Gurge biography

Entrepreneur, owner of the Gourji jewelry date and place of birth on November 1, Moscow Education Japanist, MGIMO, Faculty of International Economic Relations; MBA, the Chicago School of Business yet ... I have no art education, although I have been interested in ethnography and local history since childhood. But only when I studied at the Chicago School of Business in the second half of X, did I finally realize that I needed to make my life in accordance with my interests.

At the beginning of x, I decided to create my own brand of accessories, but I did not dare to call me in M ​​my friend-businessman from Santiago to Moscow. They flew for a long time, I shared doubts with him: "I want to open my brand, but I doubt it to name my name." And a friend - and he is a very convincing person - said: "Gourji, it's cool." After 14 hours, I left the plane, already crystally clearly realizing: away doubts, I will do what I consider necessary.

I am equal to stamps such as Paul Smith and Ralph Lauren, I want to do in Russia what they have done in their countries on their crops. At the same time, your first collections had little in common with ethnography and were inspired by Soviet aesthetics. In a certain sense, you got into the top ten: before everything Soviet culture remained in official fashion for everything Soviet culture - this is part of the Russian culture.

I am engaged in the fact that my clients are invited to go on a trip with me, an adventure on the Russian, or, as I call it, Eurasian culture. For me, this is all one single space: the Soviet, Tatar, Russian, Dagestan or Mongol seventy -year -old Soviet period - this is one of the episodes of the millennium history of Russia. In addition, at that time in Russia they did things that I consider with works of extraordinary beauty perfect in terms of design.

For example, the Dobralet sign, the predecessor of Aeroflot, drew Malevich. Of course, I made cufflinks with this sign. My first collection was called - unconditional signs. There were cufflinks with the TRP sign in it. And then we made the collection a white thing based on the signs of the white movement. Our buyers wear cufflinks with the White Guard slogan "Death to the enemies", and cufflinks with a sign of the TRP of the year.

Unconditional signs are generally our most successful collection. I remember how we made our first cufflinks based on the pioneer icon “Always ready”. From the very beginning, all our things were produced by a limited edition, the cufflinks were “always ready” by steam, and I thought that they had enough of them for years to come. But after six months, we sold them all. I had to change “always ready” to “be ready”.

The beginning of the twentieth century, the Silver Age, the Diaghilev “Russian Seasons” is one of my favorite eras. And e, when the power and energy of many people manifested itself, including intellectuals: constructivism and avant -garde. It seems to me that this is the most valuable thing that Russian culture and Russia gave the world. Doesn't modernity carry you at all?

Why? Now I see the relevance of the Chinese topic. Therefore, I study the history of the connections of China and Russia, from Genghis Khan to x. I think that at the beginning of next year several collections will appear on the development of the Russian northern part of China, tea trade and other important plots of our relations. At the same time, you are a Japanist by training.

But they never made collections on the topic of Japan. Meanwhile, not today, tomorrow our countries will sign a peace treaty. You would again be with your collection ahead of the planet, such an idea never visited me. But in March I will just go to Japan for two weeks, and I think that maybe by the next fall we will come up with something. Because the connections are really interesting.

Do you know that Aino live on Hokkaido Island? These are the descendants of the indigenous inhabitants of the Japanese islands, in whose traditions to wear thick beards, as in Siberia, is not an example of modern Japanese men. Your first collections were produced in Italy. Is there really no worthy jewelers left in Russia? Most of the things are now being done there, in Valenz.

But from the very beginning, some - silver cufflinks and keychairs on the topic of Soviet equipment - we did in Russia. Then it was a fundamental position. And now, over the past year, in Russia it has become also much more profitable. Moreover, many local manufacturers and manufactories were oriented and brought in the necessary equipment. If earlier we could only make silver casting here, now we can do gold jewelry and decorations with enamel.

True, while we are working with jewelers of Moscow and near Moscow. We visited all the traditional centers of Russian jewelry art: Rostov, and Yaroslavl, and Kostroma, and the village of Krasnoye on the Volga. But there we did not find masters who were able to make jewelry and accessories of the quality that we need. Unless in Fedoskin we managed to find the masters who paint the pens.

Although we definitely do not plan to produce them in Russia, it is still high -tech production, and so far there are no such opportunities as Montegrappa has.We also make cashmere products on Lake Como, but for six months they will be possible to produce in Russia.

I recently went to Mongolia recently; Now their local manufactories have advanced and can also make a good cashmere fabric, apply a pattern on it. You are a creative director. It is hard to believe that everything: cufflinks, shawls, jewelry, leather -haired - you came up with alone. I only give a common installation. Only on the Chalia we have near different prints.

A whole group of artists works with us. I learned about her quite by accident: I went to the “Moscow House of the Book” and saw a children's game in Moscow, which was very well painted there. Once, again, by chance, he got to the exhibition at the Central House of Sciences, where he saw the illustrations of Marina Usacheva for the children's book of the tale of the peoples of Russia, and realized that such an artist would suit us.

There is also Elena Mukhanova, she is engaged in floristry, and all the prints with flowers on the cashmere Gourji are made by her. She made us Shali on the topic of Crimea, long before all events. I just really love Crimea and I think this is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. We made a cashmere with these prints six years ago. And today the shawls of Yalta, the fountain of tears, Bakhchisarai are sales leaders.

What other places do you like? The north where I go every year. Arkhangelsk, Vologda regions - places about which we can say "here is the Russian spirit, it smells of Russia here." There have never been serfdom, free people have always lived. And from Eurasian places I love Central Asia. Even Western Ukraine, Carpathians. Everything gathered there together: the Slavs, Germans, Turks, Hungarians, Moldovans.

By the way, now my friends and I are going to drive from Lviv in Bucharest in Bucharest by car, I spent my childhood. So, perhaps, a Carpathian one will appear before the Chinese collection.