In quarantine, but not in sadness. Architects and designers about remote work. Part 2

In the second part of the material — Serhii Makhno, Yova Yager, Oleksandr Popov, Anna Manako, Roman Romanets and Olena Fateeva.

The first and third parts:

In quarantine, but not in sadness. Architects and designers about remote work. Part 1

In quarantine, but not in sadness. Architects and designers about remote work. Part 3

 

Sergey Makhno

Architect, Sergey Makhno Architects

Kyiv, Ukraine

Do you comply with the orders of the Ministry of Health: wash your hands and disinfect surfaces, do not leave the house and do not contact anyone unless absolutely necessary, do not use public transport, do not meet with friends and relatives?

Of course it is. I am a son, I am a father, I worry about the health of my family. I believe that now everyone can become a superhero just by staying at home.

My wife and sons and I quarantined ourselves and limited communication with other relatives and our friends. In the house, we carry out regular cleaning, ventilation of all premises, we hardly go out into the city. Unless I have a meeting that can't be moved online.

Regarding the work of Sergey Makhno Architects, we were among the first to go into quarantine. On Friday, March 13, we announced to the team that we will not be leaving the office starting next week. Most companies made this decision over the weekend.

I believe that now we, the young, active people who have the most social contacts, are most responsible for the health and lives of our parents, the parents of our friends, and our colleagues. And so I ask everyone to stay home as well, out of respect for the elderly, for whom this virus may not be so easy.

Bloomberg writes that for many, working from home has turned into an extra hour or two of work a day (USA and Western Europe). Is this about you?

If a few hours of working time were added, it was only in the first week, when the team was still adapting to the new format of project management, virtual communication and unusual workplace conditions. Because our brain at home is set to rest. And he was forced to work, he does not understand, gives an Error. And in order to get used to working productively in new conditions, it takes time for new neural connections to be rebuilt. But a person gets used to everything, so we have already adjusted. Moreover, it is reassuring and in a certain way encouraging that we have projects, something to work with, because the situation on the market is not easy right now.

It is very difficult for me without a ceramic workshop and work with my hands. That's why I still go to the empty workshop from time to time to have a drink. And most of all, I miss the emotional connection with the team. After all, I am sure and understood it long before the coronavirus that emotional intelligence and emotional contact will not be replaced by any robotic systems that will work without failures, productively, perfectly and so on. So yes, I miss people quite a bit. But from the point of view of the work process, I can say that everything is going well.

What does your workplace look like? Have you somehow set it up for extended work from home?

I arranged a workplace in my bedroom when I was still designing the house. There is a low table and a stool, a view of the garden, and here I often draw in the morning. But I immediately realized that if I need to work "seriously", then I go to the open area of ​​the dining room and sit down at the large dining table. I feel very comfortable, productive and cool there. In general, even before the quarantine, I controlled all work processes from the phone, conducted negotiations in this way - with the team, contractors, clients. Therefore, nothing much has changed for me.

However, when it comes to working from home all the time, I think homes all over the world are actually being crash tested right now. And most of them, unfortunately, will not pass. Because most of them were designed and built for the purpose of "coming to spend the night". People did not need an assortment of entertainment in their homes, they turned a blind eye to the functionality of certain things, etc. Now the situation will change regarding the planning of the whole house, and much attention will be focused on the workplace, the office at home.

How did the quarantine affect your work? Has construction work stopped, are you leaving for construction, or have there been fewer orders? Perhaps the nature of work has changed?

Actually, all of the above together. Most of the projects continued their work - everything according to the plan. There are several frozen objects, for example, one of the Kyiv residential complexes simply does not allow furniture makers on the construction site due to the quarantine. And that's normal. We go to the author's supervision, but somewhat less often.

