Lena Solovyeva

Lena Solovyeva is a multidisciplinary designer and artist from Moscow, co-founder of the architectural bureau Artburo 1/1 | oneoverone. Lena works on a variety of projects, from art direction to furniture design and decorative interior design. She also does print graphics. The designer's experiments with the etching technique formed the conceptual basis of a high design objects collection.

Lena Soloveva’s works include limited edition items or unique pieces. For contemporary objects, she is especially interested in the dialogue between the craftsman and the material, the creation of unique surfaces, and the technical possibilities and processes that allow the material to manifest itself in a special way.

Being an alloy, metal is always open to human interpretation. “The hylomorphic model is ignorant of what woodworkers and metallurgists know quite well: there exist "variable intensive affects" and "incipient qualities" of matter that external forms can only bring out and facilitate. Instead of a formative power detachable from matter, artisans and anyone else intimate with things encounter a creative materiality with incipient tendencies and propensities, which are variably enacted depending on the other forces, affects, or bodies with which they come into close contact. The desire of the craftsperson to see what a metal can do, rather than the desire of the scientist to know what a metal is, enabled the former to discern a life in metal and thus, eventually, to collaborate more productively with it, ” the designer quotes “Vibrant Matter ” by Jane Bennett.

"Item 1/1" series

The item-module from the "Item 1/1" series is handmade from stainless steel. The shape of the art object and its placement allow for different purposes — a table, a console, a pedestal, a module. If desired, one can add and connect modules. This unique object is characterised by the combination of a smooth polished surface and handmade applied layers. The play of depth on the surface and the purity of forms refer to minimalist art objects.

“Traditionally, it is customary to consider metal as a static, unchangeable object. However, modern philosophy and the experience of people working with it show that it’s a living matter, a substance. This project is inspired by my desire to show the vitality of metal,” says Lena. “Interactions with different agencies such as temperature regimes and material properties can give unexpected, unique results. My experience in etching reinforced my interest in working and experimenting with this material. Some of the processes are controlled, and yet spontaneous at the same time. That is exactly what I like about this work”.