Be inspired by Architectural Bureau

Exchange of Architecture and Design

Be inspired by Architectural Bureau

November 10, 2015

Tonight the team of CovetED Magazine would like to share with you about great interview with Oleg Klodt and Anna Agapova from Russia. Anna Agapova is playing a key role in developing the house style of the Oleg Klodt Architectural Bureau for over years. You have a excellent chance to know more about this design bureau.

CovetED Magazine: Being in love with our work is always the key to achieve better results. Are you in love with this job? What do you love the most about being an interior designer?

Oleg Klodt: Yes, of course, I love my work a lot. There’s not an aspect of my work I could pick out as being closer to my heart than others – I like everything I do! I’m a perfectionist, so I believe that everything we do has to be done with the best of our abilities – and this means my work demands my utmost concentration. It would be hard to stay like that for long, if it were not my love for my work. A big part of my work involves meeting people – in fact I think every architect or designer is a psychologist too, in some ways. That’s another thing I like about my work.

Exchange of Architecture and Design

Anna Agapova:

I really enjoy planning and creating spaces. I can quickly visualize how an interior will look, long before we’ve even begun planning it on paper. I think I must be an explorer at heart! That must be why I’m so engrossed in my permanent and ongoing search for new objects and new materials – particular when that work involves textiles and fabrics. And of course, it’s wonderful to see the results, when we get the pictures back from our 3D team – with visualizations of how the space will finally look.

See also – SHOPPING WITH LOUIS VUITTON IS ADVENTURE

CovetED Magazine: Do you have a favorite project, or a favorite story about one of your projects?

Oleg Klodt:

One of my favorite stories, which I’ve been telling everyone about for ages, is about something which happened in the early years of my career. I’d just finished university, and set up my architectural bureau. We were doing low-budget projects which involved a lot of plywood as a finishing material and making a lot of the rest of the other details ourselves – because back then, there wasn’t much design to speak of in Russia. That was when my first client approached me. She said “Hello! I don’t really like everything you do, but somehow there’s something in it. I want to work with you!”. And that’s how my first serious project for a country house commission began.

Exchange of Architecture and Design

Anna Agapova:

I have two favorite projects, and many things which are connected with relations with clients. We did a house recently, for real design-lovers. I really felt my own level as a designer rising as we worked on that project, and I studied a whole design epoch. The client is deeply involved in art, which led into a full-scale collaboration that produced amazing results. I put a lot of my own soul into the project, and so I particularly loved it. Right now I have another client of the same kind, so I know for sure that the results will be very interesting!

See also – ACCESSORY, CLOTHING AND MUCH MORE AT NORDSTORM

CovetED Magazine: How important do you believe it is to have the perfect chemistry between you and your clients in order to achieve the best results?

Oleg Klodt: We have a very special relationship with our clients. One of the most important and central aspects of our philosophy is the idea that space in the project should reflect the character of its owner – and definitely not of the designer. After all, they are the person who is going to live there.

Exchange of Architecture and Design

Any project for us is a collaboration with the client. And of course, the relationship with the client is a vitally important element in such an approach – especially their trust. Our experience has been that projects become more interesting if we work with the same client two, or even three times. The trust established during the first project is carried through into the others – everyone knows what to expect from the others, and the projects become more daring, with lots of interesting solutions.

Anna Agapova: I completely agree! Sometimes you hear the idea that designers shouldn’t listen to the client, and should instead be insistent and categorical in their decisions. But that’s just nonsense. We discuss everything with clients, and we get our excellent results as a result of compromise, rather than intransigence. The interior design is the soul of their house, and if you don’t have a feeling for the client, you can’t design the right interior for them.

CovetED Magazine: Do you think working with teams in interior design is better or worse than working alone? Why?

Anna Agapova: That’s a very tough question! We have forty projects on the go at the moment, and we’d never manage that kind of number without a solid team! On top of that, the team has to work perfectly. That’s hard to achieve, because even when working within the corporate brand, every individual wants to achieve their own individual creativity. Creative people are all brimming full of ideas, and we don’t have the right to quash their individuality. Even so, we find a way to harness their creativity – with a collective mindset, teamwork can produce superb results.

CovetED Magazine: Keep up to date on all the trends is essential for anyone who wants to conquer this market. In what ways do you keep current with new trends?

Oleg Klodt: Well, it’s not only the local market we have to keep up with – we’re in constant touch with our partners worldwide, we make visits to make visits to events and design talks in the design and architecture industries in London, Paris, Milan, and in Belgium. We’re currently planning to expand our activities to the USA. We are a member of SBID (the Society of British and International Design), and that also helps in communicating with our industry colleagues, and to participate in awards. Professional communication is hugely important in understanding what’s going on, and sharing news. We run a massive magazine library from all over the world.

CovetED Magazine: Can you describe your work style? Do you have any kind “signatures” that help to identify your projects?

Oleg Klodt:

There’s no specific style in which we work. We try to design stylistically different interiors, inspired by client’s image and lifestyle. Even so, despite their differences, each of our projects retains elements of our house style – slightly restrained, with a sense of nobility and good taste. You could call that approach our ‘signature’, if you like.

Anna Agapova:

We create contemporary innovative interiors using the latest technology for the finishes, details, and textures. When speaking about style, it would be hard to pigeonhole our work as being anything too specific. Everything is reinvented and evolving. Who knows what the future will call today’s design trends?

CovetED Magazine: All artists need some inspiration to work, and interior designers and architects are artists too. So, what or who really inspires you?

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Oleg Klodt:

My direct inspiration in what I design is from what I see – complete examples of architecture, for example. London is a great inspiration for me. I also have a great passion for Italy – the diversity of everything there is astonishing! The way architecture adapts to the landscape…  each separate village or town is laid-out in its own individual way, every location has its own recognizable appearance. And don’t get me started on the wonderful food and wine!

Anna Agapova:

I’m also inspired by travel… but more in a spiritual way, travel helps to nourish my own inner resources. People are a big stimulus for work, too! During our most recent trips to London and Paris, where we were in contact with artistic people… I saw so many opportunities. They are true masters, working with astonishing technologies – the amazing things that we could create, that really inspires me onwards!

Exchange of Architecture and Design

CovetED Magazine will publish and provide you with more exclusive interviews from the top great designers nowadays. Stay with us!

Source – Unique Blog