The key word that the Russians are looking for …
If you are in Russia and you search on google.ru the keyword “interior design” you will find 12.000.000 results in just 0.62 seconds. If you do the same on the Russian search engine yandex.ru you will find well 95.000.000. If you are in Italy and do the same search (on google.it) you will find yourself with “only” 2.600.000 results in 0.53 seconds.
How is that possible?
Especially considering the fact that Italy is considered the birthplace of design in every sense. Why do we have less results than in Russia? Probably because the word “design” in Italy is not an abstract concept, but rather something that we have “in the blood” since the ancient Romans. And it is no coincidence that the Roman architect Marco Vitruvio Pollione was the first to write a treatise on architecture in Latin in the 1st century BC.
But if we want to go beyond architecture, we notice that in Italy the word “design” congeals all that is visual: architecture, interiors, furniture, lighting, kitchens, machines, clothes, accessories, fabrics … everything!
What do the Russians look for (today) when they type the word “design”?
If the question had been asked 20 years ago, the answer would have been simplified with the word “status” on a social and economic level. Today, fortunately, the word “design” has another meaning that could be summarized with the English word “lifestyle”, difficult to translate into Italian and difficult to translate into Russian. But that one word encapsulates everything I wrote before talking about design in Italy. A way of life that involves all aspects of our existence, not only at home but also at work, on the road, in the car, at the restaurant, in the park, in the city, everywhere! This is what I personally perceive in the request of our customers.
But who are our customers?
And here the topic becomes interesting … we have customers born in Rostov-on-Don living in London; St. Petersburg customers who develop interesting projects with us on the Black Sea, Rostov customers who aspire to create a network of gas stations with Autogrill standard (in the suburbs of Rostov!?!), customers who live between Stavropol, New York and Tel Aviv, Arabic-speaking customers who have been living in Rostov for more than 23 years …
Certainly in our office there is no opportunity to get bored!
But if you notice well, this “small city” (when compared to Moscow or St. Petersburg), has a series of international connections that often leave me speechless. Starting from the new Platov airport, inaugurated on 7th December 2017, a project by Twelve architects & masterplanners based in London, Edinburgh and Moscow.
And believe me: if we want to talk about “lifestyle” today, the first business card of a city is precisely the airport. This can be confirmed by a frequent flyer like me who has traveled more than 50,000 miles in 2017.
So, the desire of “lifestyle” of our Russian customers starts from here, from “Platov” – the main air hub of the capital of Southern Russia, Rostov-on-Don. We have the task to find other key words that can complete, at 360 °, the desire of our customers to find a new “lifestyle” here (in Russia). And not abroad.