Orders in the first two weeks of quarantine, personally, have really decreased. People are now in limbo, they don't know what will happen next, so they procrastinate at a costly and long-term cost. Although from the end of the second week of the quarantine, little by little, interest begins to appear again. People understood that all this was for a long time. And now is almost an ideal time for the first stage — creating a design project. We can meet with clients on Zoom, exchange ideas, references, discuss visualizations there - all this can be done online. We only need to go out once to measure the empty apartment. But the client has more time to think about his future object.

Life goes on. Yes, maybe not the most turbulent period, not the "high season" for our product, but nothing. The only thing that really upsets me is that several large, powerful clients that we have served have now frozen payments due to the crisis. It's really unpleasant.

What challenges do you face working from home? And how do you solve them?

As I said, it's a lack of emotional contact. And this problem cannot be solved. It is necessary not just to wait it out, but to overcome sadness and direct one's free energies to one's own self. This time will be a marker of inner strength - not everyone will be able to endure such a long emotional and intellectual alienation. There will be those who simply will not be able to adapt to new conditions and integrate into life after quarantine. There will also be those who will simply spend this time at home in front of the TV and come out as almost outsiders. And others will become stronger during this time, acquire new skills, gain new knowledge, etc.

Did you have to learn new tools for communication and planning?

Zoom was a discovery for us. We used to communicate with our overseas customers on WhatsApp and Skype. And Zoom is cool, I really like it, it allows you to contact many subscribers at the same time. This is how we keep in touch, we call each other, as before, we use messengers. With clients, everything is actually the same as before, except for personal meetings.

We have been thinking about several online project management systems for a long time. Now is the time to test these programs. However, we have not settled on a specific decision yet.

Has the current situation inspired you for new ideas in design and architecture, which will become in the future a new reality?

Yes, I have thought about this topic and realized some real changes that await our homes and our priorities. The demand for private houses will increase — to be as autonomous as possible from the world and have somewhere to go for a walk, besides a cluttered balcony. People will pay more attention to the landscaping of their homes - it's about phytowalls, indoor gardens, gardens.

The comfort of the workplace will become important after the experience, when most were not ready. I am sure that people will change their minds towards the autonomy of their home and its readiness for anything. Those who can afford it will start building bunkers with autonomous heating, water supply, food reserves, underground cities, etc.

How do you deal with distractions? Children, refrigerator?

I don't fight at all, I accept them. I have three children, only the eldest is an adult, with whom there are no problems in this isolation. And two little boys in the house next to you 24/7 is, of course, that hardcore. The saving grace is that now we live in a private house, there is a yard, fresh air, where to go for a walk and for the boys to disperse. I think that if we were still living in a Kyiv apartment now, my dad's roof could come off. Therefore, we all need patience.

How did you use the free time, if it appeared? What do you do, how do you fight boredom in self-isolation?

My work remained almost unchanged. My family and children are at home, there will be no additional or even free time with them. And I haven't been a Tusser for a long time either - being at home, tinkering in my Japanese-Ukrainian garden, drawing, watching and reading about architecture, Japanese culture, tea parties, ceramics - this is my usual favorite way of life. Although, all the same, opportunities for self-education have been added a little. As I said, this crisis will show what we are really worth.

My struggle with sadness is the same as if I were relieving myself from too much social contact. I love walking through the garden to the pond, redecorating street ceramic decor and working in the garden. In quarantine, I am saved by all the eternal things that I was doing before it.

 

Jova Yager

Designer, Yova Yager Hospitality Design

Irpin, Kyiv region, Ukraine

Do you comply with the orders of the Ministry of Health - wash your hands, disinfect surfaces, do not leave the house and do not contact anyone without an urgent need, do not use public transport, do not meet with friends, relatives?

All of them - yes. Once every two days I go for a walk in the forest. I also go shopping in a mask and gloves. But this is in the near future. How it will be in a week is hard to say. I am worried that after the economic crisis, the ecological one will increase, because the amount of disposable packaging, gloves, clothes and other things around the world has simultaneously increased many times. What we will do with it and how it will affect the environment and people, no one has yet thought. And it will show. So it seems to me that we will go from one state of survival to another.

