JOURNAL Dubova Svetlana
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Becoming a designer took me quite a long time.
If only a person could open up in the childhood and understand the true inclinations, the true light as my daughter says in her quotes. The idea of developing personal gift and finding the inner designation was covered by many philosophers although it is the way a human being has to do on his/her own.
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Having a great passion for writing, love for literature and history by some ununderstandable circumstances led me not to the journalist profession as I originally wanted but to linguistics: very constrained and restricted by rules area with absolutely no imagina-
tion to use. At the same time it was a fight for the excellence in this field due to the lack of good knowledge of English. Being a warrior inside I didn’t give up and graduated with great results, and was asked to stay at the post-graduate school as I did.
Having studied the languages and cultures I have always admired the architecture of the countries subconsciously taking notes of the beauty created by humans.
can’t just use the ordinary textbooks and the tasks I always created and created. At least here my imagination woke up. Writing a textbook on developing and mastering listening comprehenTeaching experience sion skills was a sucat Moscow State Uni- cesses but feeling of versity showed that I restrictions within the 4
academic community and inability to use the modern techniques of teaching always made me sad.
Having bought a flat in a new block of flats with only external walls and a piece of electric cable coming into a flat made me think of design and space.
Love for decorating things by myself and the study for decorator proffesion also added the value to me as a designer.
Mosaics, murals, decorated furniture, glass, It didn’t take me a ceramics and lamps minute to think that were real adventure. I need to study this area and try to under- I became a designer stand the trends and with the strong feelrequirements. I gave ing of beauty of dÊcor all myself into the and love for classics. study regardless the My interiors were work I had and a baby. sweet and practical. Architectural styles, drawings, materials were a real challenge and the euphoria at the same time. I should honour the architect Morozki for his passion for classic interiors that he passed to me. Classic interior is never out of fashion. It has been the drive for many centuries. 5
My residential design was mainly for the country houses near Moscow. I tried to use as much of my taste in colour and creativity trying different styles and materials, and even cultural backgrounds of the client like in Riga house project. Russian design is quite lucrative. The use of expensive materials and brand furniture is almost always its signature. I felt there was something else apart from furniture, lamps and Swarovski wallpaper.
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RESIDENTIAL DESIGN
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I s r a e l
COMMERCIAL DESIGN
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Living in Israel I discovered that clients would never chase the luxury. Simple, bright and contemporary design was needed. It was the time I started creating simple spaces I wanted. One year in Israel gave me more than all my life in Russia. The colours, the sun, flourishing construction industry with amazing architecture. I was honored to make design for a famous Israeli plastic surgeon. His new clinic Excellence in Rishon Lezion was created to flow into the interior following the opening curves of the walls.
Starting studying at the UAL I expected to find my true inner designer, the passion for creating unbelievable things, crazy creativity and imagination.
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The story of opening began with the hotel room design. The simple rectangular room completely puzzled me. It seemed so simple and so difficult at the same time. I found it quite challenging, thought-provoking to create something special in a small ordinary hotel room. I turned to Russian Constructivism for help, surprisingly for me I never realized I could be its fan. Nevertheless, I have admired it and I feel I can identify with the work of Russian Constructivists. Through creating the project work, I not only learnt how to deal with small spaces, the creative process but also began to think about furniture design. In terms of
UNIT
M u l t i f u n c t i o n a l
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composition I started to experiment with different shapes and materials. The outcome was a multifunctional unit designed for a hotel room performing several functions: wardrobe, kitchen and the working area.
When approaching the hotel corridor design I didn’t have any difficulty with the creative process. It just came up so quickly. My inspiration by mirror maze gave me the idea of the feeling of the space I wanted to create. I enjoyed working with Nara Khalil as it was a group project we understood each other and worked quickly and efficiently. I couldn’t use the suggestions of the tutors to explore the natural light coming from the apertures under the doors. I was interested in artificial lights projections creating the illusion of anxiety and misleading the hotel guests by the reflections in the mirrors.
