We will talk with designers, artists and architects about life and creative path. In our case, color is a marker that defines events and memories, causes associations. The first to join our project was Oleksiy Iskos, a classic of Danish design originally from Ukraine.
Oleksiy Iskos was born in Kharkiv in 1965, studied at the architectural department of the Kharkiv Engineering and Construction Institute, later at the pedagogical department, taught drawing at school. In 1991, he moved to Copenhagen, where he entered the 4th year of the Danish Design School and received an education as an industrial designer. In 2010, together with designer Boris Berlin, he created the Iskos-Berlin studio, and in 2018 - his own Iskos Design bureau.
Cooperates with Blå Station, HAY, Menu, Muuto, Fritz Hansen, Normann Copenhagen and other European furniture and lighting factories. The designer's portfolio also includes a collaboration with the Ukrainian company ODESD2, for which he developed a hanging "pleated" lamp made of thin sheet metal. The works of Oleksii Iskos are presented in the Danish Designmuseum, as well as in the Design Museum of Iceland.
Oleksii Iskos' house in Copenhagen has high ceilings and lots of white surfaces
White snow
One of the few things I miss in Denmark. I remember my mother picking me up from kindergarten and taking me home on a sled wrapped in a blanket. You look up - there is a sky with stars, you look to the side - there is snow shimmering under the lanterns. This view, when everything is covered in white - both the ground and the trees - still seems to me something fantastic.
In Denmark, it snows once every five years and melts immediately. Here is the Gulf Stream: warm winters and cool summers. Nothing is adapted to either snow or heat. In the summer already at +30 °С, the rails expand, the trains do not run, and in the winter, the snow gets stuck to the cracks of the transport doors, and they do not close. There are few snow plows, it is unprofitable to maintain them for such cases. Everyone treats snow as a kind of adventure. If nothing is cleaned for three days, it will melt by itself. Every year there is talk about whether this will be a "white Christmas". In the 30 years I have lived in Denmark, I have never seen him.
During the first six months at the Danish Design School, I got used to the fact that my own opinion is more important than the correct one
White top, black bottom
The differences between studying in Ukraine and in Denmark are like black and white. In my Kharkiv institute at the architectural department, everything was strictly regulated. When they gave the task, they indicated how many sheets of what format you should hand in, how to make them and in what technique to complete them. There were rules for everything. In Denmark, a different approach is complete independence. You yourself choose the project you will work on. You determine how much time it will take. The teacher essentially becomes your consultant. I met mine a month and a half after starting my studies, he recognized me in a supermarket and offered to meet and talk. We didn't have grades, we had criticism: you listen to it and decide for yourself whether to move on or not.
For the first six months, I got used to the fact that my own opinion is more important than the correct one. Education is aimed at teaching you to think, not just giving a certain amount of knowledge. Education is an opportunity. How you use it is your personal business.
My friend's graduation project in design school was rejected, despite the fact that the idea itself was good. But simply implementing even a good idea is not enough. It is important for teachers to see the development, the path from an idea to a result. Without this, it was not clear to them whether the student could think and whether he could become a designer.
Oleksiy Iskos in the kitchen of his home in Copenhagen
White sheet
I always make sketches on paper and on a tablet. This is the fastest way to remember an idea. A notebook is not always at hand, so envelopes or receipts from stores come into play. Then I return home and take out of my bag a bunch of papers that I need to look at in order to transfer the idea to the sketchbook.
The ratio of my projects and those that I do at the request of the company is about 50/50. Own projects are more interesting to develop, but more difficult to sell.
I can make an appointment at almost any Danish company, they will be happy to talk to me. However, this does not always mean that my subject will be accepted. Finding a customer for your idea the first time is very rare. There are more rejections than positive answers. It's not because the design is bad, it's just that it's important to be in the right place at the right time. Perhaps the company already has a similar model in the works or some other plans. I talked with colleagues, designers of the first echelon - they have the same thing.
Finding a customer for your idea the first time is very rare
black sheep
In Danish culture, it is not customary to stand out, brag about intelligence or wealth. By showing a very expensive car or a very luxurious house, you seem to be saying: I am better than others. And this is a bad tone. The only thing to be proud of is the success of the children. There is luxury here, but it is different. Not an expensive watch, but, let's say, furniture from one of the Danish classics, an armchair for 10 thousand euros.
