The present building of the Fedoskino factory was built in the middle of the 20th century. The atmosphere here is authentic. The factory itself is an industrial heritage site. The oldest masters, dynasties, whose ancestors created the Fedoskino fairy tale back in the 19th century under the Lukutin merchants work over there.
Just like two centuries ago, wood cardboard is used in production, which is coated with paste, glued in layers onto a blank, dried for a long time, soaked in linseed oil, cut and polished using special technologies. And only after being processed during several months, the box gets to the artist’s table, where it is painted according to established canons. Gold leaf and mother-of-pearl are used in production.
Director General Ilya Ozolin talks about the realities of the work of the Fedoskinskaya factory.
— Ilya, tell us about the difficult moments in the factory’s history, about its revival.
— More than two years ago, a private investor came to the factory, and I represented the new team. The factory was in a difficult condition. There were periods when there was no heating in winter. Today, production is in order. We restored the Soviet equipment, which was made by a special order for the Fedoskino factory and it has no analogues. For example, the presses had to be repaired. We were honestly told that such presses cannot be found now.
In some time, a radical update is looking forward. Now a project for a large-scale reconstruction of the factory is being developed. It turns out that no one has worked on the brand for thirty years. Everyone knows what Zhostovo and Palekh are. Fedoskino is the birthplace of Russian lacquer miniatures. And we are often asked at exhibitions: «Oh, so you are like Palekh’s younger brother?» On the contrary, Fedoskino was the first factory.
— So, Palekh and other factories advertise themselves better?
— Our colleagues have done a lot of work. We are friends with everyone, we communicate and support each other. Fedoskino has great potential. We need to catch up, there are no problems with demand. We are increasing production, but we cannot do it suddenly, because each box is made in a single copy. Manual labor is 95%. We are limited by human productivity, so production is still lagging behind demand. Now we have a store in Moscow, we have partners. We might open a store in St. Petersburg, but the production volumes do not allow it yet.
— Tell me, are there any fake boxes? How to identify an genuine Fedoskino product?
— There are fakes. And there are two types. Of course, there are very cheap boxes. When you see them, you can immediately determine that they are fakes. There are fakes of fairly high quality as well that are sold for a lot of money. On the genuine product, there is a logo on the inside of the lid, also on the lid, where the painting is, the artist’s name, the serial number of the box and the inscription «Fedoskino village» are indicated.
You can always call the factory and confirm the authenticity. All our products are numbered. We can check when they were created. We will definitely make an electronic register. I was surprised, but there are inquiries from abroad. That is, people ask about boxes that they inherited.
We also launched a restoration workshop. This service is in demand. They bring us family heirlooms; we carefully restore them. And the craftsmen confirm the authenticity. But there are many fakes, it reaches the point of absurdity: friends send photos from souvenir shops at museums, where non-original boxes without a certificate are sold.
— How much time does it take to create one box, from cutting the cardboard to the polisher’s final touch?
— From three to six months for one box. This is in response to the question of “expensive.” At the same time, we immediately decided that Fedoskino boxes would be expensive. This is manual labor, and these are works of art.
There is a misconception that folk art enterprises need to produce cheap, mass-produced products to popularize them. No, we make expensive collectible items. At the same time, we welcome everyone to visit us; we have interesting excursions available to everyone. Our stores offer a wide choice of souvenirs. Everyone who comes to the factory can take something with them as a keepsake: a magnet for two hundred rubles, and other high-quality souvenirs with the Fedoskino DNA. And the Fedoskino box is a collectible item. And it cannot be cheap, because the artist alone works on it for more than a month.
We preserve the technology, on the other hand the path of simplification is followed and many people make boxes from MDF, it is faster. In our production we still make boxes from papier-m?ch?, we boil them in linseed oil, that is, we follow the same technology as two centuries ago. We believe that we must adhere to traditional technology. Otherwise, it will disappear.
— Are you expanding your product range, how do you react to the market? Do you have any interesting experience of cooperation?
— Of course, we react to the market. New products appear. Our task is to attract a young audience. No one has been involved with the brand for thirty years. Two generations of people have grown up who do not know what Fedoskino is. It is important to draw their attention to ourselves and tell them about Fedoskino, to captivate them. That is why, we are addressing young people.
For example, this year we participated in the fair of young contemporary art «Blazar» for the first time. We made a limited series of boxes in collaboration with the famous photo artist Natalie-Kate Pangilinan. All five boxes were sold out on the first day of the fair.
We also started depicting new architectural dominants — the country is changing. We were inspired by the construction of the Big Circle Line of the Moscow metro. The artist asked: «Can I paint the metro?» We allowed it. We also note a growing demand for socialist realism, for modern subjects.
We even involve artificial intelligence in our creativity. I can’t reveal all the secrets, but next year Fedoskino will be 230 years old, and we are preparing limited editions of such experimental boxes for collectors. At the same time, we preserve traditions. Fedoskino is artistic and stylistic techniques. We do not run headlong after fashion trends. There will always be a dispute about what is better — a classic subject or something new. The truth is in the middle: we must preserve traditions and at the same time be interesting.
We like to repeat that you can study the history of the country using Fedoskino boxes. Traditional subjects have also changed over the more than two centuries of the factory’s existence. But now we have real artistic councils, with disputes, with emotions. This means that the creative process is underway. Each box goes through an artistic council at the factory. Then the best samples are passed to the regional and federal artistic councils to give these boxes the status of samples of recognized artistic merit. The creative process has begun — this is the main thing. Artists have started to come up with new plots again.
We traditionally make panels in addition to boxes, and they can be inlaid anywhere. We want Fedoskino craftsmen to participate in painting churches, and there is one project in Moscow, that gives us an opportunity to decorate with our panels the lower church.
We also have experience of working with jewelers. We made inserts with lacquer miniature painting for earrings from papier mache. These are limited collections which are sold immediately.
— Ilya, the factory is celebrating an anniversary quite soon. How are you preparing for the anniversary? In what way will you celebrate it?
— We want to make Fedoskino a point of attraction for creative people. Therefore, next year there will be held festivals and contests. We are working towards the appearance of the Fedoskino House in Moscow. Despite the fact that we are not far from Moscow and Muscovites can get to us, it is important to create a site in the capital, where we will hold our exhibitions, lectures, master classes.
An anniversary is always something static: we celebrated it and then went our separate ways. We want the anniversary to be a starting point. We plan to announce the launch of a large-scale reconstruction program. This concerns not only the renovation of the building and equipment, but also the creation of a tourist creative cluster in Fedoskino. In addition to the factory, Fedoskino has the Institute of Lacquer Miniature Painting, the Museum of Folk Art and Crafts, a caf? at the factory, and a restaurant in the neighboring building with adventures Russian cuisine. In the warm season, we organize holidays and plein airs. That is, today we have a full excursion program designed for the whole day.
— Ilya, thank you for the frank conversation. We wish Fedoskino success in all endeavors, because a fairy tale should never end!
Author Dmitry Goltsov.