I live in Irpen, but in an ordinary high-rise building. If necessary, I move in my own car without contacting anyone. I call/write to my relatives every day. We don't see each other. But dad somehow still goes out for a walk in the fresh air and to the store, refuses to help with groceries. He says he's taking precautions — a mask and gloves. It is difficult to convince to take it more seriously. Mom, on the other hand, is responsible: she said that she eats even less so as not to go shopping for groceries. Everything is sterilized, masks are washed and ironed, there are several types of gloves and clothes for the street.

How did the quarantine affect your work?

The quarantine had no effect. I have a virtual studio for a long time and I work with freelancers from home. Therefore, the processes and mechanisms themselves have not changed. As long as the work projects have not been stopped, there has been no less work, but this was a month before the announcement of the quarantine. At the same time, I work only with the Hospitality field, and restaurants are suffering a lot right now, many will not even open again.

What are the biggest challenges you face in isolation and how do you overcome them?

Author supervision has always been difficult to do remotely. First, it takes more time, and secondly, it is difficult to choose the color of the walls or the texture of the wood from a photo taken from a mobile phone with different lighting. Everything is very relative. Telephone conversations began to take more time. And it's tiring. So I made a decision that I will shape such negotiations as I used to shape trips to meetings: certain days of the week non-stop. This helps to distribute the load and avoid fatigue.

Did you have to implement new communication and planning tools?

Everything is the same as before. With workers and contractors - Viber groups (for some reason they love it, although for me it is an outdated model for communication with a lot of advertising). With freelancers — Telegram and Facebook Messenger. The messenger is convenient because you can make changes immediately to the picture sent to you without saving it to your phone or iPad.

I switched to iPad for work a long time ago due to constant movement and business trips. And now I can't imagine a comfortable life without it. Several convenient programs for the designer are Procreate (sketch and edits in the drawing), Bazart (collages), Keynote (presentations), Google Drive (all circulation and storage of information). I plan and write texts on the computer.

For personal planning - always Сalendar and MinimaList, then there is Google Calendar for my work group, again Google Drive. In general, I do not understand how others work without it. This is an extremely convenient service and access to all material 24/7. But first you will have to spend time and create your own convenient structure for archiving and managing materials. All my projects are being conducted there now. The customer, contractor, manufacturer, etc. have access to them.

What about video calls?

I don't really like video calls. I got used to it without them for a long time. Even protect new projects. Therefore, for group calls, I use whatever is at hand: either Facebook Messenger or Viber. Although I downloaded Zoom just in case. Turned off WhatsApp, because a more buggy program needs to be found. Or I have a special karmic connection with him. I communicate with customers on Telegram, Instagram and Facebook.

Has the current situation inspired you for new ideas of design, architecture, which will become a new reality in the future?

There was no time for that yet. Until now, my routine has not changed, the time spent in meetings has turned into calls that last longer than usual. Therefore, I am trying to find a system for these calls as well, so as not to get bogged down in them permanently. By the way, in May, Skvot wanted to launch the author's program "Virtual design studio. How to create and develop". We planned it back in the summer of 2019, but even with such urgency, we had to postpone the launch now, because the amount of content is now off the charts.

How do you deal with distractions while working at home (children, relatives, refrigerator, etc.)?

In general, there are no problems with this, because I worked from home anyway. And I am comfortable with this mode. I am generally comfortable with myself. My husband and I did not see each other much more often in the apartment. Everyone has their own conditional individual space and mode. If the isolation was not forced and did not cause a colossal economic crisis, then I could easily spend at least a week or two in self-isolation without stress and howling. But when something is forbidden to you, there is a great temptation to violate or protest.

What do you do in your spare time? How do you deal with sadness from self-isolation?

