DIY is fashionable and very useful!

Kate Malysheva’s interview in a public joinery with art director Sergey and craftsman Slava, the authors of DIY-joineries project.

Sergey Tsarev, project creative director. Precedently — Creative director of Flacon design factory. Participated in creation of Urbanurban.ru  online project. Consults companies on establishment of research & development departments with involvement of end-users to the design process of new products and services. In 2014, by the order of BOSCH, he designed and opened DIY Academy — a public joinery at «Flacon» design factory. This first experimental site works as a joiner’s co-working, design-bureau and educational project.

Slava Shvaykov, senior craftsman of DIY Academy public joinery. Joiner, designer, teacher and artist, Slava Shvaykov works for public spaces of Moscow: «Mother’s garden Seasons» in Hermitage Garden, Polytechnic Museum, VDNKh, State Center for Contemporary Arts, Museum of Moscow. He performs wood carvings and installations by orders of craftsmen from all over the world. Slava’s works are kept in such museums as Louvre (Paris, France) and De Hallen (The Hague, Netherlands).Slava has also drawn up a joinery program for College No.21 for the students with special needs.

Place of interview: Flacon design factory, public joinery.

K I still don’t understand clearly what the public joinery is and I hope you can explain it to me in details. Where did this trend come from and why did you decide to open it here? 

Sergey Public joinery is a very simple thing, it’s like co-working, but for people who want to do something with own hands. In our case, it is a public joinery, joiner’s work. We have full set of instruments here. We have craftsmen who consult people. This joinery is a tool in the project of DIY (do it yourself) movement development, which appeared by the order of BOSCH. 

K How can people get in your joinery and start doing something?

Sergey If you wish to do something, you may send an order on a napkin, a small sketch. Then you come to discuss your idea with the craftsman. The craftsman registers it as a project. Then you purchase craftsman’s working time — it costs 1000 rubles per 3 hours.

K Just 1000 rubles for working with a craftsman?

Sergey Yes, we are checking the price now. Our joinery is an experimental one. We work in test regime so far. There are several types of people who can work here. For example, a person can come and make a shelf by himself. Sometimes we make collaborations with designers. Someone builds a cupola, and someone makes objects for public spaces. The purpose of this project is to give people opportunity to master fear. 

K Tell more about the audience you focus on.

Sergey There are three types of audience. The first type are the people who understood they could do everything with own hands. For these people, hand joinery is a possibility to try themselves in some other disciplines. The second type are long-standing enthusiasts who already do something and saw. Our space becomes a place where they can do this as it is rather complicated to deal with such affairs at home. The space is more convenient as you don’t need to go for a new self-driving screw of necessary diameter, besides all the tools are available here. The person can concentrate on the process and in case of any problem he can apply to our craftsmen, and this is very important. I.e., this is a comfortable work for enthusiasts. The third type are those people who make projects, participate in festivals or exhibitions, theater-lovers. 

K Do you mean some kind of professional audience that uses your studio rather like a contractor?

Sergey Yes, something like this. Slava, for example, has two joineries now. Slava is a master. He can make everything with his hands, but I can’t. The second joinery is located in the Centre of Contemporary Art and it has been working as a public joinery for professionals for a rather long period already. There are a great many different projects where people come and ask to do something for them.

K Do you mean, they come to make an order, and you ask them whether they really want to spend money? 

Slava Once two men came and said: «You work with wood here, and we have a sketch that we would like to bring to you. Can you do this?» And we proposed them to make it by themselves, with our participation. It becomes much cheaper. 

K Do they involve easily? 

Slava Well, yes, if they came for the first time. Our tools are rather reliable and they can be easily mastered.

Sergey What I wanted to say is that Slava, staying in the Center of Contemporary Art, always participates in collaborations with artists. I got acquainted with Slava when I brought one Italian painter to Faces&Laces, the painter sent a sketch and Slava produced everything by this sketch.

Slava We still keep in touch with him. Recently, a festival of street art has been held. The atmosphere of the festival and everyone who worked with wood got through us. 

Sergey I told you about three types of audience. We are more concentrated upon the third type — these are collaborations, as there is a very strong constituent. And we consider the first type that has never heard about our movement before. We don’t involve many professionals as we need to pick up speed. We even want to try our business without corporate identity. We need to «gain weight» to work with these strong guys, to involve them in our space.

K So how do you want people to learn about you if you even don’t have your corporate style? 

Sergey Now DIY Academy corporate style came to us from Facebook. One popular group created by a digital agency existed some time ago. It had very good indexes. The project got the support of German BOSCH office rather quickly and went offline after that. We took the corporate style and communications of that digital project and grow our own public.

K How did BOSCH find you and how did this project appear?

Sergey Everything happened miraculously. There is a digital agency I mentioned before and its creative director. He is absolutely genius in sale of trends and he was that guy who had sold this idea to BOSH. I worked with him for some time, told him how to develop public spaces. As for Slava, we had worked with him before. Slava has knowledge and experience, he is a role model of a DIY-craftsman.

K He doesn’t look like a craftsman, he is more likely a designer or creative director, or someone from this sphere.

Slava I am 42 and I have a very rich experience.

Sergey It is very important for me that Slava is a joiner. He holds a degree of a restorer. If Slava is assigned a task, he solves it. We have no such practice when you pay for design first and then for the space. Besides, Slava is not the last person in contemporary art, he works with modern artists and puts their ideas into life. He even has a project in Louvre.

