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If someone sells the elk's horns, the deer or
a skull of some kind, I'm calling

Mikhail Borisovich, for over 40 years you have been working with wood and the last 10 years - in the rustic style, before that there were classics and modern. How did the transition take place?

Through the famous folklorist Sergei Starostin. Somehow I proudly, chest wheel, showed the album with his works Starostin and his wife Olga Lapshina. And somehow, by the middle of the album, I felt a kind of sadness. I began to feel uncomfortable. And he thought: what am I doing, why do I show all this, what kind of stupidity and nonsense! When I heard Russian original songs Starostin, something has changed in me.

It happened at the Grushinsky Festival in 2006. A peasant, a barefoot man, came out wearing linen trousers and a shirt, in a light-colored felt cap, like a bowl, with a wooden pipe, put it in the toe of his big leg and blew. And it seemed to me like a piercing lightning, I was in distant times and I saw my ancestors. As they emerged from the semi-earth in some light, linen clothes and did something on the cold damp earth. After this vision, I could no longer listen and perceive the modern stage. And do what I did before.

In general, something happened to me, and all the "combed" styles, where everything is predictable, straight, at right angles, stopped liking and became strangers. I no longer wanted to do what I did. All these coffered ceilings (caissons from the french caisson - a box, grooves of a rectangular or other shape in the vault, dome, ceiling overlap - note author), panel doors, modern lines, stairs with figured balusters - all this glamorous well-being began to go away in past.

Why did you decide to do it rustic?

All summer of 2006 I was in "breaking", I did not want to do anything. And how to live, what to do, I did not know. Everything that I did before seemed to be a great stupidity, and I did it all. It is necessary to do something interesting, and what exactly, did not know. However, when rafting in a kayak, I floated somewhere on the boat, I always admired snags, their bends, cracks, texture - all this fascinated me. But I had no idea how this could be applied.

And one day on the Euronews channel, it was announced that an exhibition of designer Frank Lefeber was opening in Berlin. In the announcement showed a frame with his chair with some horns, crocodile skin, feathers. My jaw dropped, I licked and lost my peace. I think: my God, what do people do ?! My work at all about anything. And it pleases God, a friend brought the magazine "Unique wooden houses", and the customer appeared. The woman from Borovy Matyusha called, says: we are looking for a master who would make an interior in the style of "three bears". I've gone through a bunch of designers, no one will understand what "three bears" are. She just did not know it was rustic. I showed her the magazine, I say it all from twigs, from logs and snags. She was so happy: yes, she says, this is what we were looking for! First I ordered a ladder, then a table, then something else. I worked for them for two or three years.

Useful experience in the classical style?

There is such a Moscow decorator Aida Gogoleva, she looked at my works and said: "Your God has specially guided the classical style for very, very many years, as Moses led the Jews for 40 years in the wilderness. You passed a serious classical school in woodworking, when you need to do everything so that the mosquito does not undermine the nose. From the strict classical style, impeccable quality, where everything is exactly and adjusted, I suddenly dived into logs and driftwood, into some kind of "rastopyryk". In the unbridled plasticity and curvature of the branches. My furniture, even though I work in rustic style, is not rough and rough. The culture of the classics was reunited with the rustic nature, and something interesting was born.

Where did you learn the craft?

He studied a lot: first in art circles, then in art school, in the school of folk art crafts, he graduated with honors. Then there was the army, where I also worked with the tree. Cutting, making furniture for high-ranking Moscow generals.

So, you were already a decent master then?

I was a boy, when I was drafted into the army, I made furniture. He did not march on the parade ground, did not run with the machine gun and did not stand on the nightstand. I had a spacious workshop, my mother sent me my parcel with a parcel, and I've been doing woodwork for two years.

Where did you serve?

In the Far East, near Khabarovsk. I had an assistant so that I would not be distracted. I did not even go to construction, just to work. The head of the political department, Colonel Korotin gave a command that I did not go to the dining room with everyone together, so as not to waste time. Here is an assistant for you, he says, he will prepare and receive food for you.

That is, you do not just a portion of porridge from the dining room brought?

No, they themselves cooked what they wanted. I lived like Christ in my bosom...