What? "Sorrow"? I don't know what it's like since I was a child. There is always a list of things that cannot be done. And I have it regularly replenished, so it never runs out. You can play Zemfira's song "Infinity" here. That is, if I'm not deliberately lying on the beach like a sick seal, I always have something to do. I love myself alone. I am already very comfortable with myself.

How did you use the extra free time (if it appeared)?

Free time has decreased. Again, through phone conversations with everyone. But maybe it seems so, because the sales managers also began to call less, and the time I spent on the road is now spent on negotiations. Most likely, it is as time-consuming as it was before - that is, it is tight, but psychologically it seems that you are drowning.

I still haven't had time to clean the entire apartment, rethink existence in the current situation, because if I don't read social networks and don't panic, then for me nothing has changed in particular in terms of workflow and management. I have been practicing fitness training for a long time with a trainer on Viber, there is also English. My psychological salvation in general is a lot of work and a well-deserved rest for one month every year.

 

Oleksandr Popov

Architect, archimatika

Kyiv, Ukraine

Do you follow the instructions of the Ministry of Health - wash your hands, disinfect surfaces, do not leave the house and do not contact anyone without an urgent need?

I wash my hands, I don't go out without an urgent need. But an urgent need arises every half hour. As a result, I spend only half a day at home on average. The worst comes out with a mask. Unusually, inconvenient, the glasses fog up and in general the moment from the movie "Kin-dza-dza!" is remembered, when all the boys were told that now they have to wear muzzles. The mask causes internal protest, so I prefer to wear it to reassure others - when its absence causes sidelong glances.

Have you switched to working from home?

Half yes, but you need to meet, some conversations are difficult to transfer online. At the same time, the house was combined not only with an office, but also with a kindergarten, a school, a ballet club, and a chess section. Such multifunctionality still allows, of course, to continue working there, but not to solve creative tasks. But an empty office, if you still manage to reach it by taxi, is a completely peaceful environment for creation.

Bloomberg writes that working from home has turned into an extra hour or two of work a day for many (USA and Western Europe). Is this about you?

To be honest, I started sleeping more. The time I used to spend taking the kids to daycare and school and then getting to work is now spent sleeping. I start working at the same time as before the quarantine, but only after sleeping.

What does your workplace look like?

Yes, as in the photo. We share it with Alyonushka (3 years old), sometimes Misha (11 years old) also comes. It is a shared space where everyone helps each other. Children can draw on my sketches what they think is necessary. We consult, discuss projects. Also, Olya (wife of Oleksandr, architect Olga Chernova. — Editor's note) and I discuss and finish the children's drawings.

How did the quarantine affect your work? Are projects stopped, construction frozen?

We thank our customers for the fact that, so far, no one is cutting off the shoulder or drawing superficial conclusions. It is good that our customers, like us, have accumulated some stocks from the relatively prosperous previous years. This allows at least not to make a decision in a hurry, without full information, but to wait and see how the situation will change. After all, so far no one can answer the main question: when will this quarantine end. And a lot depends on this answer. Without it, one can only wonder how the quarantine will affect our entire industry and life in general.

Of course, it is already possible to say that some deadlines for the implementation of projects will be stretched. After all, it is very difficult to work as effectively in remote mode as in one open space. Although, of course, we do our best. For hot projects, for which the customers asked us not to move the deadlines, we compensate for the difficulties of the distance with our heroism and ingenuity.

What are the biggest challenges you face working from home and how do you overcome them?

How to share the same space with children is the most serious challenge that Olya and I have taken on.

Has there been a solution yet?

Agree and make friends.

How do you deal with distractions?

The issue here is not distraction. Concentration is a habit developed over years. The most important factor that really needs to be dealt with is panic. If you are faced with an important life question that has no answer, you need to gather your courage, understand what you need to deal with, take the necessary days off and come back to this question when the picture is clear.

This is taught by design and architecture. Every architect understands that without a sufficient amount of raw data, making a project is a lottery. Every architect finds out everything before starting to design. Each of us is used to doing this. It is boring work, which then opens up space for creativity. No matter how much you want to do something quickly now and run somewhere, until it is clear where to run, you have to stand still. And that requires courage.

