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Interview with Evgeniya Naumova |
Home > Designer Interviews > Evgeniya Naumova |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Evgeniya Naumova (EN) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Evgeniya Naumova by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
EN: In my childhood I wanted to be a dancer, then a lecturer of history in university, but it was not so serious, you see. Growing up, I understood that art is my life, my precious activity, I want to occupy forever. During three years I tried to pass exams to art academy, and finally entered. Now I’m a professional textile designer, trying to do all my best.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
EN: The main activity of my design studio is to create a unique textile for clothes and accessories, which will be able to emphasize an individual stile of their owners. Studio collaborates with fashion designers in order to make clothes from my textile.
FS: What is "design" for you?
EN: Good professional design makes our life better, more interesting, more comfortable. It brings emotions – a very important part of life. It brings art in ordinary life. Good design – good sense, I believe in it.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
EN: I like to design everything connecting with textile – prints for clothes and fashion accessories, textile for interior, exclusive wallpaper.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
EN: Most favorite design from my works?.. I don’t have, I think.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
EN: The first thing for my studio was a collection of tippets and headscarfs “Mosaic fantasy”, which was nominated in this year.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
EN: Now I’m working with digital printing on textile technology. It gives great opportunities for artists. I like natural fabrics, especially silk, but contemporary synthetic fabrics are good too. I work with raster and vector graphic programs, but first of all, I draw by myself.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
EN: I feel it when I travel. New places, landscapes, new people bring me new emotions, and it seems that ideas are born by themselves.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
EN: Beauty and function are the most important, I think. Beauty consists of balanced composition, colors and graphics.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
EN: I feel both “burning” and pleasure.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
EN: It’s a wonderful feeling! It seems, I show a piece of my heart to a world.
FS: What makes a design successful?
EN: I think, both professionalism of designer and his luck. Promotion and good business plan are very important too. Saying about design itself, it should be balance between creativeness, challenge and function.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
EN: Is it balanced? It’s a first question. No matter what is it: furniture, interior, packing, etc. Balance consists of many aspects - composition, color, textures, and functions. Is it contemporary one? It’s a second question. It should be unique and have its own characteristic features; should contain a clear concept. Does it make people feel good and does it make our world better? These aspects are very important too.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
EN: Designer should honestly and carefully work with a truly wish to make our world better. To make it more comfortable, and in the same time, to attract people’s attention to ecological and social objectives. Designer should be like a “light”, it is very important, I think.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
EN: I think, the role of design can’t be overestimated. If your product is not well designed, you have no chance to get a success.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
EN: My last exhibition continues until may 2016 in Art Museum in Petrozavodsk city, Russia. I exhibit there my fiber art work, installation, called “Awaking of a Light”. About the next exhibition, now I can’t say exactly.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
EN: Inspiration comes from different sources: both from travelling and silence, from exhibitions I’ve seen, from books and films. I gather a lot of information, analyze it, think about it and then the ideas are born. I’m always inspired by human’s material culture – from ancient times to present day. For example, ornaments, textile items, jewelry, ancient weapon, architecture and etc.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
EN: My design style is born from my love to graphics, ancient ornaments and art nouveau. Rethinking about all of it, I make something new, something unique. My clothes and accessories should be creativity and functional.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
EN: I live in Russia, country with rich history and cultural heritage. Of course, it affects on me. I admire of our language, mindset, of richness and variety of culture. There are a lot of sources of inspiration: nature, architecture, museums with a great number of unique items of arts and crafts. I make textile for clothes – so, Russian people like rich and bright textile. But it is not easy to do business there and to organize a gainful design studio.
FS: How do you work with companies?
EN: Some companies find me by themselves, some I found by myself. We cooperate for some projects. But for now mostly, I cooperate with independent fashion designers.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
EN: Companies shouldn’t aim only a fast result with minimum cost. Professional work takes time. A good designer makes his work attentively, careful and responsibly.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
EN: After idea is born, I draw it in sketches by hand, and then do all the work on computer. I produce my designs in material in textile manufacture.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
EN: The old Zinger sewing machine, curtains in bedroom, little nice table lamp, wooden handmade round box for tea, handmade cup from Japan.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
EN: I like to sleep in the morning! I’m most active in the evening. But of course, I work all the day. Necessarily, every day I do morning exercise, it helps me wake up at least. With my textile design projects I work in home cabinet. During such working day, I like to go outside, to have a walk, to feel wind, don’t thinking about anything. It helps me take some rest. And coffee is my little weak point.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
EN: I’m a young designer too, working hardly, trying to do all my best. We, young designers, should work more hardly then we can imagine, taking part in many contests, and thinking about promotion too. But! Feeling pleasure o life is really important – every day, every moment! Designer should always watch around, notice different details; should know about events and exhibitions of art and design all over the world, read a lot; and most of all should truly want to do all his or her best making a good product for people.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
EN: Being a designer for me is not a question, but my mission, the main activity of my life. Like all aspects of our life, it has ups and downs, it’s normal.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
EN: I want to make unique items for people’s joy and pleasure.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
EN: Designer must draw well. It means to be skilled in composition, graphic and use of color; to see final composition in mind and to be able to draw it on paper and then realize. All great projects begin from a piece of paper, I think. Realization means practical use – how people will use your product. Designer should think about it firstly. It means, designer not only represenst itself.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
EN: First of all, I take books and put them all around the table. I have a collection of photos and pictures on different themes. I search new visual information, read about chosen theme. Sometime, visual information I choose in process, doesn’t connect with the theme, but finally become very important or even basic.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
EN: Every time I try to do a good plan for a work and follow it. Try to follow it. Because every time, the last period before deadline is most effective…
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
EN: It depends on the object. If it a collection of textile accessories, it takes about 2-3 months. If a one print for dress – about 1-1,5 months.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
EN: To make a thing perfectly suited to a customer.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
EN: For a short while I worked in textile company called “Linum Group”. I worked as a print designer and learned a great number of necessary things about industrial processing, about client’s preferences.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
EN: My clients are mostly common people. But some years ago I made to order hand-painted, decorative plates for international restaurant holding “Ginza Project”. It was not connect with textile, I worked as a decorator.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
EN: If I correctly understood the question, I like to imagine ideas and draw. Maybe, because it is most creative moments?..
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
EN: I want to organize a big design studio, spending there most of my time and creating more beautiful things; I want to organize my own show-room. I want to collaborate with fashion designers, together making collections.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
EN: I develop textile and accessories by myself. But clothes are made in cooperation with fashion designers.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
EN: I like to talk about realized projects, because not realized one needs silence and some secret, doesn’t it?
FS: How can people contact you?
EN: People can contact with me by e-mail address (its written on the page of contacts on my web), by telephone number, by social networks like Facebook or Instagram.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
EN: No, I think. Much has been said, and now lets work!
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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