Onderhoude met Igor Komov

I'm a graduate of Moscow Architectural Institute, Architectural Environment Design faculty. Thanks to the exceptional quality of design education in MARCHI, it became a launching pad for my career in jewellery design.

For me, design is a kind of bridge between human and the world of perfect aesthetics and elaborate functionality. So when you become a designer you often find yourself looking into that perfect world.

It's completely an act of free will :) Design is a language most suitable for me.

Contemporary jewellery design has expanded the idea of what jewellery should look like. This applies not only to the appearance of jewellery pieces, but the jewellery types of the product themselves were reconsidered. 20 years ago we had rings, earrings, necklaces, brooches and bracelets. Now we have shoulder brooches, ankle bracelets, full finger and knuckle rings and so on. I think that is the organic result of a positive evolution of jewellery design and that is exactly what I'm focused on: reinvention of jewellery product types.

I do not consider myself a design legend at all. My teachers used to say that in order to acquire skill one have to study the legacy of famed masters a lot. Contemporary jewellery design is rather a young discipline but nevertheless it has many renowned names worth studying.

Hours of practice.

The design process consists of necessary stages like formulation of the thesis, research, selection of references, sketching and so on. Really good design comes when a designer does a good job at every stage.

It determines the quality or our life. I mean not only the lifestyle but our being in the broadest sense of the word. Good design makes us more satisfied, more inspired and more peaceful.

Well, I have the time :) currently, I'm improving my skills in assemblage techniques for the new jewellery series.

The status of my projects changes from "dream" to "sketch" and then to "3D-model" very quickly. At present, I'm developing 3 "dreams" at once :)

I study a lot. By "study" I mean investigating historical heritage, modern designers' work and exchanging of experience with my students.

First of all I should mention greatest architects that left their trace in jewellery design: Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Oscar Niemeyer, Ettore Sottsass and others. Then I should mention designers that didn't work in jewellery field (as far as I know) but they shaped XXth century: Philippe Starck, Dieter Rams, Le Corbusier and others.

In jewellery field, we usually overview the whole collection or ever the whole portfolio of a designer rather than a single design. So here are a few of my favourite jewellery designers: Yutaka Minegishi (for his solid and concise forms), Parts of 4 (for the brutalism), Gigi Mariani (for his sense of material), and Heeang Kim and Susanne Elstner (both for the gentle touch of bionics).

Speaking of good design, people often mean something thoughtful, technological and intelligent. From this point of view, I consider the "Industrial" rings to be my best designed work.

Train your attention to see details in everything. 'cause there hides the designer's devil :-)

Become a meditation master probably.

Design is the way to transform wise thinking and marvelous aesthetics into material objects and human experience. This is what enriches our life.

Actually I think that your personal evolution just happens naturally while you continue to learn and practice. It's like a cause and effect.

During the first years of my education and practice my skills of design were badly insufficient to create what I intended to create. I had an image in my head of what an object was to look like but every approach I took produced a result that was far from being desired. That was the time of my really low self-esteem :-)

As wide as possible, I suppose) In XXI century it's a crime not to use social media and other online media, not to share your outcomes.

I dream of implementing electronics into jewellery. This would make possible to create luminous pieces, for example. Also I'm interested of investigating of sound experience.

To inspire people which are getting familiar with my work.

Some amazing works, I suppose :) The next step should be bigger than the previous one.

Design is all around! It's our environment, augmentations of our brains and bodies, it's about every human-created object. It's within our information metabolism. So the impact of design on our society cannot be underestimated.

Ok, let it be a sneak peek. The mix of precious metals and ceramics make me high :)

"Orient" rings sets, "Armour" series and "Industrial" rings, because of the richness of the investigated themes and also because the outcome was exactly as I expected.

I would like to see consumerism exchanged for sustainability. Of course, that's not about the design industry inself, it's about our behaviour and habits.

Technology and ecology, I suppose.

That depends on many things. Some technological issues may extend the timing drastically. Usually, it takes 1-4 months to create a jewellery collection.

The first thing is to articulate the thesis. What is this all about. Then goes the research (it's my favourite part!)

"No compromise"

The spirit of time sets both

Metaphorically speaking, the technology is blood of design. You need technology to chop down the tree and cut a piece of wood, not to mention modern tools and equipment.

A moleskin, a pencil, 3DSMAX, Zbrush.

Those are designer's expression means alongside with proportions, rhythms, textures and form. A part of designer's language.

"Who's that qwesome guy who did this?":-)

A kind of joy. When I see a good designer and his work it's like I'm meeting an old good friend. Somehow we are all connected.

My wife. Yes, co-design is real.

My teachers, I think. They've influenced the methods that I use now.

Mostly the one that I'm reading now: "Design as it is" by Vyacheslav Glazychev.

Design an object. See how it looks. Repeat.

Something like that)

It's a mistake to assume that the fame is like a weather phenomenon. Like it will hit you one day because the stars have aligned. You build your reputation day by day and it's not hard either not simple, it's just a part of your job.

White, my workplace (wherever it is), eggplant rolls with melted cheese, summer, moleskin, Alchemia jewellery :-)

Among my jewellery pieces there are some complicated claw-like rings. A few years ago a stylist grabbed some of them for a photoshooting. When I saw the outcomes, I smiled a lot because a glamourous photomodel was wearing the rings back-to-front.

Every part of the creative process is a huge joy for me, there's no need for additional motivation. Ok, sometimes I drink a small glass of wine.

I guess, it's still not obvious :)

I'm trying to be as positive as I can, so I think we are about to enter the era of prosperity, wise solutions and elimination of all social problems. If the humankind doesn't destroy itself before that, of course.

The fact that I'm consumed with the business of my life helps me to overcome the most devastating obstacles.

For as long as I can remember myself, I was always mad about finely designed objects. It was like a discrete abstract world where stories are told in the language of forms, textures and colors. I've entered Moscow Architectural institute because I knew that its fundamental design education gets the doors to almost every design field opened for its graduates. Some years later I've chosen jewellery design because of its sacred proximity to the human body and the wide range of its artistic means.

Today I occupy the position of Jewellery Design course director at British Higher School of Arts and Design in Moscow as well as the position of art director at "Alchemia" jewellery brand. "Alchemia" is a brand of designers' untraditional jewellery and BHSAD is a place where I structure and share my experience.

A way to get connected with high esthetic qualities and elaborate functionality.

Rings. Because of their sophisticated ergonomics.

It is not created yet :) The journey into design and experience never ends.

Together with my co-author Katerina Komova we transformed ceramic bowls into the ring set. The collection is still being produced, it is called "Chalices".

I widely use 3D-modelling. Manual labor doesn't look friendly to me :)

My mind should be totally calmed down and concentrated when I begin to design something. This state of mind is necessary to achieve your goals accurately.

Most of all I concentrate on accuracy of expression of what I am going to put into a project.

A huge variety of emotions, you know) As every project represents different aesthetics, the design process is filled with different emotional experiences every single time.

Satisfaction mostly.

Speaking of social success, it's the correspondence of a design to the demands (sometimes unconscious) of the audience. But sometimes I notice design masterpieces which were never really popular. And that is a philosophical question, actually: should we name an object "a masterpiece" if it is geniously designed but has never played a significant role in a life of an audience it was designed for.

First of all, an accordance of the result to the initial task.