Let’s have some play time

When was the last time you met an airplane engineer? It’s surely even rarer to find one who has also launched a fashion label and is dabbling in doll design…

This story no matter how extraordinary is, happens on a very ordinary January morning over a croissant and a cup of coffee. I am supposed to meet Yana at 10am and she is already there. As soon as I say hi I have the feeling I am intruding. Yana is kind but distant. I am surprised to see a woman totally different from what I was expecting. I’ve done so many interviews in my life that it’s really difficult not to be “prepared” and to some extent proposed, but I love the fact that she surprises and dares my expectations.

Yana is doesn’t look very much of an extrovert, to me she looks shy, vulnerable and a little uncertain, however sharp, graceful and from time to time tending to sound cynical. Her friends say she is bold, opinionated and copy, but only in their company. For a first meeting I have the feeling she is frail and dainty, but she is hiding it behind her laughter and scepticism rationality. “I am a dreamer, I believe in new ideas and my own ones. I believe in happy ending”, says Yana about herself.

Back in Russia Yana has studied and graduated Aerospace Engineering. I think once you see her clothes you can feel the connection with the mind behind the design and the patterns. There is a certain discipline involved and a certain pragmatism, but you can feel a woman who wants to escape being ordinary and random. She does it with a certain zeal and devotion (not preoccupation though).

I like Yana, the way I like airplanes and helicopters, they make me feel released from daily pragmatism and duties. Here’s what I spoke to Yana about:

Tsitaliya: Who is Yana: I am a fashion designer and a doll maker

Yana: What do you love about fashion design: I love prints and I like to design my own prints and play with them, mix and match. I like to create emotion with my clothes and to develop an atmosphere around it:
Russian/ bohemian/ grunge/ each collection tells a different story. Since I started making dolls I stopped designing clothes, except when people want to order one piece.

Tsitaliya: Why did you start making dolls?

Yana: I don’t know, I just like dolls and I like to provoke the traditional made dolls with a little more of reality. My dolls are not like a Barbie, they have tattoos, wear denim, sneakers and glasses. They are just like real women, the women I meet on the street who are my real inspiration. I started one year ago designing a line of celebrities: I made a Rihanna, then Rita Ora and Pharell. The collection was bought by a store here in Zurich. Last Fall I proposed to do some big dolls as windows mannequins for several boutiques and the idea was well accepted. That was a start to create the big window’s dolls for the fashion boutiques and presentation Spaces. Until now I did three windows and have in project some inquires.

Tsitaliya: Yana can you describe your idea behind making those dolls?

Yana: The small customized dolls are made after a photo, for example my own doll COCO, which is
50cm, styled, can have tattoos and accessories (earrings, dresses that can be changed). I would love to create something like a doll cult, suggesting that you can take your doll everywere: on a trip, at an apero or to walk around, sit with your doll in a Cafe. I don’t want to create some weird crazy idea, just a suggestion to have fun and people take it positively, smiling.

The cult around dolls can evolve and integrate the doll everywhere: book stores, cafe or bars, as street art, home deko e.t.c not only as a rag doll, but also as notebooks, phone covers, cussions, graffity, frames, wallpapers, books ( some of that is already on the online shop).

More about Yana and her work