Where did all this furniture go?

Was in the part. Naturally, the officers ordered: high-ranking and small, under the noise. Like, make your wife on March 8 a carved picture or frame for a mirror. He did everything from shelves to huge panels. A triptych of six figures, telling about growing and collecting bread, made, they decorated a soldier's canteen for 1200 people. And the generals also had something to do. They came with their wives, greeted. The soldiers then joked: Well, everything, Volkov, now my hands are not up to demobilization, with the general I greeted him.

And after the army began to work independently?

After the army, I went to Siberia with a friend, we lived and worked in Novokuznetsk for a year at a metallurgical plant. It is a city-forming enterprise, they have their own kindergartens, stadiums, rest houses - and everything needs to be formalized. We did this. The year worked, and closer to the spring decided that knowledge is not enough and we must go to Kazan. We arrived, entered the Feshinsky School, I studied there for 4 years, also defended with honors and began to build a house. He built it for a long time, 11 years. All that I earned before 1991, ate inflation. We were just robbed. The state has been robbed. Null all completely, had to start again.

What were your losses?

I saved money for a house, a workshop, I wanted to buy land. He worked at the plant "Radiopribor", designed the 52nd garden. Magnificently designed it, saved a good amount, 26 thousand rubles. Everything burned down! And for 26 thousand rubles it was possible to build a turnkey house with heating, with frames, doors, floor, buy furniture, a car "Volga" and more money would remain. Everything is lost. It was necessary to start all over again, and the construction stretched as much as 11 years. Yes, there, still really no repair: the floor was dropped linoleum, the walls were painted with water-based paint and live.

As always, a shoemaker without boots?

Shoemaker without shoes. There are things I could not sell: I wanted to sell for one price, I was offered less. Less I did not like, so I left them to myself, at home I stand. I drive them to exhibitions, they make a splash, they all moan, they gasp - really good things.

Often customers are underpaid?

Yes, recently they did not pay. From autumn to spring, half a year, I made a ladder. It turned out luxurious, like a symphony orchestra, a solid, rich staircase, in the Provence with elements of rustic. And they did not pay me for this work. No money, they say. Someday give it. When it will be? When will they give? I do not know. No money, they say, the crisis is bad for everyone. Some part was given, less than half - that's all. Sometimes my daughter asks for ice cream to buy, I say: buy cheaper. All this is humiliating...

Do not want to sue them?

But how to sue? I do not make paper contracts. It's enough for me to shake hands, like in the good old days. How did the contracts between the merchants consist in the past? Just hit on the hands and all. Besides, I do not understand anything about this. I'm not a lawyer or a "julist", I do not care, so I do not have such a vein.

In your case everything is decided by the source material - stumps, driftwood, quicksands. Where and how do you mine them?

On the Volga and in the forest. I have my places. I know where lonely pine trees grow, on which there are interesting branches with bends. It is necessary to climb there with the help of climbing equipment or ask the climbers to climb up and take off my branch. On the Volga on a motor boat I go along the coast. I examine them and type some stumps, some snags. You also need to know the places. You can drive 100 kilometers and not find anything interesting and worthy, where there would be music, plastic in the stump.

The quicksand, the wood that has been in the water, you also collect?

Yes, the shore washes, the trees are falling, the trunks are taken away by the local, towing boats to their villages, and hemp with roots are rinsed in the waves of the river. Water, sand and pebbles work wonders. And the sun so silver surface, that no dyes and stains with it will not be compared. It turns out a very bizarre, amazing beauty material. You go, you look, that there was some interesting plastic. Something you can apply for a chandelier, something for the table leg. You can cover the stump with a glass canvas - here's a splendid lunch or coffee table.

Water tree does not spoil?

No, I dry it, cover it with varnish, I emphasize cracks with some professional secrets. This furniture will survive more than one generation. It can be destroyed only by fire. She will serve, serve and serve until she gets to the museum or private collection. These are insanely interesting things. People say that incredible energy comes from them. To touch them is a pleasure, to feel all the dimples and cracks. What is the machine? He otfugoval board, and it is flat and level. And I'm old tables, I beat them with chains, I shoot them with a gun. I throw sand, clay, pebbles and start kicking. I rub the paint. I can grate the grass green, then skin, rub, rub with a knife, polish brushes and varnish. All this in order that the surface was magical, magical, so that there was a legend. As if Ivan the Terrible himself was sitting at this table, and the boyars were rubbing and rubbing and polishing the tree.

