Natalya Belonogova: My Projects Are Based on Fine Sensations

Architect Natalya Belonogova takes credits for designing some of the most ‘shamanistic’ Moscow restaurants, so today Design Mate’s guest editor for this month, journalist and PR consultant Sasha Sutormina decided to meet Belonogova at Gorynych restaurant to discuss the fine line between art and craft, the designer’s area of responsibility and more importantly the meaning of the restaurant’s fairytale interior from window plates to panel picture made of dried flowers.

Sasha Sutormina journalist and PR consultant 

For me, Gorynych is your love story with Russia, there is a lot of Russian stuff that literally runs through it. How did it all stated? 

I first went here several years ago with Ilya Tyutenkov. Then it was just a bare place, since the construction market wasn’t still developed enough. We walked by and Ilya said that sooner or later they would open here a restaurant of something. Yes, just exactly as we discussed back then. Last night we recalled that conversation of ours and I said: “Hey, Ilya, don’t you feel like we were just like those cats? Wandered there for a bit and marked our territory?”, and he answered: “Sure, Belonogova, sure. That was an everyday shamanism!”. That’s like our inside joke.

Then Boris (Zarkov - editor's note) came and started doing something. They went along with Ilya and eventually offered to join in.

Katya, Ilya’s spouse (Ekaterina Kononenko, film producer famous for such movies as Hardcore and I Am Losing Weight and other - editor's note) posted the pictures from construction site on her Instagram account. The pictures were made from a pretty vague perspective, but I immediately imagined a restaurant just like it is now.

Carved trim on the Windows was made by Denis Milovanov. They are all different.

Ilya and me have been looking for opportunity to approach Bilibin for a long time. We thought that Bilibin should have been at Ember, should have been at Northmen, but it was all wrong. Bilibin should, no, he must be here. Exactly here, with this window lines of his. Now we have pretty usual building façade with fascinating Russian modern inside

What else? Several years ago I had a project in Kimry, it’s a town located maybe two hundred kilometers away from Moscow. There, everything was about wooden architecture: resilient lines of that time, paintings on the walls…

By the way, who made the wall paintings? 

I invited craftsmen who have been cooperating with me for many years, since Mendeleyev project. The striking blue hue in Northmen is another they work. You know, I treat each project like a fine art, and they help me to implement my ideas.

And then Modern started…

Yes, Modern, then William Morris… you see this textiles? All these goes from the same period. And then he had those guys who designed ventilation grills, then Milovanov, Rozanov… Construction team also was absolutely brilliant. I went a bit crazy with concrete, wanted to have concrete seats here. And they made exactly as I asked them! I don't share their phone numbers.

There is a lot of handmade, craft stuff here at Gorynych, like those things by Denis Milovanov, for example. I guess it’s already became for you a kind of good tradition... 

Yes, we have a lot of Milovanov-esque motives here. Tables and window plates are asymmetrical. And these ‘totems’ on the walls look as if they were taken straight from the ruins of demolished ancient wooden cabin. 

large photographic work of Mikhail Rozanov decorates the remote door of the kitchen — take a look at it and you'll feel like lost in the forest wilds.

I graduated from Mukhin High School majoring in Decorative and Applied Arts, so I know what the fine work is like. Then you draw something, how have to adopt such a high school nerd approach, where you go stroke by stroke. Milovanov does the same, but with saw. It’s a magic. Everyone keeps saying: crafts, crafts, crafts… But do you know how fine is the line that separates craft from art? And this is exactly what you need to show.

The bill boxes are Palekh miniature. And look there, behind the stove, see, where the guys are working in the kitchen – that’s by Mikhail Rozanov, whom we solemnly dispatched to the Russian woods. Ilya (Tyutenkov) gave him Cadillac keys and said to go into the woods. So he went a brought back the several meters of photo wallpaper. If you look closely, you may see the birds on the branches, like owls or something… 

The bill is brought in Palekh caskets with the emblem of fairytale fire-breathing dragon GOrynych.

