in Italy? - - Yes, I worked with Roberto Provasi. They invited me after they found out that I was working for the House of Hermès. I went to their museum, looked at the Provasi style for wood and created tableware in the style of the company. Unfortunately, this project has not yet been implemented, since the collection should be released by the French. By the way, the creation of services is one of the most beautiful themes. I really love the idea of creating a unique design for the family. As a designer, it would be very interesting for me to do this. - - And the production would undertake the fulfillment of private orders, what do you think? - - In fact, it is not difficult to implement such an idea: any porcelain production comes from ten units. I communicate with many presidents of porcelain companies, they know me well in Paris, so making a private order is not a problem. The main thing is to find a beautiful solution to the image and embody it in a certain form. After all, the creation of a design is, first of all, an understanding of style-form-plastic-dynamics. Everything is intertwined. photographer Andrey Berg; evgeniamiro.com
Evgenia Miro and Russian culture for French companies