Looking at the slices of the trees on the countertop, one can imagine that once in their branches nests rippled, the leaves bathed in the rain and the rays of the sun, and under the apple trees the rural youth loved each other and conceived children. Glamorous Italian veneer veneer table will not tell you any stories.

And with what kinds of trees do you work?

Pine, oak, spruce, elm. I love Elm, he has a beautiful texture. Basically it is a dry-dock. Well, the boards, of course, without them.

How is the price for your work formed?

Depending on the time spent, working hours and material. Sometimes I use very rare material. For example, when we went to Crimea with my family, I brought a huge rhizome on the trunk. When we drove through the cities, past the traffic police, everyone turned around. I still had a chainsaw to clean up everything inside, so that the rhizome became lighter and did not crush the car: you drive through the hummocks - you have to hit the car. With care he transported this unpredictable. In recent years I have been trying to take a trailer with me so that I can bring something from the trips.

In the Crimea and the Caucasus, on the coast of the sea, an amazing korjazhnik takes out. I go there, including for him. It is not cheap: by time, by work, by loading. It is very difficult to obtain material. To an ignorant person it seems that these are simple knots and snags. I went into the woods and typed. Nothing like this! All this is sprinkled with pebbles and stones - you need to dig it up. Full of snakes that live there, we must disperse them so they do not bite. Shovel, it happens, 2 meters deep digging. Then the material must be cleaned, wash the clay, dirt. Then somehow manage to pick stones from the roots. If you can not cope with the loading yourself, you need to go to the nearest village, ask for help, pay. A lot of trouble. Rustik - a troublesome style, but very interesting. Usually the carpenter travels to the drying chamber, buys a dry saw log and, as a matter of fact, makes frames, benches or tables. Everything is predictable, simple and understandable. Here to bring one stump, how much trouble! And then he will dry for a few more years.

How many years must it dry?

There are three years. You put it in the garage, you block the doors, and in the summer time in the iron garage a sauna is created, from 50 to 80 degrees. In this sauna my knots and driftwood and dry. This year is bad weather, the summer was cool, rainy.

How much, for example, do you value the snag that was brought from the Crimea?

It is priceless for me, this is the source material for the masterpiece. One friend once asked me to give him some branches of pine. At you, speaks, them it is full, I do a bath, it is necessary for me for registration. I refused him, and he took offense at me and now does not even say hello to me. It seems to him that it is simple: he went into the forest and collected branches there. It's also necessary to get a telescopic ladder, load it into the trunk, which must also be bought, scratched the entire machine with branches, find a pine tree with some beautiful branch, hire a climber, cut it down, pay him for work, and then take it and give it to this branch friend. I collect these snags to work and earn, dry land, remove the bark, harvest it. People do not understand this. If I were a forester and a friend came to me and asked: you have a snag, can I get it? I would say: take it, of course, it's a pity, or what? And this is my work, and much work.

Live sawing trees?

Of course, I do not. I can cut several branches from a living tree, there is no poaching in it. Basically, I harvest the dry land. It is both lighter and decorated with "tattoos" of woodworm.

Are you interested in the roots too?

Yes, but it's on the Volga. In the land, how will you see it? Spend the whole day in the woods, in mosquitoes, dig up - and there's nothing to watch: there's no music, no plastics in it. And on the Volga they are open, washed: take and use.

One day, my son and I crossed the Volga with a huge pine sovel, and a storm began. I tell Danke: we are with you, Danka, now we will puff and drown, we must cut off the Suvel. He says: Daddy, you need to, let's quietly. Usually, I cross the Volga in a glider in 10 minutes, and here we sailed for three hours. The waves were 1.5 meters high. We were all wet, the boat was all in the water. The son scoops water, but I'm on the motor quietly. Maneuvered between the waves: then one wave, then another. For a long time we crossed the Volga, so I did not abandon this Suvel. And she was useful to me, she left for a very famous person in Kazan. Made from her legs for the bench. They look very good there.

