During perestroika Alexei Vyazminov spent his evenings and weekends working on a private architecture and interior design business, that he had set up with friends. He found it far more creative and personal than the state projects of his daylight hours. In 1991 he separated from these colleagues and founded his own business under the name of A plus A, with the two As standing for the English words architecture and art. He spoke to The Leader about his company and the tastes and psychologies of his wealthy clients.

A+A publicizes itself as being 'not only a commercial undertaking but a community of creative people.' What does that entail?
In the early days at A+A, I used to hire freelancers to work for us. Our relations were based mainly on financial considerations but, as time passed, we began to enjoy working together and now our relations are to a far greater degree much more like co-authors.
What happens when a client comes to us and pays us a sizable sum of money to realize his or her ideal of a new, well-to-do life? We practically write a scrpit of his new life for him. We think about where he would like to go after taking a bath, where he will bake his pastries and thousands of other little details.

It often happens that a client comes to us with a ready-made scenario that needs to be slightly altered. Let's say that last year the color violet was fashionable. That means that a lot of clients wanted to paint their walls violet. We have to talk them out of the idea, because a year later they would start to regret it. Our job is to create an interior that a person would be proud of, even after 15 years.

Would you say that your typical client is a representative of Russia's middle class?
I think that Russia's middle class is only just starting to be formed. Also, Russia doesn't have a tradition of getting on with people with a lot of money. Getting rich in the West, where your father or grandfather was rich or could have been rich, and getting rich in Russia where that couldn't have happened, are two entirely different matters. In Russia, accumulated wealth becomes a challenge, quite worrying from a psychological point of view, which very few people can deal with. After all, it was not until the 1990s that it became possible to spend large amounts of money legally.

How do Russian clients relate to interior designers?
The tradition of relations between an interior designer and his client exists in the West, but it doesn't in Russia. A lot of people here don't realize that an interior designer is an artist and not a builder. That he needs to know how to be interested and how to be inspired, because otherwise he won't be able to interact with a client for a whole year (precisely the length of time that creating a new interior takes). Thank God, people who are much more aware have recently begun to appear. They're mostly businessmen, with a level of income and self-awareness that's far above the average.

Is there sometimes a conflict between your creative conscience and your client?
Sometimes, yes. However, if a project gets beyond the initial stages, it means that we have come to like each other. It seems to me that I know how to get on with clients. I don't always try to change their point of view - for this or that - or make them see things my way.

For example, I know that many design solutions in Moscow apartments are clearly borrowed from Western hotel lobbies. Why? Because people know about Western lifestyles from hotels and not from private homes, which they very seldom visit. I often notice that what they try to recreate in the home reminds them of a hotel reception. Or they ask me to fix a hair dryer to the wall in the bathroom, which is an idea they get from Western hotels where hair-dryers are fixed to the wall in case somebody wants to steal them.

It's curious, of course, since clients are mature people, but I have to be able to look at the world through their eyes. I even drive around in a Mercedes because many of my clients have a stereotype: They don't think someone is an interior designer if he's in another car. It's especially important at the first meeting. I personally prefer Volvos and respect people who drive them, because they are more "intellectual" cars.

What sports do you like and where do you like to go on vacation?
I play tennis and go in for mountain skiing and I remember how, when I was studying at the Institute of Architecture, all the teachers there went in for those sports too. It surprised me at first but then one day I realized these sports must have a close affinity with architecture. There's probably something architectural in the equipment involved, or the sporting process itself. As for vacationing, I like the Canary Islands. Firstly, I like the climate and the prices, and secondly I like the atmosphere very much. Everything is run by foreigners - in both the tourist and food industries.

What about your daughters? What do they want to be?
My eldest daughter has just finished school and has started to study architecture. I hope she will soon be joining my company. I personally think that being an interior designer is a great profession and I can only hope that both my daughters choose to do it too.

What do you think of Russia's modern architecture?
Well, any major social transformation is a catalyst that leads to the appearance of creative groups and projects. Nothing of this kind is taking place today. Nothing appeared in Moscow's architecture during the 1990s that would be seen as something that exists nowhere else, like the early 20th century, for example.

What is currently being built in Moscow, I mean the present construction boom, is something that I don't quite like. After all, if you think of Spain, a very clear architectural image emerges in your mind. Similarly, if you think of Austria or Greece. But there's no such clarity in Russia. When we go to a foreign country, we first perceive it in terms of architecture. We may not acknowledge that, just as we are often unaware of the numerous architectural images that enter our consciousness through magazines and television. I think the world is half made of architecture. What is built today forms the image of our country for 100 years thereafter.