Did you have to implement new tools for communication and planning at work?

In fact, we have been using all these tools for a long time, as we work with customers and partners in other countries. In general, we are used to working remotely.

Has the current situation inspired new architectural ideas that will become a new reality in the future?

It seems to me that it is still too early to talk about serious insights. For now, we are more and more busy, rebuilding the work to a new format, we are thinking about how to support and not lose those projects that already exist. I am talking not only about our company, but probably about all architects and developers. It seems to me that this question is premature. But brick by brick, a picture of new spaces, new architecture begins to emerge from the requests that buyers come to our developer clients with. We are already thinking about it.

What do you do in your spare time?

Leisure is children, because nannies are also in quarantine. Actually, they occupy all free time. And a glass of wine sometimes helps too.

Struggling with boredom?

In the fight against everything — both boredom and lack of patience.

 

Anna Manako

Designer, Manako Design

Verona, Italy

Do you follow the orders of the Italian authorities - wash your hands, disinfect surfaces, do not leave the house and do not contact anyone without an urgent need?

Yes, of course, we comply. My family has been in quarantine since the closing of schools in Italy - since the end of February. From then on, we hardly communicated with anyone and tried to shop online. Currently, a very strict regime has been introduced in the country. You can leave your home only to go to a store, pharmacy or hospital, while leaving no further than 200 m from your place of residence, and you must have a document with you that explains the reason for leaving. Violation of the rules carries a fine of up to 4000 euros. This is due to the fact that many did not follow the rules of isolation until recently. This may have caused the active spread of the disease at the initial stage of the epidemic.

How did the quarantine affect your work?

Projects related to production are temporarily put on hold, but new ideas and concepts appear on paper.

The current situation accelerated many processes. Now I am learning a new profession for myself as a teacher and recording a video course dedicated to the development of imaginative thinking. This educational project was supposed to be implemented even before the epidemic in an offline format for bilingual teenagers of Verona. Unfortunately, the live format was not possible, so I switched to the online format. So far, this is happening on a community basis as a way to help distract children from the current situation through the creative process. In the course, I show methods of developing imaginative thinking through stylization and transformation of surrounding objects. Now there is a group for adults as well, because the process of creation is a process in which you feel happy, and this is what many people lack now, under the conditions of isolation.

What does your workplace look like? Have you set it up for prolonged isolation?

I tried to improve and adapt my workplace for conducting online conferences and recording video lessons.

What are the biggest challenges you face working from home?

I would like to touch primarily on the psychological aspect. It is not always possible to work effectively when there is negative news, when the country you are in is going through a very tragic period. A balance between empathy and faith in the future is important here. I accepted this situation for myself immediately, did not go through denial and had no illusions that life continues the same as before. And I think it's very important not to waste time on denial and conspiracy theories. It is also very important to filter information.

We live not only in the period of the coronavirus, but also of the information virus. Out of fear, out of rejection, without thinking about the consequences, people spread unverified and unnecessary information. Thereby shifting the focus of attention from the necessary and important to completely secondary things. Therefore, I try to spend a minimum of time on social networks and follow only official news.

How do you deal with distractions and maintain your work spirit?

As for the work environment, it is very important to have a schedule that you stick to every day. It is very important to get up after the alarm clock, perform minimal physical exercises, follow the plan, but at the same time it is important not to blame yourself for moments of weakness.

Meditation and spiritual practices help me concentrate. I try to start every day with them, and not with watching the news feed.

My daughter, a first-grader, has been studying remotely for a month. At this age, online learning is not so effective and requires the constant presence of an adult. Therefore, we try to find a compromise and do not burden her too much, having decided that our priority is to preserve the peace of the child and the family, and not the level of certain knowledge.

Has the current situation inspired you for new ideas in design that will become a new reality in the future?