If you lived, for example, in the same Crimea, would the work be even more interesting?

Probably, they would be brighter. I make furniture based on what can be found in our forests. For example, from some simple eaten beetles pine grooves (croaker - a waste of production of sawn timber, the last when cutting logs boards, keeping on one side a natural rounded surface of a log - note avt.) I made the facade of the kitchen.

I saw it in photos, incredible beauty!

This is a simple pine, croaker. A good owner and a fence of it will not undertake to do, but I made a luxurious façade for the kitchen. This facade saw a designer from the firm "Carpenter", says how much it costs? I say, agreed on 300 thousand rubles. What, he said, 300 thousand ?! It's worth 3 million, you do not understand what you did!

How long have you been working on this kitchen facade?

About 4.5 months: there and painting, and forged handles, and stones, and jute. It was done by two people - me and Adele, assistant. I got 300 thousand rubles for it. Everyone likes this kitchen very much. They say that the owners of the house in Borovy Matyusha are already fed up with people who ask them to let them see it, go there as a museum.

What is included in the range of materials other than branches, snags and stumps?

Skulls and claws of bears and tigers, for example.

Where do you get them?

They are delivered to me by my friends from certain places. I buy birds' feathers, horns, constantly look through the ads in the newspaper "From hand to hand". And if someone sells an elk's horns, a deer or a deer, or a skull of some kind, I'm calling. If the price is low, I take them with pleasure.

How many, for example, are the elk's horns?

Each process of the horn on the market is valued, if I'm not mistaken, at $ 100. If you count on the processes, the price can go up to 1000, and up to 1500 dollars. But actually buy horns for 3 - 5 thousand rubles.

You probably have not enough competitors. Who else will buy these horns?

The one who makes out a bathhouse or a hunting lodge. Will buy, why not? But no one is after them. I would gladly buy round sheep's horns, I do not know yet what can be done from them, but it seems to me that something interesting will turn out. He asked me to be brought from Uzbekistan, but it turns out that they can not be exported from there, it is considered contraband.

And why do you need a skull? It's scary, it's all...

No, it's very beautiful! Imagine a mantelpiece, and in the middle above the fireplace there is a white skull of a bear or a tiger. Or, for example, a coffee table, and under a glass some snag, a cobblestone and a tiger's skull, and all this is covered with pebbles, on top of the glass. This is a great topic!

How much does the tiger skull cost?

I dont know. Probably very expensive. They are either given to me, or given for purely symbolic money. In China, from the skull and bones of the tiger, I heard they are doing some medicine. There it is very expensive. There even tiger men are sewn into the collar to be popular with women. They say you make a tiger's collar in your collar, and all the women will be yours.

People, however, believe in this and give a lot of money?

Yes. I have a tiger, but I still do not get it in my collar - I forget. Need to try. I wonder what will come of it.

How long does it take to make a stool or a table?

I make a stool from one day to a week, depending on which stool and how rich the decor is in it. The table can take 3 - 8 months.

All 8 months you do one table or can you do something else in parallel?

No, only the table is done, as the workshop area is small, you will not swing it. Everything that relates to the rustic and adirondack style is much more complicated than the classical style. And at the same time much more expensive. In general, rustic is more suitable for France, America, there he is adored, or at least for Moscow.

Can not afford a local?

Local psychologists are not ready for the value of these works of applied art. I watched the transfer of "Galileo", in which they talked about the rustic style. They show the master, he got a call and said that some sleepers washed away on the coast of the ocean with a storm. It turned out that earlier there was a wooden pier. The master came and began to extract them from sand and pebbles. With great difficulty, he dug up, picked up a crane and loaded it into the truck. He dried these finds, welded a metal frame for the future table and fixed on it these wrinkled and cracked sleepers. It turned out a large five-meter table on a metal frame. In "Galileo" said that this table is like a good expensive car and for such things are hunted. My tables are no worse. What kind of car is this? Is that LADA. In "Suvar Plaza" on the third floor there is a table with a table top made of sections, it was made much longer and looks much more interesting than this table of sleepers. People in Kazan do not understand this. I like everything: they gasp and groan when they see it, but as soon as they learn about the cost with a store price, they leave. It is necessary or to sell cheaper, or to sit behind him.

