“In 5 years, Tatarstan will be talked about as a republic of designers”: an interview with the founder of the Kazan clothing brand Your Yool

A year and a half ago, Tatyana launched her own project Your Yool, in which she explores the national Tatar identity and creates visual works based on this. One of the directions of the project is the production of clothes.

Tatyana's store presents modern chulpaTraditional Tatar hair ornaments., sweatshirts with Tatar inscriptions, aprons with national ornaments and much more.

The girl told Lifehacker about where the idea of ​​this project came from and what, in her opinion, will happen to him and other Tatar brands in the future. Lots of beautiful photos inside!

— As far as I understand, Your Yool is not just a clothing brand. How would you characterize this project? What is its purpose?

“Clothing is just a necessary part of the project. In addition to it, there are also educational and art directions.

It seems to me that having your own clothing brand now is a great luxury. Because we have a problem with

overconsumption goods. There are enough clothes in the world, and I see no point in producing even more things.

For the same reason, I am against participating in fashion shows. When they call me, I say: “I don’t have enough clothes for a full-fledged collection.” I think it's cool to mix my brand with mass market, big cult brands, grandma's chest or second hand.

It seems to me that your own clothing brand is good when it solves some new tasks that no one has dealt with before. With the help of my things, for example, I try to answer the question: what is the identity of the people of my native region? It is interesting for me to create the image of a new Tatar, so that in 5-10 years everyone would say: “Oh, these are the guys from Kazan!»

This can be done even through some small elements. For example, in Milan I go to ichigahNational Tatar shoes, boots. (during the interview, the heroine was studying at the Istituto Marangoni in Italy. — Approx. ed.). People are interested: “Wow, so unusual! What brand is this? I start talking about Tatarstan and its culture. Clothing is a point of contact with culture.

The idea of ​​Your Yool is to draw attention to the history of the Tatars and raise the theme of their national identity through design, fashion and modern Art.

— What are the cultural and visual codes of Tatarstan that you are researching expressed in? Tell me more about it.

— My project is aimed at finding a visual code. So for now, I don't have an answer to this question. Probably, we are talking about associations with Tatarstan. And everyone has their own.

For me, they are primarily connected with geography. I tell everyone that I am not a Tatar, but a Tatarstan. I was born here, but I do not have a strong connection with the national culture, literature and language. But when I travel outside the region, I understand that I live not so much in Russia, how many in Tatarstan.

What does this mean to me? First, it's about people: half of my friends are Russians, half are Tatars. No one here asks questions about nationality, there is an absolute acceptance of people who are not like you.

Secondly, about two languages. In the city, all signs are duplicated both in Russian and in Tatar. Both are taught in school. In my Russian passport, I also have an insert with information in the national language.

Thirdly, about nature: fields, long sunsets, forests.

As an artist, I read this cultural code and express it visually. Sources of inspiration are photo albums, archives, books, environment around. For example, I have the Tatar Tribal series. IN 90s so called specific tattoos. I mixed them with traditional Tatar ornament and got a new pattern.

— Please tell us about the educational component of the project.

— Recently, we organized a design laboratory with the Reactor art residence for those who wanted to work with a local Tatar heritage and produce physical products - not only clothes, but also ceramic dishes, carpets, covers from beads, pots. In the lab, I wanted to create a precedent that such things could exist. As a consumer myself, I was interested to see what happens.

Many of my friends come to Kazan. They all ask where to buy something cool, modern, national. But, apart from chak-chak, we can not advise anything. And there are simply no stores with Tatar brands.

Then we collected about 60 applications from all over Russia and took the best guys with ready-made project concepts. They are a month studied from professional designers and illustrators who taught them how to develop design thinking, sell their products. As a result, we received 13-15 finished projects, which were presented at the RE'ACTOR Kazan festival.

We wanted to show that there are cool products that show our republic. And they were created by talented designers with whom you can collaborate. If this proposal finds support, there will be demand.

Designers will understand that it is possible to work with this theme. Perhaps at first it will be superficial and will cause a lot of criticism, like everything is new. But at some point, quantity will turn into quality, and in 5 years they will talk about Tatarstan as a republic of designers.

— Tell us about those who help you develop the project. Do you have a permanent team?

- There is a permanent team, but these are not full-time employees, but specialists for projects: seamstresses, 3D designers, makeup artists, photographers, videographers.

But mostly I'm in charge of the brand. I create sketches of things, manage production, manage social networks, and sell through them. Naturally, there are collaborations and large projects where there are many more tasks. There I connect assistants.

— How much income do you get from this project? Can you live on it?

- I do not get stable income, because the release of collections is not on the flow. How much time I devote to Your Yool, I earn so much money. I am a freelance artist who leads this project. It would be possible to develop at a faster pace, but why? Everything goes on as usual, there is no need to force events.

You can live on income from the store. On it you can arrange shootings, engage in third-party projects. Manufacturing is a constant stream of investment.

— Who is your target audience?

- Basically, women 25-30 years old buy my clothes. At the same time, most orders come from abroad - about 60%. My audience is the Tatars who left, young guys in exile who feel a lack of connection with their homeland.

In addition, I have a rather expensive product. People in Kazan are not used to buying a thing more expensive than 10,000 rubles - they were brought up that way by the mass market. But anyone who has ever dealt with production knows the price of fabric. Also, keep in mind that this is all handmade. I produce things in single copies. Therefore, it turns out to be a little expensive for Kazan, but for Europe this is a normal price.

Of course, now there are problems with supplies. It has become difficult to conduct financial transactions, send orders to people from abroad, contact customers... But we are looking for options.

— Tell us about Your Yool development plans.

The plan is to go digital. I believe that fashion is moving in that direction. Of course, the person will still be wearing clothes. But, perhaps, he will no longer buy it in such quantities to take a picture for social networks once. Or maybe something unimaginable will happen - metaverses will appear, we will all switch to avatars and buy virtual things.

Now I live in Milan - this is one big shopping center. It is impossible to imagine that this entire industry will collapse in the next 5-10 years. But it is already noticeable that people are gradually moving to digital - remember at least the fashion shows that have recently taken place online.

So I'm working on NFTs-collection for Your Yool. I make prints using augmented reality. It will be possible to point the gadget at a physical T-shirt or hoodie and see inscriptions and drawings.

I also think about how to organize sustainable production and development of the educational direction. I want to create a laboratory where experienced artisans would pass on their experience to young guys.

After all, you can do something traditional and at the same time sold. The commercial success of a design product is very important. We are not talking about contemporary art and self-expression, but about things that carry an idea.

I would like to invite talented artists, craftsmen, designers, art critics and teachers of Tatar history to this laboratory. There would also be a gallery and a corner for work and communication.

I would also like to work not only with the Tatar direction. The name Your Yool is translated as "Your way". And it is about any path. Yes, it all started in Tatarstan, but I don't want to limit myself to that. My method can be transferred to other regions and countries. Therefore, if someone offers me a collaboration, I will gladly agree.