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HOTEL 12
LOBBIES 13
Doing the Hotel lobbies research I found that their design is something that expresses the hotel identity, its style of living and giving service to the particular clients from the target audience. While Rosewood and The London Edition appeals to luxury guests, Sanderson attracts by its crazy imagination and suits artistic people. Hoxton is very neutral and open to the city. Like no other hotels it gives the feeling that you (guest) are a part of London and not isolated as a tourist or foreigner. In terms of zoning and movement around the lobby I learned how to separate the zones providing guests with com14
fort while dining and socializing when having a drink in a bar or coffee in the waiting area. I was surprised to find out that the working area is never isolated and is within the socializing zones. I was attracted by funny decorations in some of the hotels and extraordinary furniture as well as fascinated by the ornamented ceilings in classic style. I learnt the spacing within the seating groups having measured carefully. I found the project enjoyable and significantly a good learning experience when designing big public spaces.
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Designing my Hotel Lobby I wanted to go bold and create something unexpectedly huge and rough. I researched the constructivists’ works and their fascination by the machinery design and made The Lobby that would work as a machine where all the movement follows the martin furnace principle of operation. It took me quite a long time to understand what part of a machine is the seating group I had to create and I found the cog as a central piece of the design making clusters of seating groups. It represents the following stage of steel works.
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INTEGRATION
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I continued developing my constructivist ideas in the last project. The idea of implementing new activity “global learning� into school extracurricular time-table made me think of how to adjust the space for it. As it involves different intercultural study in different activities: dance, craft, food fairs, festivals and even sport that is more popular in one or another country I
put all my effort into redesigning and revamping the sports hall or assembly hall at John Burns Primary School. First I made a thorough research upon all the design requirements for schools and found as much as possible new easy to fit and use equipment. Bleacher benches, fantastic wall frames were easy to find but to find the stage was an issue. I started do-
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ing different sketch models and invented my stage that is very constructivist transformer. It can easily be transformed into the tables and benches to use for the food fair and crafts. At the same time it can be stored to give the space for sport activities. ME AS A DESIGNER On analyzing my work during the course, I should say that I am happy that I found my inspiration and the true preferences in design. I think I have gained and developed some skills for
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furniture design and found my way in creative process. I see myself as a contemporary designer able to create conceptual interiors with functional use. I am designing furniture and accessories to fit different scale spaces.
but...
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I have Believed as many as 22
It’s only a dream It’s only a dream It’s only a dream
Sometimes
t I ve Changed few Times since then.
Six Impossibe things
Before Breakfast 23
Curiouser and curiouser Curiouser and curiouser
I knew who I was this morning b
I fell in love with textile
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Another part me as a designer is seeking for harmony and beauty. I always wanted to create my own textile patterns and this year I had a great opportunity to learn how to make them at the textile department of the UAL. I have always admired William Morris works and read a book about the Red House describing the whole process of creating dĂŠcor from scratch, just taking inspiration in the nature. His words are the real goal that I would also want to reach. “With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with beauty. If I have succeeded in some small way, if only in one small
corner of the world, amongst the men and women I love, then I shall count myself blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and the work goes on‌� I created my first scarf following Alice in Wonderland theme and some more nice patterns that I hope can be considered as my contribution to the world beauty.
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Another thing that inspires me is crazy creativity. McQueen’s courage just to paint the dress on the catwalk to create the masterpiece is amazing. All his works are crazy and bold. It is what we lack as interior designers when working with clients and adjusting design to their requirements. Taking inspiration everywhere, on the streets of London, in bird nests and in snake skin he teaches us to trust the inner designer and listen to the heart. Hermes magic and the up side down vision of the world gives the feeling of curiosity and hunger for adventure in the world of design. A clock missing a piece, a window on
the floor, the shadow drawn on the wall behind the object makes me feel ready to experiment and try crazy ideas in design. I set myself a goal to be curious and open to imagination and creativity in design. Doing all my best for implementing the ideas that I come up with craziness and courage. 27
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References 1. Willam Morrian and the Red House. Jan Marsh. The National Trust 2. Constuctivism. 3.Images for Alexander Mcqueen design. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8551718.stm http://meappropriatestyle.com/tag/fashion-exhibitions-2014-2015/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1250371/Alexander-McQueen-A-life-fashion.html http://liberty182.buzznet.com/user/journal/8130211/alexander-mcqueen-spring-2008-collection/ 4. Furnace and steel work images http://hancockcountymuseum.com/industries/weirton-steel-mill/ 5. cog images http://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/clockwork.html 6. MSU university images http://www.examen.ru/main2/vstrechi_s_predstaviteliami_vuzov/18044 7. All images of hotels made by Dubova Svetlana
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