The festival “Lifestyle — Cultural Code” opens at the Center for Unique Craftsmanship

This year also features the Leather Art Festival

The first “Lifestyle — Cultural Code” took place in 2021 at the Kazan Kremlin, the Gallery of Contemporary Art, and on the embankment of Lake Nizhny Kaban.

— When we held the festival for the first time, we couldn't find a single full-fledged collection from designers; we gathered everything practically bit by bit, — recalled Alsou Miftakhova, director of the TatKultResourceCenter. — If we look now, we have a huge number of designers, we have a Union of Designers that organized shows, and many designers are already performing on international platforms. But this is just the beginning.

In 2023, the festival settled in Bolgar. Last year — at the old and inside the new Kamal Theatre. This time, of course, the festival's venue became the Center for Unique Craftsmanship. Starting July 22, three shows of 45 designers will take place here, including representatives from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, India, African countries, Iraq, Qatar, and Kyrgyzstan. The ethno-market is open until July 26, and master classes will be held.

A special feature is the Leather Art Festival, which will likely remain at the Center for Unique Craftsmanship for a month. It will be attended by the winners of the first Russian Leather Art Championship, held this year at Gostiny Dvor.

Finally, the business program — with talks about Gzhel majolica and craftspeople of the Fergana Valley.

What does Milan Fashion Week have to do with it?

Initially, Ayupova indicated, another project was planned, called “Light, Sound, Fashion”: fashion shows that would include an ethnic component, with music and a light show.

— We met at Milan Fashion Week with Mario Boselli (the director of this event — editor's note), and he said that considering fashion separately from lifestyle is wrong, — Ayupova explained. — That's how the proposal grew that we need to preserve not only clothing but also the environment into which certain traditional accents will be implemented.

She continued: “It is impossible to consider the modern separately from traditional culture, but it is also impossible to allow tradition to be shackles that do not allow development and do not allow moving upward.”

Another important meeting took place at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum with Sergey Kolomiyitsev, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Folk Art Organizations, Craftsmen and Artists “Heritage and Traditions.”

— Then we began to talk about the fact that craft in its original sense and way of life with original technologies will not be able to survive, — Ayupova said, “if it does not grow further into decorative and applied art and become prestigious trends, connecting master artists who create around these mainstreams.

The organizers communicated with journalists surrounded by the high-rises of the Novo-Savinovsky District, at the “Louis” restaurant, which particularly pleased Saidi Mamadu, responsible for communications at Pathe'O Fashion House (Côte d'Ivoire) — he recognized from the logo that the establishment was named after the famous trumpeter Louis Armstrong. The Africans, by the way, appeared at the festival thanks to the Academy of Youth Diplomacy.

— We came here for exchange. At home, 80–90% of our production is manual labor, — the guest noted. — We know that here you have more technology in the process of creating fashion items. But in general, Africa and Tatarstan are not that different. When I went to a restaurant in the morning, the food was not so different from what I am used to eating at home. The same rice porridge.

— They see something in common, something native, not something faceless. We are at that stage of development where there should not be segregation, but rather we need to look for what unites us, — Ayupova added.

Perhaps the most ambitious at the meeting was Larisa Fomina, President of the Union of Designers of Tatarstan:

— If our famous people in Tatarstan start wearing fashionable, stylish clothes of our designers that carry the Tatar cultural code and take it beyond Tatarstan, this will powerfully promote our republic and our Tatar cultural code to the whole world, — Fomina said, indicating that her union plans to hold a large Kazan Fashion Week with the participation of BRICS member countries.

No to isolation, yes to aggressive marketing

— We must understand that the biggest problem in preserving any culture is isolation, if we are talking about preservation in the era of globalization, — here Ayupova began speaking immediately in English, addressing the foreign guest: — Now we must engage in aggressive marketing abroad, because we cannot preserve traditions only on one land. Only by actively promoting them to the world, beyond, across borders, can we preserve ourselves.

Ayupova reminded that Tatarstan is historically located on trade routes:

— Therefore, Bulgar porcelain preserves the traditions of Chinese porcelain, grows with the traditions of the local land, but also absorbs the Central European pottery tradition of ceramic production. It is impossible to preserve oneself by simply closing oneself off from everyone. We can preserve ourselves only by being open to the world and constantly in dialogue with each other. Only in communication can we save our culture. Thank you very much.

Meanwhile, the process continues: according to Sergey Kolomiyitsev, two new sections are currently being created in their union — “Space Crafts” and “Innovations in Auto-Motor Sports.”

— We are ready to come here every year, not to fly to the Emirates, Turkey, Istanbul, or anywhere else, but specifically to Kazan, — Kolomiyitsev promised.