We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Irina Greciuhina ("IG").

Irina Grechukhina is architect, Director and owner of architectural Bureau Zen Design SRL. Over a ten-year period Irina Grechukhina with her team have created more than 100 design projects of restaurants interiors all round the world: in Romania, Moldova, Russia and China. Also Irina has got good experience in the architectural design of public and private buildings starting with the project stage to realization completing and their openning. Irina is the winner of many prizes and rewards in the field of architecture and design. She is a broad-minded person, balanced and thoughtful one with deep understanding of the processes taking place in Moldova, the country which is tending into Europe. She helps her customers to create objects economically beneficial, profitable. Irina is trying to make the lives of all the citizens to be modern and comfortable, convenient, with a clean environment and healthy ergonomics.

Irina Greciuhina Designs

We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Irina Greciuhina.

Designer Interview of Irina Greciuhina:

DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?

IG : The architect is an artist living with the future in his/her mind, and a real artist does not mean a person who is good at drawing but a person who can think. I am not going to remind you, whom the architect was compared to in the past, but I recall frequently a quotation of Henry Ford “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse”. The architect – designer offers to the customer “a car from the future” but the customer rejects it and asks for “a faster horse”, because in the customer’s mind the car does not exist at all. Figuratively, the designer offers an iphone 7 but the customer refuses it and argues that all his/her friends think that it looks like a soap-box because it has “neither a rotary dialer nor buttons, wires or handset”.

DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

IG : Any of us always try to differ from others. Our desire for individuality appears in various things: in our clothes, lifestyle, and musical preferences. Interior and architecture become a reflection of individuality. Your luck and success in life and business depends on how looks the architecture and façade of your office or cottage in Moldova or in any other place of the world, as well as the interior of your apartment, house, bureau or restaurant in Chisinau, Bucharest, Moscow or even in Chinese Canton. A professionally designed fashionable and lovely interior of restaurants and bars in Moldova, Romania and even China has a direct impact on number of clients and makes life of restaurant-keepers happier and more delighted. Because you work more effectively, rest with pleasure, live with comfort in a cozy, beautiful and comfortable place. The Zen Design S.R.L. architectural studio creates vivid and stylish interiors, designs residential and public buildings taking into account all individual and business requirements of the client. There is nothing impossible for the team of creative and experienced professionals from Zen Design S.R.L. We need only advance payment and coordinates of the point on the third planet from the Sun and we will make your every fantasy come true!

DI: What is "design" for you?

IG : Innovative technical design developments of Zen Design S.R.L. combine refinement of forms and quality confirmed by many international rewards. Offers of Zen Design S.R.L. are aimed, first of all, at those, who are not afraid of new and exclusive things. Work with such clients brings satisfaction to the both parties. We gain experience in promoting new design ideas and options, while the client gets his dream come true. And although such an approach to the work requires investments, all they finally will be paid off because not only you but also thousands of your impressed clients will feast their eyes on your bar, boutique, hotel or office! The more the welfare of people grows and develops, the more they are drawn to something rare and exclusive. At that, people want that such things surround them everywhere: at home, at work, at rest. On the other hand, in their pursuit to create their own business many companies, firms and enterprises adopt each other’s design and interior basics. As a result, everywhere we are surrounded with the same atmosphere of standard furniture and interior finishing. All these are banal, boring and ineffective yet for a long time!

DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

IG : Interior design has a significant importance in such a risky economy sector as restaurant business. There is a significant difference between private interior designing, where the customer can afford himself to choose and take decisions deliberately, and a business project, where time is money. Today, restaurant business is one of the most popular but very risky businesses, where 50% of projects fall during the very first year. But at the same time, it is one of the most interesting, freewheeling and creative kinds of business, that interconnects seemingly the most incoherent areas of human life: finances and psychology, esthetics, functionality, ergonomics and beauty, management and human health, architecture and cooking art, precision challenging modern kitchen technology and abstract art, light, music, color perception, sound, acoustics, fresh air, the science of smell, comfort and coziness – all these should be employed to attract visitors, minimize risks and bring profit.

DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

IG : Philosophy is present in any project to be developed regardless the fact whether the author comprehends it or not. But philosophy is set by the customer also regardless of his/her comprehension of this factor.

DI: What makes a design successful?

IG : Design forms our consciousness, consciousness of subjects and kings. Great politicians, successful businessmen of all times and peoples have long understood the importance and essence of design for the success of their career. Just remember Egyptian pharaohs, Roman emperors, European and Russian kings – all they used architecture and design to achieve their great goals. Today the powers that be continue to prove their importance by their charisma and original image! Example – the “glamorous” reception office in the Kremlin or the “Oval Office” in the White House. Finally, these are an excellent office design that helped their masters to change the world! I would rephrase the famous statement “People make the King” like “Design makes the King”. And not only the king.

DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?

IG : Evolution of any society is associated tightly with a human view of the world around; architecture and design is a way to adjust this world to own ideological and household requirements. The difference between modern architectural and design styles is preconditioned by the difference in basic philosophic theories. Trends in art, architecture and design are not an abstract formal search for forms but for meaning. Unfortunately, the requirements of our Moldovan society are very inconsistent, non-specific and cloudy and naturally they are reflected in architecture and design in Moldova. After all, any architecture and design project in Moldova is ordered by a customer according to his/her own vision, perception of the world and level of culture. Let’s give some consideration to terms present in abundance in the vocabulary of our politicians-ideologists and members of the public: “pro-European course” or “European-style repair” that were mocked many times by European policy-makers (for example, Stefan Fule). What namely Europe is it spoken about? Europe is very different! But every resident of Moldova has his/her own understanding of these terms. Mess in minds leads to poor architectural and design solutions.

DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?

IG : Dutch Design Week Eindhoven 2017 is not a simple design exhibition, but a World Festival of Intelligence, Fashion and Design!«The Making Of» was the slogan of the exhibition in 2017 focused on „creative and manufacturing process of product making”.Dutch Design 2017 exhibition showed us how deep the eccentric but very practical and thrifty Holland designers of today can dip into the future.The Holland design is as simple and brilliant as bisyscle, but this “Holland bicycle” is a mix of scientific experiments and high technology all together with humor and comfort!

DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?

IG : meditation, meditation and once again meditation)))..and of course music!)))

DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?

IG : Trends in art, architecture and design are not an abstract formal search for forms but for meaning. Unfortunately, the requirements of our Moldovan society are very inconsistent, non-specific and cloudy and naturally they are reflected in architecture and design in Moldova. After all, any architecture and design project in Moldova is ordered by a customer according to his/her own vision, perception of the world and level of culture. Let’s give some consideration to terms present in abundance in the vocabulary of our politicians-ideologists and members of the public: “pro-European course” or “European-style repair” that were mocked many times by European policy-makers (for example, Stefan Fule). What namely Europe is it spoken about? Europe is very different! But every resident of Moldova has his/her own understanding of these terms. Mess in minds leads to poor architectural and design solutions.

DI: How do you work with companies?

IG : usually, companies are satisfied with the cooperation with us

DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?

IG : n my opinion, yes, the customer shares responsibility with the architect for poor architecture and design solutions. The customer must place more confidence in the architect or designer. The architect is an artist living with the future in his/her mind, and a real artist does not mean a person who is good at drawing but a person who can think. I am not going to remind you, whom the architect was compared to in the past, but I recall frequently a quotation of Henry Ford “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse”. The architect – designer offers to the customer “a car from the future” but the customer rejects it and asks for “a faster horse”, because in the customer’s mind the car does not exist at all. Figuratively, the designer offers an iphone 7 but the customer refuses it and argues that all his/her friends think that it looks like a soap-box because it has “neither a rotary dialer nor buttons, wires or handset”.

DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?

IG : it all starts with meditation ... do not forget, we are Zen)))

DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?