It's the same with clothes. It is not scary to show some neglect of your appearance, and modest elegance is appreciated more than excessive spectacularity. Even for an event or a party, it is better to dress modestly than to overdo it.
On the streets, you practically do not meet people in bright clothes, as well as in pure white. The other day we were walking through the city, and there was a girl in an orange raincoat sitting on the bench, I was even happy - it was so unusual.
Living room in the house of Oleksiy Iskos
White walls
My house is white. The walls inside are also almost all white. In Denmark, this is a common phenomenon. Obviously, the tradition dates back to Protestantism and the Reformation — in the XNUMXth century. decided to remove all the gold from the churches, and painted over the wall paintings. They decided that God does not care what decorations are in your church, but what is important is what kind of person you are. The walls in the churches became white, and in the houses too.
I like this tradition. White walls are a background against which any color is stronger, brighter, more saturated. In objects, white emphasizes the shape, all the shadows are visible on it, like on those plaster figures that we drew at the institute.
In natural science, white is the absence of color, and in physics, on the contrary, it is a mixture of all colors. To me, white is like vodka in a cocktail. It enhances the rest of the colors.
To me, white is like vodka in a cocktail
Reading chair "Electric chair" - a model created by Oleksiy in a single copy for the exhibition at the Design Center in Copenhagen
The Danish designer Werner Panton once said that a good color looks better. It plays a key role in his subjects. I respect that, but for me color is not so important, in my works it appears right at the end. There is form and function, and after them comes color. Sometimes it is chosen by the manufacturing company, and I do not interfere. A good design can be painted in any color: it should be harmonious in both yellow and black. A quality design will not spoil the color - just as a bad design will not save the color.
White noise
I have the ability to easily withdraw into myself. Even in a room where music is playing loudly, people are talking and children are running around, I can immerse myself in my own thoughts and nothing disturbs me. I don't subscribe to the idea that you need to shut yourself off from everything, get off social media to be yourself. I am where I am interested. Let's say I'm fed up with Netflix - I just turn it off. All this information and white noise eventually transforms into creativity.
You can talk about trends as white noise. If it is the color of the year or some furniture upholstery, then there is no point in following it. Because several years pass from the moment of the idea to the appearance of the finished item. A designer who focuses on the existing trend falls behind in advance. Until the thing is ready, the fashion will change.
A designer who focuses on the existing trend falls behind in advance
On the other hand, there are global long-term trends. Such as, for example, digitalization, globalization or, on the contrary, a return to nation states. They penetrate you whether you want it or not. It doesn't matter if you like your smartphone, it makes no sense not to use it these days. The other day I bought a new washer and dryer, the only thing left to do was set up to control it from my smartphone. As a designer, when creating a lamp, I realize that if not today, then in a few years it will be integrated into some smart thing system, and it does not depend on my desire. Perhaps designers understand long-term trends and take them into account earlier than other people.
Inscriptions on bureau drawers: Malen (papers of Oleksiy's wife), short envelopes, Christmas cards, chargers, playing cards
White robes
In Denmark, the quarantine related to the COVID-19 pandemic is almost over. At the beginning of the lockdown, we were still drawn to each other by inertia. They felt awkward: how is it not to shake hands, not to hug when meeting. And now, if someone extends a hand to greet, it seems strange. I can easily imagine that there will be more global changes in society.
Ten years ago, smoking was allowed in public places in Denmark. You could smoke in restaurants and shopping centers, there were cars in the subway and electric trains for smokers. And then they passed a law that forbade it. Everyone got used to it and took it positively. New norms regarding the distance between tables in restaurants can also easily take root.
Now, when someone extends a hand in greeting, it seems strange
It is difficult for many businesses now, while others, on the contrary, have received a certain push for development. Internet trade is actively growing, two large courier delivery companies have opened in Denmark. Some firms survived despair and decline, but found new niches for themselves. A friend of mine produced signs for airports. His company was left without orders for two months because the airports were closed.
Now he has developed a new product: transparent partitions that can be placed on the floor, on the table, suspended from the ceiling in the office or in other public places. They worked on this idea with a designer they knew for two months and are currently actively implementing it. At the beginning of the lockdown, his company employed 10 people, and now there are 40 of them.
Oleksiy Iskos
The world is changing, but it has always been this way. Humans and humanity as a whole have an amazing ability to adapt and survive, although it is not easy and not always painless. But we, designers, are used to changes, no matter what color they are.
Text: Nadia Sheykina
Photos courtesy of Oleksii Iskos
