This work is very important because of its mission to keep the memory of Tomsk wooden architecture, which is in danger of disappearing.

In the late 20th century, the city of Tomsk was full of wonderful wooden structures of the 19th century or the early 20th century – unique, beautiful, intricate, bringing together fairy tale magic, complexity and a sophisticated wood carving technique –the unique DNA of our culture.

Today, most of these structures have disappeared. They make movies about it, locals frequently protest against it, but these buildings continue to disappear.

Darya’s work took the form of a statement about the issue of Tomsk wood carving disappearing. Darya has designed a fashion accessories line based on carving elements of various buildings, offering these accessories to become a new bearer of these elements and forms while taking into account their purpose in decorative design of buildings – for home, these decorative elements used to serve as protection or some kind of charm against evil spirits and energies.

Darya started her work with a detailed study of Tomsk structures’ decorative elements and making sketches of these elements. During this process, the three-dimensional objects took the form of drawings that enabled her to play with certain elements, combine them and create new forms.

Later, using a contemporary big sewn accessories technique, Darya created real objects and a lookbook of the collection. Darya named these objects armour, in other words, the protection function is left unchanged. It is important to note that the elements in the drawings turned back into three-dimensional objects, which means that the aspect of volume was preserved as well.

Gorgeous accessories accurately re-create specific elements of Tomsk disappearing wooden architecture.

We are very grateful to Darya for her remarkable work, for her courage to work not only on a graphic experiment but also on real objects, as well as for her important artistic statement and real contribution to preserving the memory of unique historical sites of Russia.

Main characteristics of the interpretation:

Volume / relief: preserved due to creating real three-dimensional objects that replicate the carving style.

The color scheme: changed but remains “neutral”. Wooden architecture often used to be one-color, with discreet hues. In the interpretation, black and white monochromatic colors are used. On the one hand, it brightens the work, while on the other hand, it focuses our attention specifically on the form of the object instead of its coloring.

The outline of certain elements: preserved.

Rhythmics: preserved.

Composition: changed due to the choice of certain elements / composition blocks of the overall composition of an architectural structure.