There’s some hidden secret, wherever you go.

When Gorynych just opened, I ran excursions around the restaurant for my friends. Told them about every snag, every corner, every plate. Just imagine: Belonogova went to restaurant to have a dinner with friends and left it late night after five excursions without even having a meal. And then I just thought: why am I doing all these? Let the space slowly open its secrets to people with each visit.

You currently have tremendous number of offers. Let’s put it straight,  you've caught your wave and caught pretty long ago. What factors do you usually consider when choosing your customer? 

My advice is to make all important decisions in your life like I’ve been making decisions regarding whom to work with. I’d adopted this approach from Zhenya Katsenelson (restaurant owner, Karavayev Brothers, Market and Catering – editor’s note). We first started to discuss business matters, and then just realized that we had been talking about the beach and the ocean for hours. With Tyutenkov we discuss The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and the list goes on. Before you make any business arrangement with someone, you have to make sure that you two go along well with each other. My projects are based on fine sensations, not only on business consideration. How would you otherwise be able to conceive something new?

Open kitchen is fringed with dried flowers. designer team intentionally squished and crunched them to create the impression of "somewhere amidst the woods."

You sound like a person who is very careful in selecting the social circle. 

Not only the social one. Both architect and designer bear huge responsibility. We are meant to create and recreate. We have to think about with whom to socialize, where to walk, make sure that you witness enough beauty I your everyday life. You are the one responsible for what’s going on in your head. Here is child you goes to the kindergarten? Is this child about to see a beauty or the grey rows of similar concrete buildings? You are the one responsible for the answer.  

How many people are employed at your bureau? 

We simultaneously work in approximately fifteen projects, but employ only ten individuals. Several years ago, the figures were the same. Recently some French customers told me: “We’ve been looking for a sensitive touch and found you». If I employed more people, I would lose this sensitive touch.
Sure, I don’t personally know every contractor, painter, vent grill mounter or construction worker. But I do definitely know many of them and I’m pretty sure they will stand up for me with all their might.

Ornamental decoration that fringe each illustration by Bilibin — here denote the bar lounge space

Does the process of cooperating with contractors differ significantly depending on the country?  

I just came back from Los Angeles and previously I had worked in Hong Kong, Paris, London, Moscow, Kiev and many other cities. The one thing I may say for sure: if you have proper drawings and have agreed the materials with all stakeholders involved, then everything will be fine. It was a bit funny in Hong Kong: I was getting nervous because no one wasn’t going anything, and them during one of my visits I arrived at the construction site and saw a real human ant heap, thousands of people everywhere. One day, two days, three days, and it was done. The restaurant was constructed. Just amazing. 

...the same patterns decorate the doors of the wine Cabinet.

What are the latest professional events you find especially exciting?

It’s amazing how they renovate Narkomfin Building: there is a good taste, fine style and everything is done in a professional manner. Big Wine Freaks is another one, this is the venue where I feel like I'm home. In Beirut, there is incredible National Museum. Its walls preserve the writings scribed during the time of war, bullet marks, it’s just plain heartbreaking. I guess it is a very good decision to immortalize these things. Oh, and I’d mention a restaurant in Paris within the grounds of the Decorative Art Museum — seems like the people were really bothered with it. 

The ceiling in the restaurant

Here, in Moscow, people treat interior design in a very serious manner. Seems like, the interiors here are given a higher significance than even in Paris. 

For more than seventy years, we haven’t gone out to restaurants and have eaten our meals in the kitchen at home. We desperately need aesthetics. After all these identical spoons, identical pots, latches and wooden handles, we want something different, something new. We even have movie about it, The Irony of Fate. It’s pretty natural that now we strive to distinguish ourselves as much as possible.

The woman with the skull

And the very essence of Russia has absolutely nothing in common with all these so called Soviet heritage. The Maiden with Skull, the fairytales, Bilibin – that’s what my Russia really is.

The interior of gorynych restaurant, photographer: Mikhail Loskutov.

Interview and details photo: Dasha Trofimova.