Maybe the Kazanians are not yet ripe for this style, they are more likely to go to Italy, order an Italian glamorous table and lay off a fortune for him. They need a crystal chandelier Swarovski hanging in the house.

And from other cities orders are received? From the same Moscow?

Not often, but it happens. Mostly I work in Kazan, I do not want to go anywhere. I would be happy somewhere in America, in France, in Germany. In America my colleague works only 1,5 - 2 months a year. This is enough for him to ride a good car, buy expensive photo and video equipment and arrange expeditions to the lakes, conquer the mountain peaks.

Have you thought about moving to a country where the public likes such things?

I am 53 years old, where will I go? It hurts, it hurts. It would be nice at least 15 years ago to go to Canada, in this lake district. There it is all very, very much in demand. There, such things are understood, valued and loved, there it is bought with hurray. In Canada, a small desk with ease goes for 35 - 40 thousand dollars. In Kazan, such a table with great difficulty, I would sell for 100 - 150 thousand rubles. The difference is astronomical!

It would seem that the Internet pushes the boundaries...

Friends say, put the furniture on eBay, but I do not understand this.

Designers with you do not work, do not reduce it to customers?

No, the designer wants to get 15 - 20 percent for what drives me to the customer. And I and the hands still have the same 15 - 20 percent.

And if you raise the price?

I think they will stop ordering. Everyone needs cheap. In Kazan there is a certain Yuri Karbivnichy, he also makes furniture from branches and snags, he literally in two days the shop is ready. It is worth it cheap, 12 - 20 thousand rubles. He has a flurry of orders: people like monetary cheapness, and the cheapness of their quality does not bother.

People need cheapness, but I need a flight in work. The soul demands to create something that will go down in the history of applied art, which will be sold afterwards from auctions. Man is a sinful creature, which means he is vain, and I am not without sin. You can, of course, come down from heaven to the ground and spank some rough stools at 500 rubles per piece, 20 pieces per day. And my wife more than once offered me such an option. What am I telling her? Let die an artist.

What is the portrait of the customer? What are they, your customers?

These are, as a rule, very wealthy people who have several sources of income. They are active, intelligent, interesting and talented people. It's interesting to communicate with them.

What did you work on the longest?

Over the stairs in Borovoye, I did it for six months. The month left only for the preparation of the material. In general, making stairs is the most time-consuming process. It is very difficult to do, very many fits, connections. All branches and logs are curves, and all of this must be tightly connected.

And what items of furniture and interior are ordered most often?

Order an interior, and in the interior you need a staircase, a table, a chair, a chandelier, a mirror, and a bed. Basically they take not one thing, they order an interior.

Which order was the largest?

I worked for one master. He made a dressing room, a pergola and a guest house. There I worked for three or four years. It was the best and most interesting work in my practice. Abroad, I have never been, did not go anywhere: neither to Germany, nor to France, nor to Turkey. I do not even have a passport. We live in prosperity, it seems like enough. But everything happens in periods: two or three years you are doing well, and then there comes a period when, in general, it is sad. What I do can not be called a business. What kind of business is this? It seems to me that business is when you bought something and sold it, or you produce something in circulation. That's business! At me today it is dense, tomorrow it is empty. There are successful years, there are unsuccessful. Successful in my entire life was about six years.

Everyone wants cheaper, I also want cheaper when I go to the store. People strive to buy an exclusive thing at a price two to three times more expensive than laminate furniture. They say laminate is so much worth it. And I give you twice as much, Misha! Suppose you order a complex table, call the cost, but they are surprised: it's a car! So what? And here is the car? I do the table for four to five months. And what, the car is a criterion of high cost? How so? And so, understanding customers is very small. Such a customer, on the contrary, understands that he receives a thing much more expensive than he pays for it.

How many such customers? One of ten?

Not one in ten. In my whole life, I've had two such people. The rest resemble a fairy tale: can you sew a hat? Sow. Can you make two hats? I can. And three? And five? And seven? And the skin is one.

