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Small, creative companies are currently forming a network in the cultural landscape, offering ideas that are testimony to a change in the paradigms of society.
By calling for Latvian design, it appears that we have been impatient at times, and in place of taking one step up we have wanted to jump past a whole floor immediately. We have forgotten that the opportunity for change is determined by the sum of particular conditions. The "years of plenty" did not pull design upwards in the way that could have been expected. Now one end of the national economy has crashed to the ground, because the credit and real estate bubble has burst. However the market economy has the tendency to reorganise itself. How can one use this situation and ride the crest of the wave without ending up in a puddle? The global market is crammed full of offers, and when looking for pointers in creating successful, competitive products, the experts always suggest our cultural traditions and creative potential as selling points. The stumbling of the national economy has, as a side-effect, cast the die, with its results now being called a process. The creative potential that until now was employed elsewhere has been freed; rental prices have also become business-friendly. Small, creative companies are currently forming a network in the cultural landscape, offering ideas that are testimony to a change in the paradigms of society.
Keeping old things functioning as long as possible and creating new things by hand was an every day fact of daily soviet life. Pawn shops were oases in the middle of everything else, providing the hope to find in them something beyond the banality of reality, irrespective of whether it had been used before. The op-shops of the first post-Soviet crisis turned out to be a field of opportunity – to not walk around naked and on some lucky instances, to even dress with style. With the growth of wealth, a logical continuation followed: to sweep away all of the memories associated with one’s own previous poverty. A new life was built, along with the hurried acquisition of a mass of new things.
Society has to be both well-fed and at a certain level of moral maturity for used goods to be ascribed an antique value, to call it vintage and to begin to consider the positive gains of recycling. The world has known the phenomenon of fashion for 300-400 years, and this time span has brought profits for the producers of fashion goods, thus providing the impulse to throw away certain things to replace them with different versions. Vintage also reflects the laws of fashion – its cyclical nature, however, the origin of this phenomenon is different because the idea of recycling itself is a part of socially responsible design.
In 2003 the artistically oriented research project Rīgas modes was launched by Emīls Rode and Simona Veilane, which reflected upon the dressing habits of Riga’s pensioners as a local cultural phenomenon, with the stories behind clothes and objects as the focus of attention. A photo session followed in one of the most central tribunes – the newspaper Diena – with the project authors as models. The concept of vintage emerged in the local cultural scene. Now the phenomenon has established itself, probably permanently, and the offerings cover the whole spectrum – from the "high end", where antique objects are restored in an authentic manner before sale, making these into contemporary signs, to democratic vintage models, which are related to fringe culture.
"Zuzanna"
PHOTO: Valdis Lavrinovičs
The salon Zuzanna has opened in the respectable Bergs Bazaar, whose owners are architects Ilze Jansone and Dace Ūdre (who also represent the architecture studio L’Escala), with the participation of Inese Neilande. The creative potential that has been invested in this project has been freed up along with the reduced workload in the profession – the market for architectural design has frozen for well-known reasons. This is therefore an example of a business which has been created as a positive side-effect of the economic crisis. The salon is notable for its professional knowledge and quality – it offers antique furniture, interior accessories, crockery and original designs by the owners of the salon. Items from the first era of Latvian independence are refurbished and creatively modified, as well as items acquired in other European antique markets –Brussels, London, Amsterdam and elsewhere. The pricing does not quite fall within the "democratic" niche, however, taking into account the quality and investment, it is far from the nihilism of Latvian design, which often makes creators of local products value themselves more highly than international design stars. The business collaborates with craftsmen and actually has obviously implemented the age-old assumption about our competitive edge in the creative field and craft traditions, which are not often combined into a unified whole. Other creative companies first create a circle of clients, gathering around themselves like-minded friends and acquaintances, but the experience of Zuzanna has been different. Up until now, the salon has worked without specially defining its target audience, and expected clients "from the street". This approach has been surprisingly successful.
"20. gadsmits"
PHOTO: Dite Jurcāne
20. gadsimts (20th century) has moved into a familiar building in Miera Street, where the "patriarch" of the building is Ansis Epners’ studio AVE, with the artist Kristaps Epners representing the creative owners, and it is becoming a gathering place for equally creative sub-letters. 20. gadsimts is a cooperative of sorts: "second hand" design objects – mirrors, lamps, glass dishes and a few pieces of style furniture are offered for sale by Dite Jurcāne (a qualified linguist, who honed her creativity ages ago, both by working with respected restoration specialist Edgars Raitums, and in the office of architect Sintija Vaivade). The items are imported and then groomed for sale. It is interesting that none of the people developing the vintage field are pushing the Soviet aesthetic –items from this side of the "iron curtain" have a markedly unusual "taste" and are not always the best quality, although you can find treasures amongst these as well. The academically-educated stage designer, Rūta Kuplā, began to build her private collection of costumes parallel to her costume designer’s job in the theatre, and offers potential clients the use of her collection as well as stylist services. The outfits are not meant for sale, but are hired out for special events, and the demand for non-standard body sizing is also catered for. Rūta’s own hand crafting is invested in the project – a part of the historical costume has been repaired and altered. The time span of the costumes is 1950s-80s. Late last century a global tendency in museum culture appeared, when they turned their faces "to the public": that is, citadels with locked collections became active and friendly partners for dialogue with the public. Businesses can successfully participate in this process – Rūta considers the educational element as a significant aspect of her business. Miera Street is not located on the tourist trails network and not even an active pedestrian zone, therefore the circle of clients is mainly made up of acquaintances.
RETRO SPECTRO
PHOTO: Zane Nebeta
If Linda and Mareks Ezerkalns’ Retro Spectro does not quite fit into the informal vintage zone (as formal as vintage can be generally), then outwardly it associates with the phenomenon which Russians describe as “kitchen culture”. Their range is not advertised through shop windows: in order to find this space, which is refurbished as an underground apartment, you have to have prior knowledge and even a certain amount of courage. In many ways, Retro Spectro is a child of this century, because information reaches potential clients mainly through twitter and blogging. Besides, this points to new tendencies in the tourism industry – the curious tourist is no longer happy to spend their money only on glossy postcard objects, but also searches for informal experiences on remote paths. Linda has graduated from the Department of Environmental Science of the Faculty of Geography (University of Latvia), and, although her current activity is far from her academic education, ecological thinking is something they both have in common. Mareks is a freelancer and musician. Vintage collections and a few style accessories are selected according to the season and taken from various countries (jewellery has been ordered from America, Scandinavian shoes are popular, etc). The business is also planning to move into a posh space on Basteja Boulevard with an alternative music club, and it will be interesting to observe how underground culture interacts with this snobby area.
At the moment we can happily pinpoint an increasing number of creative points on the city map, which indicates the inclusion of the once-exalted creative industries in the national economy. How resilient will this process be and are these ventures capable of survival? Economic predictions do not have a rosy outlook. As soon as the pendulum of the economy starts to swing the other way, the price of rentals will increase. Specialists suggest that Latvia needs an export market, because only a flood of resources from the outside can raise the buying power of the internal market, while the companies examined here mostly import items, leaving their money outside Latvia, and orient themselves towards the local buyer. Experts predict that a significant number of employable citizens will leave Latvia in the near future, therefore the population will age, and the pensioners who are left will not be interested in innovative lifestyle ideas. However, everything happens at the time when it can happen; it is doubtful that some all-mighty hand can turn the wheel, which has already begun to gain speed, back to the start position. God probably has some combination of the dice in mind.