IG : 1.consciousness of the client, 2.the future success of the client, 3.comfort of the client, 4.functionality of the living space for the client, 5.happiness of the client

DI: Can you describe a day in your life?

IG : Chinese Godfathers. In addition to my Russian-speaking customer, I was welcomed by two of his Chinese partners. One of them is the owner of the building; the second one is the builder. The owner is like a Mafiosi from the films about the "yakuza", (though whence is there yakuza in China?)). A colorful appearance - one eye doesn't open, therefore the second one does not look more affable. But they arrange a ceremonial reception for us. The main principle is work may be done later, ceremony first. Questions through an interpreter, shrimp in some insanely non-ecological oil and (it seems) with pork lard. The business dinner is lingering. It's getting dark, and I would like so much to get to the premises, measure and send the dimensions for starting the work to Chisinau.Measurements and WeChats. It is clear that a business dinner with the customer is more important than measuring the room. Therefore, you have to measure in the dark, highlighting with your phone. Here and there wires of communications stick out and the walls are bare. Now it's time to transfer the data to Chisinau, to the office. Call it a challenge in the Internet age. But, it turns out, that in China it’s another problem. Since there is NO access to gmail, and Facebook, and Viber, and Skype! The Great Wall of China is not the wall that is visible from space. The Great Wall of China is an invisible border for the pernicious Western information influence. But there is Internet, and there is WeChat, a truly Chinese invention, where you can chat, and buy, and search. Just install WeChat in Chisinau, and the only barrier to communication remained is the six-hour time difference.Search for the concept. At night, a tour to nightclubs and restaurants in Guangzhou. It is necessary to understand, what’s in trend for Chinese people. It turns out .. and it's a little bit shocking ... the design is closer to our 90th: everything is bright, with gold, pompous and over-the-top.In any incomprehensible situation, buy light... Well. Just seven days remained until the end of the business trip to China. While the office proposes the arrangement of furniture and equipment, as well as renders the sketches of the future restaurant, it is possible (and necessary) to make purchases. And if you still don’t understand anything, then you can start with light, let it serve as a starting point. After all, light is less attached to the exact dimensions of the room. I go to my Chinese guide Kolya (it is clear that his name is "Shen Bojing Wang ", but he once lived in the USSR for several years, and for convenience of Russian ear prefers to introduce himself as Kolya) and say: "Let's go for the light." Let's go, he replies. Only you, Irina, do not discuss prices, you're European, and they will raise prices for you. You just choose ... Well, I can choose ... More precisely, I thought so, until I came to the "light market." I stand and look at this "small market". Thirty (!) fifteen-story buildings, where they sell only (!) light: lighting, lamps, chandeliers, and floor lamps. And I'm used to watching everything, before choosing. And a crack appears in my brains like in a century old ice in the Arctic Ocean; now I will either live here in the light for the rest of my life, or I'll choose the first one that suits me and take it off.Without language. My translator Kolya could not stand my schedule, so I had another interpreter too, Tolya. And with other 20 million Chinese people who surrounded me close enough, I would establish non-verbal contact. More precisely, I wouldn't establish any contact at all. I think that by the fourth day a draft of the bar was ready. A pole for night club. And the edges of the bar, like wings, had to hang in the air. The drawing is in my hands, but who will perform it in reality is unclear. Neither Kolya, nor Tolya can find a person or an organization that would take up this bar. And, I remind you, it's not 30, but 26 days before the opening of the club. Finally, it seemed like a bright spot appeared. We've found it. We drive for about four hours. The city is replaced by abandoned industrial zones, such a sweet Chinese post-apocalypse. We arrived. The owner of the company greets us. He does not speak English. Kolya's and Tolya's vocabulary doesn't include reading drawings and technical features. I understand: this is a real bummer. And then a miracle happens. The China man unfolds his drawings, and we talk with him the same language for two hours. It turns out that the Russian and Chinese drafts are 100% identical. I hadn't have such a mutual understanding for a long time (e.g., for our Moldovan very often you need to supplement the builders drawings with gestures, facial expressions and even sounds). The most amusing thing is that China is a very strange country, the old man who took up and made the bar, was incidentally a millionaire. China is a strange country.Food for an architect. One cannot work without eating. But to eat Chinese food in China means to put at risk your European stomach, and then your European work capacity. They really like to fry everything in oil. And, the impression is that draining oil after frying is a crime against all Chinese gods. But even if they drain it… At the place where I was, recently one case took place, on a street with many restaurants, that goes downhill, a couple of dodge Chinese would collect waste oil from the sewage system at the end of the street, would do something with it out of politeness and would sell it back to the owners of the same restaurants. In general, once a day I went out to eat something European. But it's expensive, damn it. A visit to an Italian restaurant without miracles costs 40-50 euros for the same food that in our country costs 10 or 15 euros.

DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?

IG : From the theory standpoint, visual merchandising allows imaginative modeling of the objective world. The basics of visual merchandising are built on scientific principles of research subject substantiation. Visual merchandising relies on crucial concepts pertaining to human psychophysics – perception and attention. The importance of taking attention and perception features into consideration when designing office space is determined by the fact that by means of visual presentation a potential client is provided with product information, which he/she can perceive relying on his/her own psychophysiological capabilities. From the economics standpoint, office interior design can be a part of the company’s marketing and advertising strategy since it is intended to build up the company’s image, to form company’s brand perception, as well as to regulate buyers streams and to create footpaths for office workers and clients within office space. I believe that modern design of office spaces is a real scientific discipline, where the performance of a firm is studied as a certain system of job duties, subjects and objects of labor, physical and mental features of the human body. Therefore, we in Zen Design S.R.L. approach the office space interior design as a system in whole, as a certain machine, taking into consideration all external and internal factors: technical, social, organizational.For example, one of the crucial details of this “machine for making money” is to create consciousness of a successful businessman and, of course, in psychology of a successful businessman the charisma plays an essential role. The leader charisma is a powerful tool to influence people. A charismatic leader achieves the goal easily thanks to his/her ability to inspire people. He/she does not need to force anyone – the team performs effectively and with pleasure. The priority for us here is to maintain the leader charisma with an unusual and remarkable design: acoustic background, wall color, light pattern.

DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?

IG : The architect is a sommelier of your future!There was a time when the mankind had been progressing vigorously. Everything was changing continuously, and not only the things that surrounded people, but also the words which they used. Those days there were many different terms for creative persons, such as artist, engineer, poet, musician, scientist, architect or designer. At present the creative art is still alive - however it has somewhat come down to choosing from that that had already been created. Metaphorically speaking we do not grow grapes any longer. We just send for a bottle to the cellar. And the people who are engaged in it called "sommelier".Architect, designer and the sommelier as such has to turn into an acute psychologist at times – to be capable of guessing their clients’ mood, spiritual and aesthetic needs, of defining their social status and descent. Sometimes a sommelier must display quite a sense of humour, ingenuity and quick wit.Every time a skilful sommelier presents the wines, which are certainly well-known to him, with the same freshness of emotions that one usually speaks of a recent discovery, similar to a good actor that comes to revelation at each performing of the role learned years ago.The architects or designers get their ideas, fancies or inventions from «a cellar of knowledge» as a proficient sommelier. They choose the thing that just surprise and delight you, particularly! The architect-sommelier will uncork your future and offer you 3D images of your future life for taste-testing.

DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?

IG : A restaurant designer in Moldova, on the one hand, has to reshape keen European trends into an accessible local product, but on the other hand, to dip into the nearest future and forecast what will be a guest of the restaurant in a year, two or five. Yes, we know how to create in Moldova a restaurant design that will bring luck and money!

DI: What skills are most important for a designer?

IG : The architect is a sommelier of your future!Therefore I declare, as the architect and designer of Moldova, a country with time-honored wine traditions, - "I am a sommelier of your future!"

DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?

IG : The architects or designers get their ideas, fancies or inventions from «a cellar of knowledge» as a proficient sommelier. They choose the thing that just surprise and delight you, particularly! The architect-sommelier will uncork your future and offer you 3D images of your future life for taste-testing.

DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?

IG : night call, it is obvious that the voice comes from afar: “Irina, I, with my Chinese partners, have premises for a club in a "small" 8 millionth resort town of Shenzhen on the Pacific coast, between Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The premise is in a new hotel, by the sea. There is food in the afternoon and club at night. Would you take on the project? I pay for urgency. The club must be launched in 30 days“.... and what I was thinking at this moment? That money for urgency is great? But in case of an obvious failure, no one will pay, and no one launch clubs in 30 days. For three months in an emergency? Yes. For nine months in an emergency order? Yes. For…? Yes. But not for 30 days! This is unrealistic … And suddenly, someone says with my voice: “OK. I will come”....... On the eighth day I flew away. The club was opened already without me after 22 days. It’s easier to show an unbelievable thing than to tell about it. Here are the photos of the operating club. China.

DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

IG : some projects about 20 days, some 5-7 years)))

DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?

IG : how much is the design?....)))

DI: What was your most important job experience?

IG : They say that there are black holes where energy disappears. China is a black hole vice versa. The energy there is being accumulated, even rather it is boiling. In poor oil, in "small" cities with five million people and big cities with twenty millions, they accumulate and accumulate the energy. And one day it will be splashed out and they will go to conquer the world. Not with weapon, but with their lifestyle. They are different. And I had to go to China and I must return. In order to switch scales. Why did I get into this? Well, definitely not for the money. I need money like anyone else, but when you get into such a situation, you do not think about them anymore. It's a drive, or testing myself and my team for strength, or preparing for something new in my life. Because after this trip I can't now make objects in six months or nine months every time. Sometimes, yes, I will. But I'll crave for trying to create something in 30 days again. As for there is a precedent in history when a bigger object took up just seven days, at that Sunday was a day of rest.

DI: Who are some of your clients?

IG : Enterprises, hotels, retail and restaurant chains, restaurateurs, businessmen and individuals

DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?

IG : There is a lot of work to do: we have to expand our business, to hire new employees, to buy equipment, software. The project pricing mechanism consists of many factors: time for development, number of personnel to be involved in the project, complexity of the project, etc. Unfortunately, we don’t have any promotions or discount offers; in fact, we have to say no to many people and even part with our old customers. The day consists of a limited number of hours and we don’t have the right to create unequal conditions for our clients. Among the architectural and design companies we are at the top of the rating because we offer a qualitative and stable product. We can’t make significant concessions as we employ highly qualified staff requiring high remuneration. And there is one more reason: it is very difficult to do underpaid work qualitatively; we set a high value on our portfolio.

DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

IG : There is nothing impossible for the team of creative and experienced professionals from Zen Design S.R.L. We need only advance payment and coordinates of the point on the third planet from the Sun and we will make your every fantasy come true!

DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

IG : There is a lot of work to do: we have to expand our business, to hire new employees, to buy equipment, software. The project pricing mechanism consists of many factors: time for development, number of personnel to be involved in the project, complexity of the project, etc. Unfortunately, we don’t have any promotions or discount offers; in fact, we have to say no to many people and even part with our old customers. The day consists of a limited number of hours and we don’t have the right to create unequal conditions for our clients. Among the architectural and design companies we are at the top of the rating because we offer a qualitative and stable product. We can’t make significant concessions as we employ highly qualified staff requiring high remuneration. And there is one more reason: it is very difficult to do underpaid work qualitatively; we set a high value on our portfolio.

DI: How can people contact you?

IG : zendesign@list.ru +37360208108

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

IG : Great architect, innovator and philosopher Le Corbusier once suggested that it should be advisable to design a residential house as a mechanism. But I want to change this statement a little bit: “An DESIGN is a machine for making money”, but it does not imply at all that Le Corbusier should be quoted stylistically in interior design, it means that the office or bureau should be treated in an holistic manner, as a mechanism aimed at deriving maximum profit, since your office is a machine for making money!