«Sideboard» or «Servant» is a modern Russian glassmaking festival, contemplating the past and enjoying today’s creativity. Every year it gathers the most talented craftsmen and the most curious spectators, uniting them into people who admire the art of creating decorative glass.
The aim of the work was to create an identity for the Russian glass festival, which focuses on the development of the glass industry in the country. The festival should unite all the most talented masters of Russia and give them new opportunities. The result was a festival named «Sideboard», which in Russian culture is associated with the Soviet past. There people still keep the best that they have in their house (in particular glass).
The main thing in developing a corporate identity was to convey the authenticity of Russian glass, not to bring into the identity techniques that betray «glassiness» (for example, all kinds of distortions), but to evoke a response from any Russian and make glass something national. Since there are many visual codes in Russia’s past that are still recognizable throughout the country, I decided to combine the past and the present in the identity for the festival. Crystal with a special facet and engraving is a very recognizable object in the interior of any person living in the country. Such interior items, including dishes, decorative vases, and much more, are quite specifically associated with the Soviet past. However, now the facet is also being opened, which betrays its modern character.
As a result, a concept was born with the repetition of faceted patterns from old crystal. Such compositions live on colored backgrounds associated with bright glass and temporality. This technique allows the style to sound different: complex patterns appear somewhere, and they are simplified somewhere. In addition, the illustrations can be constantly updated, as the collection of such patterns is large.