Your wealthy clients probably think that you would not cheat them...

Not all, there are exceptions. But most people are used to buying for cheap, selling for expensive. They have a constant fear that they will be cheated, they will cheat, they will take something superfluous. In them it sits, and they press this "pedal" where it is necessary and where it is not necessary. Underestimating the price, they immediately chop off improvisation, fantasy and many other important factors of creative work. How can business and creativity work together?

For example, Nikos Safronov combines these things.

He is very popular, he is very fashionable. And he sells his works at fabulously inflated prices. His portrait costs a maximum of 30-40 thousand rubles, and he sells it ... Well, Nikos Safronov is not a creator, he is a businessman. Now, Salvador Dali, who do you think is?

Artist

But in fact he is a showman. Many people are confused. For example, as Malevich, who drew the "Black Square", you can call a painter? It's ridiculous! What is an artist? The word "painting" comes from "vividly write." Here you look at the picture, and the person seems to be breathing, his eyes are moist, and as if from him breath comes. Zhi-in-pi-sat. A person draws squares, triangles or cans of beer glues on canvas. This is not a painting. People begin to be confused, where art is, and where it is not: they have a complete mess in their heads. An artist, a painter, a showman, a theatrical figure - they all fall into one jar. But, sorry, flies are one thing, pies are another. Nikos Safronov is a businessman from art, he is not a painter. The richest "artists" long ago surpassed the cost of Rembrandt. Rembrandt's paintings are already not so much worth, how much are their beer cans glued to the canvas.

Are there any craftsmen in Russia who create similar furniture?

There is. In Russia there is Vadim Tsyganov, the husband of Vika Tsyganova, he serves the entire Rublyovka. The prices at it fantastic! By the way, the students who work for me always want to "bite me." I tell them that I am recognized as the third master in the world. They are hurt, and they begin to dig the Internet in search of a "refutation." They want to find and show me... that's better, they say. They ask me, who is the coolest master in Russia? I say: Vadim Tsyganov is the most expensive. They go to his site, watch the work, look how much it costs, and they say: Well, Michael, you can not put his work next to yours. And by the way, this is a famous and very expensive master. There are also Vladimir Potlov, his works are even kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. But they have it different, this is a wooden sculpture, where he works more as a chisel. In the south there is another master, he lives in the Krasnodar Territory. He came to the exhibition, he wanted me to sell his work in Kazan. Was, as it is called, his dealer. I say: I do not know how to trade at all, it's not mine. God forbid, I'll do something stupid, "I'll get into it," and I'll have to.

If you are the third rustic master in the world, who are the first two?

In the first place Frank Lefeber, then Brent McGregor and then himself Mikhail Volkov-Sorokin. This was told to me by my colleague, Latvian Harij Stradins. Posted in Facebook. Apparently, there are some ratings.

The American works are powerful and wild, and Brent McGregor himself is a real cowboy: a wiry man with a beard in a plaid shirt and jeans. Frank Lefeber is a pure European, his works are restrained, ideally fit into minimalism and high-tech. And I am a Russian, a continuer of Russian culture. These are tales of Pavel Bazhov, Pushkin's tales, illustrations of Ivan Bilibin, three heroes of Viktor Vasnetsov.

Mikhail Borisovich, you have a beautiful forest double surname - Volkov-Sorokin. How did you get it?

I acquired it, one from my mother, the other from my father. I was always Volkov. And when we started to do the site, it turned out that the domain name volkov.ru was already taken. We decided to try Volkov-Sorokin, like Petrov-Vodkin or Borisov-Musatov - freely. Here, in fact, the whole story, since then I am Volkov-Sorokin. Volkov-Sorokin is a creative pseudonym. There was such an artist - Picasso. What paintings he painted? Angular, scary, "Picassian" some. Shishkin drew coniferous forests. What songs does Sergey Starostin sing? Ancient. Well, I'm Mikhail Volkov-Sorokin, there's a bear, Misha, and a wolf, and forty-all forestry, bestial. I have the same furniture: fabulous, woodland, wild. There is some kind of mysticism in this.

How do you spend your free time?