Undoubtedly, there is a rethinking of all life processes, this will, of course, also affect design. Now the main task of design is to save people's lives. And there are already many examples of this. 3D printing studios produce protective masks and valves for breathing apparatus. In Italy, a mask for scuba diving was adapted for a breathing apparatus. The factories of Armani, Fendi, and Gucci reformatted their productions for sewing protective suits and masks.

Our life and habits have radically changed. And the design will have to solve new tasks and optimize current processes. Some innovations will also enter post-quarantine life. In my opinion, robotics will accelerate, digital control will strengthen, new devices will appear that will solve the problems of sanitization and disinfection.

We have new household needs for long-term storage of products, their zoning and disinfection. The need for a workplace in the house, equipment of the entrance area in the apartment/house with the possibility of disinfecting shoes and clothes.

There is a revaluation of values. We will stop buying to impress others and do it for ourselves. Consumerism will cease to be a pastime, and consumption will become more conscious.

We will look in our house and surrounding objects for that joy, satisfaction, which we are deprived of due to the impossibility of traveling, going to the museum.

The environmental friendliness and economy of the object of design and its ability to transform to the needs of the user, secondary use and recycling of things will become especially relevant. The trend of biomorphicity and simplicity will remain. We will become more selective about purchasing items.

 

Roman Romanets

Architect, AVR

Lviv, Ukraine

Do you comply with the orders of the Ministry of Health: wash your hands and disinfect surfaces, do not leave the house and do not contact anyone unless absolutely necessary, do not use public transport, do not meet with friends and relatives?

I tried to wash my hands even without quarantine (smiles), but - yes, we try to do the rest. But it is impossible to sit at home, and I think that not going out for so long is very unhelpful, the brain needs fresh air, so I took the little ones once or twice a day and went for a walk/warm-up with them in the park near the house. But we kept a great distance from other people and did not touch anything with our bare hands. I have to admit, that week a friend of mine, who is currently in a very difficult business situation, asked to meet for advice. So I went to his place, but they were sitting at a fairly long distance and systematically sprayed everything around with a disinfectant.

Have you switched to working from home?

When the quarantine was announced at school, I realized that the situation was serious. As of March 13, I held a meeting with the IT department about the possibility of organizing work in a remote format. During the weekend, all the necessary measures were taken, and during Monday-Tuesday we fully organized the work of people from home.

Bloomberg writes that for many, working from home has turned into an extra hour or two of work a day (USA and Western Europe). Is this about you?

I personally have three children, whose grandparents cannot come to them due to the quarantine, as well as my wife, an Aitishnik, who has an important project that requires her systematic inclusion. Accordingly, I am simply unable to work as before. At home, I can devote a maximum of four hours a day to work, but I periodically "escape" to the office, where I work much more efficiently.

Regarding the company's work, I have the following thoughts: 1) I am proud of our team, which adapted to the circumstances at maximum speed and switched to a new work style with minimal loss of time; 2) the project process is a team game that requires high efficiency of each player, and at a distance - and this is an objective reality - the effectiveness of teamwork decreases; 3) in my opinion, there is a grain of rationality in the Bloomberg article, especially if the work process requires your active involvement, then you unwittingly involve yourself in it and waste more time.

Did team members work more/less as a whole?

Maybe a little more, especially in the first days of quarantine, when it was necessary to reconfigure many processes, but we are used to fulfilling our obligations, so we simply have no right to work less.

Our team is divided into teams, each of which has its own team leader, who in turn is responsible for the efficiency of the work process, supporting the mood and motivation of his colleagues. We've been using some tools from Scrum for a long time: morning stand-ups, retrospectives, weekly planning and others, which have significantly increased our work efficiency, but now we've just moved it online.

What does your workplace look like? Have you somehow set it up for extended work from home?

