Dizaina Studija. Telpa Forma Laiks

In the new year, Latvian lovers of design will have the opportunity to purchase another qualitative product which has been planned to the finest detail – designer wallpaper. This is the first project which the design firm ZNAK has undertaken in collaboration with artists. Inese Zīvere, director of the company, aims to create relevant environmental design projects, therefore future perspectives are being carefully considered, with the invitation of Fion Dobbin – a creative director from Germany – to work in the team and to create the image for the company, while entrusting the development of graphic identity to a home-grown personality – Gints Apsītis. The plan to create “art on wallpaper” as a product was formulated by the author of the idea in 2006, although collaboration with artists was begun in spring 2007 after solid research into wallpaper created globally.

Planning the collection to be as diverse as possible, Inese Zīvere has chosen recognised authors with differing, expressive styles – Elita Patmalniece, Maija Kurševa, Krišs Salmanis, Gints Apsītis and Andris Vītoliņš from Latvia, Merike Estna from Estonia and Arturas Bumsteinas from Lithuania. Having a knowledge of the artists’ painting or activity in other fields of art, it is interesting to see that each has discovered the particularities of creating a decorative pattern. The artists were invited to create sketches for the wallpaper, while thinking about the ideal space in which they would like to be. This is why in the collection one can see robots, pirates, pilots and stewardesses, and ornaments which can be “read” within a specific conceptual framework. As Inese Zīvere notes, interactive wallpaper solutions are currently very popular around the world – it is possible to search for hidden drawings on the walls, to solve clever brain teasers or create for yourself design combinations, by using stickers, for example. In the ZNAK collection, wallpaper has been positioned as exclusive art work – each of these designs will include the signature of the author and a little plaque bearing the copy number, although it must be recognised that this is another opportunity to observe how diversely graphic design is presented these days and what meaning is apportioned to supposedly simple interior decorative elements. The strategy chosen by ZNAK reinforces one’s awareness that the commercial success of a product is defined by tailor-made marketing. Examples of true design gain value through the passing of time: if we look, for instance, at examples of colourful Baroque silk tapestries, and we are left to wish this carefully produced and exciting product to also withstand the test of time.