Through the mirror and what Alice saw there, or Alice in the Looking Glass .... With this tale of Lewis Carroll, more than one generation of children grew up. And each kid desperately wanted to visit the Looking Glass himself. Even for a minute to be where chess pieces come to life and unicorns walk, sing and dance Trulyalya and Tralyalya, the sad White Knight wanders. And suddenly, you won’t believe it, before you opens the door to the real Looking Glass behind which ... No one knows what awaits you inside. But truly fairy-tale characters are kindly inviting you to look inside - a pleasant young man in a suit and a lady in a dress with crinolines and a flirty hat. Well, how can you refuse? And then, curiosity drives you from a very young age - is everything really the way it seems, or quite the opposite?
Behind the mysterious door is the lobby, which is subtly reminiscent of an Orthodox church. If you look closely, you can also notice elements of church decor. And then there are three roads. Where do they lead? One, of course, in a gloomy green garden where birds sing, trees are buried in a haze, and in the air it smells of hops. The other is in the realm of opera and the most courteous eras - the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo. The third ... Not a word more, dear reader. All roads lead to Memories .... So, hurry up and learn everything from the first hand of the Master. Designer Sergey Grinko.
Sergey, how did you come to Memories?
I graduated from several schools: as a fashion designer, I got a specialty in fashion clothing, then as an interior designer I got a diploma from S. Martin's college in the art of sculpture. In my work, everything is interconnected - style and interior are combined together as a single whole. I take colors and some nuances inherent in the laws of modeling clothes, and make them into furniture, interior, chandeliers. Memories Boutique is a new idea for Dubai, embodied not only in interior items, but also in women's accessories, shawls, bags, jewelry, plus, interesting women's shoes and homemade trinkets will soon appear.
Is all this being created here in Dubai?
The main work is carried out in Europe, we order bronze and furniture in Italy, porcelain - in France. Then all this is combined and assembled together in Dubai, piece by piece. All items are created for a specific project, each time a new one, so nothing is repeated. The project of color and style.
This season we are going to the Japanese direction in the French style of the revival of the 16th century .... What is the history of this trend? In the 17th century, few could afford the luxury of travel; only select people succeeded. French travelers who visited Japan took with them back to Europe not only amazing legends about a mysterious distant country, but also a certain style that was firmly established in fashion. Japanese motifs found their application in porcelain painting, wall decor, and this style was called Japanised - that is, "in Japanese." This is what I use this season - France of the 17th century, the Japanese element.
Are you trying to use one, recognizable direction in your work?
In addition to this boutique, we are developing another business, working with the design of palace villas in Abu Dhabi, as well as we partially decorated the famous restaurant "Buddha Bar". The concept of this restaurant was not created by us; our task was to add the “taste” of our style to this restaurant. For what special chandeliers, table, floor lamps, sconces, panels with hand embroideries, even brushes made of leather and embroidered like dragons were created. Such small trifles, details, and create a special atmosphere, support a given image. All the things that we created cause strong emotions in people, they feel real art and just fall in love with it.
Once I needed to pick up a gift for a friend for an apartment decorated in a certain style. I bought one little thing, but in the apartment for which it was intended, the item lost its identity and image in which it was in the boutique. The thing was simply "lost", became invisible.
Today, we are far from the mass production of souvenirs or some household trinkets. All our products are not souvenirs, but things that will be passed from generation to generation, stored and inherited. Basically, everything that we invent and create becomes a memoir, memory, memory. These are collectibles, they are made in very limited quantities, and sometimes just in a single copy. Antique items, brooches, frames, candelabra, which gain a second life, are often taken as the basis, and it is simply impossible to create such things in droves.
I can give an example: designer Maryam Askel, who promoted the style of the twenties, Arten Kraft, was very popular in the 30-50s. The artist died in the 30s, tragically, from dystrophy. She kept on diets all the time to keep her wasp waist. The company closed after her death, and the things that she created were no longer produced. But Maryam-style remained a style, and even now it is recognizable, and its products are valued almost like Picasso jewelry.
You have created three rooms in the Memories boutique. Each of them is so harmonious, and at the same time, so different from the others ...
Each of the halls is a kind of tribute to a certain era. Do you remember the Russian patron of arts Mamontov in St. Petersburg hosted evening parties, reading poetry, playing the piano, singing romances? ... So, the lobby was created in such a way as to convey the atmosphere of that time. And, despite the fact that the hall has the name "Opera", in fact it is a salon where guests are welcomed, it is a "living" room in which the spirit of idle pastime hovers. So you went, as if into a 19th-century salon. (Here I wanted to feel like a baroness and sit in a luxurious green armchair, embroidered with flowers and butterflies, fanning myself with an inlaid fan, and attach a necklace of semiprecious stones to my chest).
