Legendary interior architect Vello Asi was a key person for decades in educating interior architecture students and guiding them to maturity and professionalism in their field. His principles and ethics, attitudes toward work and art are values we hope to see in today’s young interior architects. The student prize bears Asi’s name for that reason.
The Vello Asi student prize is awarded by the Association of Interior Architects and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
When I am working on interior architecture, I devote special care to how the dialogue between the interior and its use might arise. Materials, elements and form are all part of the dialogue. The interior tells a story and the creator of the space can decide what the story being told is.
Who is the user of the room, anyway. Is it always a human being? How to plan a room so that it is a memorable, good place you want to return to? These are the questions I ask myself each time I start a new work process. Every project is unique, and to design a space, I deem it necessary to distance myself from the project from time to time and then come back. That keeps my perspective fresh.
I consider selection of material and localness important. Why burden the environment if something can be local? In the course of my studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts, I have become more aware that materials can be revalorized and there are functional techniques and practices for that – heritage conservation, the circular economy, different collectors, restorers and much more. I’m interested in what else material can become before it ends up in a landfill. I think that respect for material is a strong base for the creation process of a room or an environment.
Starting in 2016, I have focused more on temporary spaces – events and festivals, marketing campaigns and exhibitions. In these fields, I am constantly brushing up against the problem of fast fashion, as the event is produced for a short time. I see so many wasteful decisions for use of material just for eye candy. Now that I am more up to speed with the interior architecture and construction field, I see similar problems. I think interior architects can influence the work process professionally and draw attention to what is important.
Laura Pormeister
I became acquainted with Laura even before she started studying interior architecture. Studying painting restoration at Tartu Art College, she wrote me and asked if I would want to be one of the supervisors of her final thesis. The research dealt with art in the industrial environment and as the practical component, she made a mosaic panel painting for the Samelin footwear factory interior. I found the offer congenial for a number of reasons. First of all, generally students don’t seek out professionals – although certainly that sort of forging of independent relationships could be the core when acquiring an education. Secondly, I found appealing her desire to get to know disappearing art techniques and place her work in an unexpected but conceptually fascinating context. Third, I like her project’s social relevance and conceptual ambition. The goal was not a gentrifying decoration for the Aparaaditehas cultural complex prosumers but real artwork for the workers of the next-door boot factory.
On this backdrop I was naturally happy when Laura started studying interior architecture. Was this the natural course of things? With typical pluck, she has left an outstanding imprint in the speciality both at school and outside academia. Her interior architecture bachelor’s diploma thesis “Methodology of a material auditor” was one of the first final projects that compellingly tackled circular (interior) architecture topics. She is continuing her master’s thesis on the same topic, focusing on the interim use of former production and educational facilities on Saaremaa and Hiiumaa islands.
Gregor Taul
Head of MA curriculum, Department of Interior Architecture, Estonian Academy of Arts
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