The issue opens with Pavel Ulyanov’s story about his namesake, the Danish designer Poul Kjaerholm. «Kjaerholm’s design is based on a deep sense of material and sincere intention to show its visual characteristics. One day, Poul said: „I express the nature of the material rather than myself“. One of his fundamental decisions was to use spring steel, extremely durable and flexible, being able to react to changes in weight. Kjaerholm handled steel accurately and carefully, in the best traditions of wood processing, so that its dim surface and chrome elements could reflect the smallest change of the incident light».
Further on, our permanent contributor Olga Severina interviewed the world star of graphic design Lex Drewinsky: «If we talk about its graphic part, a poster is a metaphor as such. I always proceed from a metaphor, that comes almost immediately. I do think in general, that all art altogether, well, at least the art interesting to me, is all one big metaphor». Projector has published a dozen posters by the artist.
«Lettering» section is dedicated to the famous book by D.A.Pisarevsky «Types and their construction», published in the 1920s. Andrey Kharshak, the author of the article, refers to the archive documents which are being published for the first time: «There’s a photo kept in our family archives, which was taken on September 23, 1924 — the day when one of the most severe floods in the entire history of St.Petersburg occured. Three of the seven people in the photo belong to the creators of the book They are Hollerbach, Beluga and Ohochinsky. And on the reverse side of the photograph there’s the emblem of the Leningrad society of bibliophiles drawn by Sergei Chekhonine, whose exquisite type compositions are also featured in the book».
Continuing the series of articles on the prominent objects created by designers in cooperation with the Finnish company Martela, today we’re sharing the Skybar chair. Anna Kozhara, the author of the article: «Its volumetric seat and backrest gently flow one into another, ultimately thinning at the junction. The neutral base of the chair allows this combination of the opposites to almost float in the air».
This issue has a lot of interviews. One of them was exclusively done for Projector: Dmitry Loginov, the designer, told Aurika Vilardi about concepts, exhibitions, public relations, scandals and provocations. It was quite a honest talk.
Section #5 «Environment» is quite extensive. The editorial board have spotted several stories they immediately wanted to share. One of them is about a big black ball, or the Project O. «We encountered the large black inflatable ball at the presentation of the next issue of The Project Baltia magazine: the installation by young Estonian designers almost buried the Projector editor-in-chief under itself. A witty and multi-valued work provoked interaction, and the guests were passionately kicking the ball in the courtyard of the Museum of Urban Sculpture. Projector heartily thanks Volodya Frolov, the editor-in-chie of The Project Baltia for taking such a wonderful object and its authors to our place!
«Environment» closes with the publication of the work by probably one of the most popular graphic artists among all architects — Maurits Cornelis Escher. Here’s the text by Alexey Boyko, as usual artistic and insightful: «Maurits Cornelis Escher didn’t think much of his names, reducing them to initials: M.C. Escher, which was brief, clear and brand. In general, he was able to decisively show preferences, interests and intentions in the field of art, as if suppressing creative doubts and the burden of his weak body by uncommon artistic mind. His purposeful focus on rigorous, painstaking embodiment of the visions, and visually-mental games unites the Dutch artist, famous in in the mid-twentieth century, with the engravers of the late Gothic period and the Northern Renaissance».
Anna Kozhara seems to have captured section «Photography», featuring photographers from issue to issue. This time, she has interviewed Nick Teplov, a longtime friend of Projector. «Nick Teplov is a graphic designer, artist, filmmaker, but not a professional photographer. At least, that’s what he says. He considers photography not as a craft or art, but a means of visual thinking, and the material for the follow-up work, sketches and documentation».
Section #8 «School» this time shares not very student works. Sergey Helmyanov scrutinizes the examples of cult (oh, I do not like this word, but otherwise I can’t convey he idea) design by graduates of the Stieglitz Academy. Among them, there’s UAZ-469, the minibus RAF, GAZ-24 Volga, VAZ 2121 Niva, GAZ-14 Chaika, the hydrofoil Meteor, the camera LOMO Compact and other objects, which convincingly prove that the USSR did have design!
The historical publication of section #9 «Books» is dedicated to the alliance October, established in 1928. Our permanent contributer Mikhail Karasik: «This is a constructivist manifesto of those creating industrial society. The word is graphically articulated by the simplest and most efficient means of the time — typesets and ornaments. The designer, typesetter and proofreader, emphasise the point with different type sizes and bold. Printing in two colors, black and red, not only provides more opportunities for layout, but also makes the issue sound a way more agitationally. Saturation and energy of the set are the main tools to accentuate the visual content».
And there’s another double interview in the book section. Margarita Vasilyeva and Andrey Nadein, the founders of the magazine Advertising Ideas, answer the questions of Projector. The magazine continues to explore the recent history of design periodicals in Russia over the past twenty years. Advertising Ideas is an example of a remarkable longevity. Established in 1993, it has approached an unthinkable for our professional periodicals serial number ninety!