It all starts with a salon or foyer, which leads you further, as in a fairy tale: "you’ll go left, you will fall into a fairy tale, you will go right ...", and here we have three ways, three roads: one leads to the Opera, the other to Drama, and the third - in a romantic flower garden. Three paths, on each of which different associations are born. Suppose, upon entering the garden, you seem to find yourself in some kind of antique castle, everything is half-fogged, the aromas of apples and hops fill the air, the main floral decorations, unusual Asian flowers, stuffed peacocks. Installations with modern champagne glasses and antique gizmos, fancy chandeliers, hang from the trees like unprecedented fruits. And these chandeliers are made of semiprecious stone and decorated with Austrian crystals.
The external facade we made in Germany, some small parts had to be done in Lebanon, and there just at that time there was a war, and our truck was bombed. There was an unexpected delay in operation. Although, in the end, they exported all the elements from Germany and Lebanon, but collected them here in Dubai.
The clothes of the boutique employees are also striking in their unusualness.
Because with the general style of the 19th century in a different uniform, they will look alien. I worked on costumes for a long time. We decided to put together all the details of the Memories interior, which is why the colors used in the uniform resonate with the design of different parts of the store. Upholstery fabrics, curtain brushes, interior elements and decorative materials - all this has found application in costumes. You must admit that employees look very elegant and organic in them.
Sergey, it’s just like in a museum here! Perhaps this feeling appears because there are no museums in Dubai with real antiques?
You're right. There are similarities with the museum, but the whole charm is that here you can still buy something as a keepsake. Here tourists come to the Emirates, they can be taken to Sharjah or to the Golden Market, and now in Dubai there is our Memories, and this boutique as a tourist attraction can be shown and brought here to the guests of the city.
I heard that a cafe is planned to be opened soon on the basis of Memories?
Not only a cafe, when everything will be fully open, we will definitely make a thematic restaurant. There are many more long-term projects.
By January we are preparing a new collection - “Dancing Shadows”, which will “sound” in jewelry, in furniture, and in accessories. Purple and purple tones on a black base. This is what I spoke about before - each new season has one of the keys that will permeate all the products of the collection. Now we have the main tone - green, here you see, for example, amber with roses - against a green background. And by January, the tone will change.
What other colors and shades should be expected?
In winter there is a lot of black, gold with black is very fashionable. But it’s too late to ask about winter, now we are getting ready for summer.
And what will happen in the summer?
In the spring-summer, according to the latest shows in France, Alexander Mack Quinn, for example, made a lot of Renaissance. The colors are so light, light, but a little pale, as if faded, not bright. Some designers, on the contrary, took the path of mixing colors, they have everything there: pink and green. One single direction is not visible, however, a lot of the Renaissance, implicated in the style of the 50s.
Do you make "personalized" collections?
I am an absolutely unpretentious person. Envy usually gives birth to popularity, I don’t need it. I am glad that my products are sold in London, Tokyo and Moscow.
Through an agent, we conducted a show in Dubai of a very popular designer now in London, whose name is Ziyad Ghanem. He works in the style of "urban couture chic", we have been working with him for a very long time, the fashion show was made specifically for professionals. Then, in April, several young designers from Germany and France came to Dubai, and as part of the show, I presented my first collection of hot-couture jewelry. The collection was just crazy, showing wedding dresses along with devilishly black costumes. For example, the model was dressed in silk black abaya (eastern women's clothing), during the show, the girl rips her off, and there - a beach suit made of semiprecious stones and jewelry. Another model takes off the abaya, turns around, and then everything changes: bright light, she is in a white denim dress with butterflies.
I heard a creative person, are you fond of music?
I make collections. For example, the Memories store album is three times, as I said: the Renaissance, the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries. And all these three times go along the same road. And you hear the music of one, then another, then the third era. Harmony. I take a flute, add more serious music of the XIX century, a composition from the movie "Omen", and to this - such calm and happy music from Josephine Baker Paris, Paris ...
Before that, I had made an album with computer music, where there were a lot of Verdi, Tchaikovsky.
Do you yourself sometimes approach the instrument?
I can play some moments, “Elegy” by Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky ... Only now there is catastrophically no time, and he does not have any hobbies.
The recorder was turned off for a long time, and the tour through the halls of Memories continued. Sergei told the story of literally every thing, some of which are not for sale, while the other got into the boutique from the artist’s personal antique collections, for example, an old harpsichord that adorns one hall. “It would be foolish if he stood in my house. Nobody will see him there,” says Sergey. - "And here it is harmoniously inscribed in the style and gives joy to our guests."
Three roads led me farther and farther into the Looking Glass. There, where Alice became Queen, and there was a garden where flowers spoke .... And believe me, I did not want to leave from there at all.
Interviewed by Irina Ivanova