Slava We made a big installation for one artist with lots of stairs on one wall. Another interesting sculpture is located in the Museum of Moscow. There is a contemporary art museum in the Hague — once there were Holland days where we prepared big objects.

Sergey It is also important that Slava is a teacher — he has successful students. It is significant for us to transfer mastery, because Russia has very strong joiner’s school. In some generations, like from my father to me, joiner’s mastery was not transferred. So we look at mastery through the craft and at the craft — through imitation of a craftsman. The educational effect appears when you work with a craftsman, imitate him, and about two years later you get mastery.

Slava One of my students is a teacher in the British School of Design now. He is a teacher of joinery mastery.

Sergey It was a very interesting story when a man left advertising agency, studied for 2 years at Slava and now teaches joinery mastery. 

K Slava, what did you start from? Where did the desire to deal with joinery come from? From childhood, from your father? 

Slava No, in the fourth grade I went in for wood carving project team, then we moved and I didn’t deal with carving for a rather long time. After school graduation, I understood that work with wood is interesting for me. It was 1989 — the restoration courses were opened that year. For some time I didn’t deal with this as I was dealing with clothes, but in 1998 I soaked myself in joiner’s mastery. In 2006 I opened my own joinery.

K Let’s come back to the history of this project. You got an investor — BOSCH.

Sergey It is interesting that the company became a partner, as it doesn’t require any KPI. This is a non-commercial project.

K However, BOSCH finances the project, it is included in the budget for several years. 

Sergey Yes, that’s right. We have just agreed the budget. Our aim for the next year sounds like «DIY everywhere». Our purpose is to show how DIY works in different spaces and communities. We are preparing a big program now, we have a task to conduct collaborations with yard and theater communities, and with schools. It is a very important point. We have an on-line resource where we put pictures at first, and then the instruction so that a person could make this thing himself. So, the instructions are the most important things for us. Our workshop shall be considered as some kind of production studio. Everything that is produced here turns into instructions. I am interested in this project as I deal with tactical urban planning.

K What does tactical urban planning mean?

Sergey It means that there is a problem like, for instance, we need narrower streets or other yards. Now everything is done from the top, but this shall be performed from the bottom, i.e. people need feel they did something. Even when a yard is designed, in all developed countries such technique as «participation» exists that means work shops with inhabitants, then prototypes appear, which are built and tested. New York, for example, is full of prototypes. People have no money for some constancy, so they make some spaces of wood and carton, test with inhabitants and only after that build something constant. Tactical urban planning means that by means of temporary architecture and design methods some solutions are produced that attract attention to a problem, and later it is used like a prototype. In our case, we want to prepare such instructions as garage sale, how to make sale in your yard, call all inhabitants, build children area, or paint fences. The instructions of how to knock tables together, prepare advertising announcement maquettes, etc., shall be included there. As for the schools, we want to make projects of children cooperation with their parents and school team. 

K If to check market, is there anyone else who develops the DIY-movement?

Slava There are very similar projects, public joineries are rented. There are spaces dealing with master classes. We moved a little further; just renting a joinery is not very interesting. It is important for me when people relieve distress, master fear and when they are not afraid of approving themselves, opening their creativity.

K I suppose you have very good public — businessmen, office workers. There is a problem: they create virtual product that causes great stress. When you make something with your hands, you have a ready product, so you relieve distress.

Sergey Recently, we have analyzed inquiries in Yandex and found out an interesting example: as for «courses» and «plywood with your own hands» inquiries a great splash of them was noticed when inquiring «Crimea is ours». We started our project in crisis time, so many people think it is so because lots of people will begin make furniture with their hands, but it is not true. The reason is that in crisis, when the world crumbles, it is a very good way to keep yourself safe. This is a kind of building yourself.

K But from the cost point of view, a handmade shelf isn’t so cheap, as you need to buy angles for it, which are not cheap if they are of a good quality.

Slava I consider this situation not from the point of view of a final product but from the point of view of experience and skills development. A man gets great experience, he becomes a master. This is more important for me.

K What does BOSCH wait from you? Do they have any purpose?

Slava Their purpose is to create DIV-movement, to make it vivid. I don’t know how deep they think it over, but it is cool to open spaces where people work with their tools. 

K I think they considered it deeply as they have been dealing with marketing for a rather long period already.

Sergey It is very important that with the help of this work we activate a lot of people, they hold tools in their hands. We collect all information to a CRM-data base for people’s profile understanding. We are planning many collaborations this year, especially with the British School of Design and Higher School of Economics — Design department.

K And the last question. Sergey, what motivation do you have for this project?

Sergey They pay me for this. Besides, the project has rather correct balance and clear purposes. The project consists of everything I like to do.

There are two components — social marketing and active research. While BOSCH accepts it, the project stays the project of my dream.

K We didn’t talk about it, but it seems the trend to do something with your hands is in the air today. Just like coffee aroma — when you feel it and you want to drink only it.

Slava The tradition of hobby groups re-establishes again now. 

Sergey There are several important points. The first is that people in our country suppose handwork is not prestigious. There was some madness period when money appeared, and people didn’t want to make anything with their hands. There was a dream — to have breakfast in a restaurant. All over the world people believe that it is cool to make something with own hands, but something broke, something happened in our country. Now a second wave of values and responsible use of resources comes.

K Many people really started doing objects with their hands, and do it with a great pleasure. 

The trend do-it-yourself (DIY) is in the air today. However, this is not just a trend — this is an important social and cultural necessity. A source of development and a big pleasure with small expenses. A way to transfer mastery and keep yourself safe as well as develop and show creativity that exists in all us.