The company jointly delivered working computers to everyone who had such a need. Everyone has arranged his workplace according to his capabilities and needs. It is very important that the workplace is in a different room from the bedroom. If there is no such possibility, then it should be arranged as much as possible in such a way that, being there, you are psychologically not at home.

How did the quarantine affect your work (construction work stopped, there was no need to leave for construction, there were fewer orders, projects were frozen, the nature of the work changed, etc.)?

Over the past week, I have spoken to each of our customers on the phone. Everyone is in a fighting mood. And if there are no bans at the legislative level, no one plans to stop. Therefore, the need to go to construction sites remained, of course, with all means of protection. There is also the need to issue printed documentation, so occasionally, but employees come to the office to print drawings.

What are the biggest challenges you face working from home and how do you overcome them?

In my opinion, the biggest problem of remote work is the lack of visual contact of the team. Earlier - I walked around the office, looked at the team, exchanged a few words - and already a completely different inner feeling, as if we are all together, one whole, and now it is impossible... For visual contact, you need to use a screen and a camera, but this is not the same...

Creating a certain atmosphere and supporting the team is one of the priority tasks of the manager, and at a distance, this process significantly deteriorates. I have a strong hope that soon we will all return to our usual mode, and everything in the world will be fine.

Did you have to implement new tools for communication and planning?

Once again, our own software, which we developed and implemented a long time ago and without which we now cannot imagine life, came in handy. In it, we live online in three times: in the future (we plan our work), in the present (we account for our every step) and in the past (we review all the necessary statistical data). In this regard, our life has not changed significantly. And for visual contact with each other and at meetings with spouses and contractors, we use standard Skype, Zoom and FaceTime tools. In general, communication is very important in our work, so we try not to weaken it.

Has the current situation inspired you for new ideas of design, architecture, which will become a new reality in the future?

To tell the truth, this whole situation is not very inspiring, but I am convinced that the new reality will be different from the current one. The architecture will definitely change and be reconfigured, taking into account new needs and tasks.

How do you deal with distractions (children, relatives, refrigerator, etc.)?

As for children, how can you fight with them? They just go crazy with the way of life that they have to implement, and because of this they drive their parents crazy. I try to somehow keep them busy with interesting games, homework, and eventually study. But that's not all, they need activity and our attention. When they sit at home all day, and parents try to work, then all this turns into a noisy mixture. And all other factors are not distracting for me at all.

How do you fight boredom from self-isolation?

With three children at home, the feeling of self-isolation does not arise. I really miss live communication with friends and family, but these are new challenges that have to be put up with somehow. The main thing is to believe that this is only a temporary measure and that soon everyone will be able to see each other, talk and have fun together.

 

Olena Fateeva

Designer, Fateeva Design

Kyiv, Ukraine

Do you follow the orders of the Ministry of Health - wash your hands, disinfect surfaces, do not leave the house, do not use public transport and do not contact anyone without an urgent need? Do you work from home?

Of course, I follow all the recommendations. But, to be honest, the introduction of quarantine did not have much of an impact on my work and creativity. For the past two years, I have been living like this. Chaotic construction, mass felling of trees, concreting of the banks of the Dnieper, transport collapse and other "joys" from the Kyiv authorities have done their job — Kyiv has become uncomfortable both for life and for productive creativity. Life in the capital has turned into a struggle for survival. That is why I have been trying for a long time not to leave the borders of my house - my small but very comfortable world.

How exactly is it arranged?

My home is also my office. The workplace is near the window. From it, I can always see the sky and the birds that fly in the spring and summer season to live on the Dnipro islands. I see gorgeous sunsets and nature changing its colors throughout the year. All this inspires me not only to create new projects, but also to fight for the preservation of green reservations in my hometown.

What upsets you the most about self-isolation?

