Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design was founded by Oleg Klodt, having Anna Agapova as Creative Director, and they have offices in London and Moscow. They describe their work process in different manners, but with the same purpose. Oleg Koldt refers:

“I am fully involved in the creative process and I enjoy both the process and the result equally. Perhaps the most interesting thing is for me to solve is complex psychological problems. Working on the project, we literally live on it. We lie down on the bed, enter the dressing room, climb into the closet. We try to understand what is convenient and important for a person”.

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The Creative Director Anna Agapova “experiences catharsis at the moment when I am already inside the finished interior. I am a tactile person, it is important for me to physically experience the interior, to enjoy shades, textures, semitones and nuances. Even after so many years of experience, for me, this moment is akin to the feeling that a child experiences when opening a Christmas present – a fairy tale, magic, magic and awe”.

“When you create a project for a person, you must understand his rhythm of life, what he does and what he really needs. At the same time, in my opinion, the interior should not be a visible designer. After all, we do not express ourselves in the profession, we create beautiful space and beautiful things for very specific people”. Oleg Koldt

Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design is a Solid Design Studio with a fast-growing expansion, however, things were not always so good. Klodt remembers that in 2008 during the Economic Crisis that affected the world, the project numbers decreased, leading to some complicated times, despite the harsh times, Klodt is now very grateful to this crisis for, during this period, he realised what he likes to do, making him work harder to salvage the business. It was during this tumultuous time that the Studio managed to implement a project which immediately got on the page of the leading interior publications and received a number of professional awards, giving a qualitative impetus to the development of this top architectural bureau.

Anna Agapova was not with Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design Studio in 2008, and she also shared a story of her recent past that made her learn but also fall in love once more for this industry:

“Almost a year ago, I moved from Moscow to London to manage our international O & A Design office, which is a challenge for me. I had to adapt not only to the language, but also to the culture, peculiarities of building a business and, most importantly, to a completely new type of customer, interaction with which is the key to success in interior design (…) I often hear the surprise of my colleagues, who tell us about what we do and the interiors, and produce our own interior collections, enter into unusual collaborations. Of course, everything does not always work out, it is a big and difficult way of trial and error, but after all, our life is not a draft, it is one, the other will not, therefore you need to try. My motto: “Do what you must and come what may.”

Following this moto by Agapova, Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design accomplished in 2018 one main Business Goal when they released the first textile collection with Holland & Sherry, whose nearly two centuries of experience in the production of exclusive fabrics have no analogues in the world market. This first collection was devoted to Scotland and, in nine designs, this collection told the story of a journey through this amazing land. This project is being led by Agapova that, now his engaging in the second collection called “Cities”, in which she will try to convey the feeling of every beloved city throughout the master of fabrics.

Proud of this accomplishment, Klodt continues to look ahead and is still searching for new ways to grow the business. Even though he is satisfied with everything that was done and wouldn’t attempt to go back in time to fix something, Klodt understands that time is rushing inexorably forward and he still wants to accomplish plenty. That is why Oleg and his Studio are starting to grow from private projects to cooperate with developers to do more commercial projects and even public spaces.

“It is incredibly exciting to solve new problems, to communicate with different types of customers.” Olek Koldt

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The studio is expanding their business, the motivation is well beyond the normal standards and we are not only talking about individual motivation but also about a collective motivation:

“Well, creating an interior is always a co-creation. For example, a musician, painter, sculptor or dancer create their own works on their own, they are engaged in pure art. In architecture and design, everything is different. You can not create in a creative vacuum, you should always be in dialogue with the customer. Trust is the foundation on which a beautiful and viable interior is built.”

This lead to a talk about the creative process of this Studio and these two Leaders. Klodt loves to revisit spaces he created so he can reflect on his work and what the clients latter altered in it. This proves that design is an ever-changing industry, so what is created today can be changed tomorrow.

Agapova cements the work that the studio has done to create a world-known brand in all media outlets: “We were one of the first architectural bureaus in Russia that took on not only a PR specialist but also began working with international PR agencies. Looking through the pages and websites of foreign publications, I often wondered why so few of our compatriots are published on the pages of international publications because over the past 20 years we have a lot of good designers and decent projects. The problem is in the weak PR. Design and architecture are very complex art forms, they are not easy to communicate to the general public. Designers are visuals, they create pictures, but only a handful can bring their ideas. This requires mediators that can help spread the word”.

This great amount of projects required many sources of inspiration. Not only for the creative process, but also for the practical application of the concepts and ideas and the marketing work that must be done adjacently. Klodt and Agapova both agree that time alone is the best way to gain inspiration and to master a plan of attack, agreeing also that teamwork and brainstorming is also an essential part of this studio’s inspirational and creative journey!

The staff of the Moscow and London offices of Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design has about 100 people and all of them are involved in a certain part of any project. That is why this studio prides themselves in presenting a full cycle for any project because, through several people, they are always involved. The mechanisms of this process are better explained by Agapova:

“Since Oleg is an architect and I am a designer, the work on each project is built in this way: Oleg creates a shell, and I fill it. Our bureau is a huge clockwork, cohesively working in bringing the project to life, right down to the slippers beside the bed. This is a system where not just a beautiful interior is developed, but the entire service sector is offered to the client so that nothing will disturb them. Already in the first stage of the project, we offer maximum visualization and create 3D images of the future interior. After that comes a massive project bundling unit and specifying all the beautiful things in the image. Then the architecture department, the project implementation department, the management department, which monitors each stage, come into play. We also have an art department that picks up all the pieces of art and decor for the interior.”

And what would Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design say about trends in the design world? In an Architectural Point of View, Klodt defends since the end of the last century, new styles did not appear in the interiors. The last was deconstructionism. Everything develops cyclically: first, the classics become fashionable, then Art Deco, then the avant-garde of the 1960–70s comes into vogue. Because of the general pace of life, which accelerates every year, styles alternate more often and sometimes even shuffled. But every time they appear again, they have been transformed due to the new technologies.

Agapova is a bit more technical in her trend prediction because although she admits it is impossible to predict today what style will become fashionable tomorrow, it is easy to assume that high-tech items will become increasingly on-demand. These items will be able to fit into any space and they will certainly be environmentally friendly and economical in energy consumption. All in all, Agapova believes that the growing trend will be a design capable of solving many problems.

Speaking about her clients, both Agapova and Klodt have a very clear image of who they are: “They are educated, intelligent people who conscientiously perform their ‘work of the customer’, that is, they try to convey their vision as clearly as possible, wishes that can argue, but also hear and find compromises. In such a dialogue, ideas are always born and breakthroughs happen.”

Even though they are two big names in the design industry, Agapova and Koldt have some top design inspirations. They named their love for the furniture British designer Falkner, the works of the British master Valeria Nascimento. However, American style design is closer to the Studio and Klodt, therefore top names like Hervé Vaan der Sträeten, Eric Schmitt, Holly Hunt and Jean de Merry Galleries are at the top of their design preferences.

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For the past 20 years, Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design has accumulated vast experience in creating unique items for their own design projects and this experience has helped the studio understand what is really lacking in the market. They know that this past experience is not a legacy rather an opportunity to improve because the design is constantly changing. Oleg Klodt Architecture & Design opened an international office in London, also launching their own collection of furniture, lighting, textiles, wallpaper and carpets.

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