Initially, Lid'sEventhouse was engaged in the festive decor of large commercial spaces - large shopping centers and five-star hotels. Among her clients are the Central Children's World on Lubyanka, the Moscow Gallery, the Moscow Lotte hotel, CrocusGroup - and this is not a complete list. Over time, it has added a solid portfolio of prestigious private events, including the opening dinner of the renovated Ritz Paris and the Naked Heart Foundation's charity dinner. For twelve years on the market, the chamber team of three people has grown to four dozen first-class specialists, and Lydia Simonova does not intend to stop.
MarieClaire: You are a geodesy and cartography graduate - why did you start decorating? How did it all begin? A chidhood dream?
Lydia Simonova:I have never worked in my specialty. At the time when I was studying, education was more formal. If I now had the opportunity to go back in time, I would like to study to be an architect. The desire to do decor appeared by chance. I worked for a company that served large real estate, and the idea to create a decor studio was born from the fact that I liked how Christmas trees are decorated in shopping and business centers. If we talk about children's hobbies, then I have always loved applied art: sewing, knitting. At school, I participated in a puppet theater, and we made all the puppets and decorations with our own hands. But I have never dealt with flowers and decoration. Doing something with my hands has always attracted me. It is interesting that as a child I had a dream several times - I was decorating a shop window, all in gold tones. It was,probably the "first swallow" of my design future.
MC: I know that you come up with all your projects from scratch. What are you starting from? What inspires you?
L. S.:Now, of course, I'm not the only one inventing everything. If at the beginning of the work there were only a few people on the staff, now there are more than 40 employees. Designers, artists - we now work as a team. It's great when there are different views and the ability to refine an idea born in one head. I also bring a lot to the workflow, always looking for inspiration in the most unexpected things. The easiest thing for a decorator is to open the bottomless space of the Internet and draw ideas from the work of colleagues from all over the world. We try not to follow this path and most often turn to architecture and nature. So, an interesting bridge shape can become an inspiration for a wedding decor. I recently discovered jewelry collections as a source of inspiration. We urge you not to look for ideas in everyday and fashionable things this season. This is a guarantee thatthat the same item served as the inspiration for twenty other decorators.
MC: Does it happen that the project changes dramatically along the way?
LS: This happens very often. It often happens that a couple comes up with one idea, and in the end we do something completely opposite. It all started with the tropics and ended with classics in white and green tones. It largely depends on how the decorator communicates with the couple. Sometimes a change of site leads to a complete change of concept. What is appropriate to do in a tent is difficult to implement in a restaurant hall with a given interior. I normally react to such changes, this is a workflow.
MC: You regularly visit professional forums. Tell us about the latest trends in modern decor
LS: Indeed, every year I visit professional exhibitions: Christmasworld in Frankfurt and Maison & Object in France. Back in January, you can see here those interior items, trends and novelties in festive decor that will come to the market only six months later. I will share some of the trends: surrealism with its ultra-bright colors, bohemian chic with velvet and gold, mirrors and vintage elements. However, in my work I not only follow fashion, but also try to create it myself. So, for the third year now I have been hosting Lid's Inspiration Party - a private show of trends in event decor. And there I present my own trends that seem promising and relevant to me this season. For example, in 2015 we proclaimed Forest Glam as a trend - and forest weddings really became a real hit of the past season!
MC: Which of your projects are you most proud of? Why?
L. S.:We are proud of large-scale projects, where we managed to realize our decorating ideas, to show our best side. Such as the creation of illumination on the facade of the Central Children's World. It was a grandiose project that opened up great opportunities for the decorator. The wedding of Murad and Natalia Osmann was also a striking example of our work, because the guys gave us complete freedom. My new brainchild is an author's seminar for decorators, which I hold for the first time in 10 years of decorating and design activity. I was looking for my own unique format for a long time, because I didn't want to stand in a series of similar events. This year, right after Lid's Inspiration Party, in the same scenery and among installations that were previously open only to a select few, I am conducting my own seminar, which became a source of professional pride for me even at the preparation stage.
MC: What are the most difficult events to decorate? Say, weddings, parties, fashion presentations? What projects do you personally design with more pleasure than others?
L. S.: I would not divide events of this type. There are also quite difficult weddings, and very multitasking events, which, on the contrary, are very easy to arrange. The complexity depends on the tasks that we set ourselves, on the space and decorations, and the time for editing. It is wrong to say that there are complex and easy events based only on their subject matter.
MC: How do you select people for the team? How do you understand that this is your person?
L. S.:Since we have a fairly large company (as I said already, more than 40 employees), we have a personnel department on the staff, and I’m not the only person involved in recruiting, but a candidate for key positions will definitely meet with me. In our business, it is important to coincide ideologically: these should be people who convey our vision, our view of decor and adhere to the same style as our company. Any decor studio has its own style, so people who come to our team for creative specialties must internally share this vision. Everything we do should be close to them. But what tests you don’t conduct, what interviews you don’t go through, sometimes it is possible to understand whether this is your person or not, only after some time of joint work. At the first interview, we always honestly tell the candidate about all the difficulties of working in the company: irregular working hours, night cuts, tense rhythm - and if he does not get scared and does not run away, then only time shows everything. Usually two months are sufficient.
MC: How is your typical day going? What is the life of a professional decorator?
LS: We don't have a typical day. An office worker might have a typical day. If we talk about me, then not one of my days is like another. This includes work in the office with documents, meetings, brainstorms, meetings, technical meetings, business trips. For example, today I have a business trip that was reported to me yesterday. My typical day is atypical and starts early and ends late.
MC: What style do you prefer at home?
L. S.: I like restrained interiors. Since our life is impetuous and impetuous, the house should be a place in which the soul, body and gaze rest. No flashy interiors, no bright colors. But absolute classics are also alien to me. Modern design is close to me, with clean lines. I would never make an art object from a living space, I strive for calmness, because at work I have enough riot of forms and colors.
MC: Does every woman have favorite interior details that make her home cozy and create a unique atmosphere? What accessories do you like?
LS: The topic of home improvement is now close to me. I am not one of those people who love the abundance of all kinds of figurines, vases, details. For me, light is very important in the interior. I really don't like having one direct light source in the room. I love a large number of light sources, sometimes unexpected ones, which create the right atmosphere in the interior. Local distribution of light in the area you need at the moment is always very cool and creates the very comfort, intimacy, home. If I choose between a central chandelier and many small multi-directional lights, I will always choose the latter. I also pay great attention to the materials and textures from which furniture and textiles are made. When you have the right materials, there is no need to add decorative elements.
MC: If you are so attentive to the entourage, then the clothes are probably very picky. How do you define your style of dress? What brands do you prefer and why?
L. S.: I am a person who is indifferent to brands. More important to me is how the clothes look and are worn. In everyday life, I adhere to a simple casual style, because the rhythm in which my workdays go by does not allow running in heels and in a pencil skirt. Most often these are functional items: trousers and comfortable shoes. On the way out, of course, I am happy to observe the dress code, put on dresses and shoes, because in ordinary life I rarely manage to dress up.
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