Lack of ability to freely move around the world. This fact causes me discomfort and a feeling of slight suffocation. When you fly in an airplane, the Earth seems very small. Any point on our planet can be reached in a maximum of a day. In addition, free movement between cities, countries and continents is a condition that has been familiar to me since childhood, and today it is also an important part of my profession. I really miss the beauty of French, German, Spanish and Italian streets. Meeting with friends and colleagues at ISaloni. A trip to my brother in Bordeaux, where there are many wineries with beautiful vineyards in the suburbs. And, of course, it is quite difficult for me to be in Kyiv when my projects are being implemented in full swing in other countries.

How to be in the current situation?

All conciliation moments have moved online, which significantly helps to survive this difficult non-visiting period. But one should not think that self-isolation is exclusively negative aspects. Quarantine also has positive sides: it once again shows us how valuable live communication, tactile sensations and the possibility of personal perception of the world are. Many of us will revise our life values ​​and priorities during house arrest. I can say with absolute certainty that new schemes of mobile response to external circumstances and challenges will be thought out in the organization of work processes. Home offices will become even more popular. Today, I myself will think about how to reformat the layout of the building where the Fateeva Design office "lives". I want to separate the working part from our personal space.

How do you deal with distractions during quarantine (children, relatives, refrigerator, etc.)?

I have a simple answer to this question: nobody and nothing interferes with my creativity. Considering the fact that my husband and I are together almost 24 hours a day even under normal conditions, the quarantine did not affect our relationship and work process in any way. And, I think, it is unlikely that they will discover something new in each other, because we have always spent a lot of time together.

How did you use the extra free time (if it appeared)?

I am glad to have free time. I also thought that if everyone self-isolates, it will be possible to take a break from protecting Gorbachykha. But it turned out that during the quarantine, the destruction of the "Kyiv Amazonia" did not stop. I still have hope that developers and corrupt city officials will understand that their usual model of life has changed! That they may not be able to leave. They will have to live here, in the concrete ghetto they created. Breathing poisoned air and drinking green muddy "compot" instead of clean water! Each of us should spend the free time on realizing the fact that we have stayed in Ukraine, because this is our home and we need to take care of it.

If someone had told me a month ago that most people would return to their countries, I would not have believed it. But it happened. Each of us today is in conditions that we ourselves have created or allowed to create for ourselves and others. Today we all have time to think about what I personally can do for a comfortable life in my home, district, city and country.

How do you deal with sadness from self-isolation?

The only thing that makes me sad is the tiredness of fighting against the winds. When you see how the city government, together with the developers, is waging a war against the residents of Kyiv at their own expense. Quarantine is a well-founded measure, in which the approximate term of exit from it is calculated based on the experience of other countries. In addition, currently self-isolation in Ukraine is a conscious choice of each of us. When there is a choice, there should be no room for sadness. It is disappointing that in our country a large number of citizens do not have a financial cushion to painlessly survive the quarantine without leaving home. And it also depresses the state of our medicine, on which the number of sick people depends. who recovered And these circumstances plunge not only me into sadness.

What do you do in your spare time?

I am never bored alone with myself. I will always find something to do: I can lie in a hammock and watch the birds fly by, flip through my favorite book or watch a good movie. But even at such moments I think about design.

You look quite positively even in such a difficult situation.

I have the experience of a solitary retreat. I am well acquainted with my own reactions to similar circumstances. The only difference is that then I spent time in one of the Himalayan monasteries, and today - in my home, which can be called a lighter version. Self-isolation, of course, has its psychological special effects, they are well described in the literature, they can be observed in oneself and it is interesting to work with them. In a word, it is an amazing experience of self-knowledge and a new perception of the surrounding world.

Currently, more than a third of the entire population is under quarantine of varying severity, and this may become a turning point in the development of humanity. I have no doubt that our life will be different after the self-isolation is lifted, even for a while. What can we do right now? With maximum benefits and minimal losses, learn this lesson and reboot for a new, more conscious life. Personally, I get a kick out of slowing down time, the silence of suspended space, and a silent mobile phone. Today, nothing distracts me from new projects. I calmly and thoughtfully engage in creativity, which I love so much!