Max Shkinder

Universe. Planet Earth. Russia. Moscow. City center. Art. Lebedev Studio.

Cool. It’s just like I imagined.

There are all sorts of prints, mood boards, brainstorming sketches, presentation boards, prototypes and mock-ups everywhere! I thought “Wow!” I get to see how it works from the inside and participate in the creative process myself. This thought made me all jumpy with excitement. With my theoretical design skills I had to learn all the methods, techniques and rules here as I went, and join projects at not-so-early stages. I had to really become part of the projects that needed to carefully studied first. Or else all my efforts would be wasted. And the team sure deserves credit—intern students come and go, one after one, and they have to teach each of us really thoroughly. Though sometimes senior staff may seem unfair. There are many reasons for that, and if when there aren’t, you still kinda find some. It’s like a school of life, an army camp for designers:-) Anyway, I say getting kicked to move motivates you to work in such a way that it doesn’t happen again:-)

Everything’s set—real clients, budgets, deadlines, materials, etc. It’s a lot of responsibility. And one person’s mistake can hold back the whole team. I understood, of course, I couldn’t let them down. The team is so great—guys didn’t blame me for things I didn’t know, but they never let me feel too relaxed either, because they knew that how much I learned here at the Studio depended on them. During my time here I experienced more changes, made more friends and visited more events than during the whole of my previous year. In two months of my life here I gained so much that it would otherwise take me several years, and I’m not even sure I’d end up with such an experience. Step by step I got involved in the working process at the Studio and day after day I felt I were part of the team, even though only for 2 months. I still knew I were a member of it, and when I realised I’ve become a true insider, the feeling got even stronger. There were all sorts of situations—hilarious, funny, tough, conflict, challenging… But there weren’t any boring ones, that’s for sure! Every day was a different story, 10 or even more hours long, all spent in the Studio.

Never give up!