It is not as such. All the time it takes work. One of the greatest pleasures and pleasures is to raft on a kayak or on a boat. And this is again the search for material. I'm looking for where and what is growing, I'm jamming the points in the navigator: yeah, there's such a branch growing here. Well, what to cut it for future use? Let it grow. If the order drops out and you need such a branch, I have the coordinates. My bases are scattered around Tatarstan and Mari El.

What principles do you follow when working?

Make it so that it was extremely interesting, extraordinary, practical and convenient. To me as the most demanding and demanding viewer, this pleased and surprised. If this will please me and amaze me, then the customer will also be happy.

Mikhail Borisovich, for over 40 years you have been working with wood and the last 10 years - in the rustic style, before that there were classics and modern. How did the transition take place?

Through the famous folklorist Sergei Starostin. Somehow I proudly, chest wheel, showed the album with his works Starostin and his wife Olga Lapshina. And somehow, by the middle of the album, I felt a kind of sadness. I began to feel uncomfortable. And he thought: what am I doing, why do I show all this, what kind of stupidity and nonsense! When I heard Russian original songs Starostin, something has changed in me.

It happened at the Grushinsky Festival in 2006. A peasant, a barefoot man, came out wearing linen trousers and a shirt, in a light-colored felt cap, like a bowl, with a wooden pipe, put it in the toe of his big leg and blew. And it seemed to me like a piercing lightning, I was in distant times and I saw my ancestors. As they emerged from the semi-earth in some light, linen clothes and did something on the cold damp earth. After this vision, I could no longer listen and perceive the modern stage. And do what I did before.

In general, something happened to me, and all the "combed" styles, where everything is predictable, straight, at right angles, stopped liking and became strangers. I no longer wanted to do what I did. All these coffered ceilings (caissons from the french caisson - a box, grooves of a rectangular or other shape in the vault, dome, ceiling overlap - note author), panel doors, modern lines, stairs with figured balusters - all this glamorous well-being began to go away in past.

Why did you decide to do it rustic?

All summer of 2006 I was in "breaking", I did not want to do anything. And how to live, what to do, I did not know. Everything that I did before seemed to be a great stupidity, and I did it all. It is necessary to do something interesting, and what exactly, did not know. However, when rafting in a kayak, I floated somewhere on the boat, I always admired snags, their bends, cracks, texture - all this fascinated me. But I had no idea how this could be applied.

And one day on the Euronews channel, it was announced that an exhibition of designer Frank Lefeber was opening in Berlin. In the announcement showed a frame with his chair with some horns, crocodile skin, feathers. My jaw dropped, I licked and lost my peace. I think: my God, what do people do ?! My work at all about anything. And it pleases God, a friend brought the magazine "Unique wooden houses", and the customer appeared. The woman from Borovy Matyusha called, says: we are looking for a master who would make an interior in the style of "three bears". I've gone through a bunch of designers, no one will understand what "three bears" are. She just did not know it was rustic. I showed her the magazine, I say it all from twigs, from logs and snags. She was so happy: yes, she says, this is what we were looking for! First I ordered a ladder, then a table, then something else. I worked for them for two or three years.

Useful experience in the classical style?

There is such a Moscow decorator Aida Gogoleva, she looked at my works and said: "Your God has specially guided the classical style for very, very many years, as Moses led the Jews for 40 years in the wilderness. You passed a serious classical school in woodworking, when you need to do everything so that the mosquito does not undermine the nose. From the strict classical style, impeccable quality, where everything is exactly and adjusted, I suddenly dived into logs and driftwood, into some kind of "rastopyryk". In the unbridled plasticity and curvature of the branches. My furniture, even though I work in rustic style, is not rough and rough. The culture of the classics was reunited with the rustic nature, and something interesting was born.

Where did you learn the craft?

He studied a lot: first in art circles, then in art school, in the school of folk art crafts, he graduated with honors. Then there was the army, where I also worked with the tree. Cutting, making furniture for high-ranking Moscow generals.

So, you were already a decent master then?

I was a boy, when I was drafted into the army, I made furniture. He did not march on the parade ground, did not run with the machine gun and did not stand on the nightstand. I had a spacious workshop, my mother sent me my parcel with a parcel, and I've been doing woodwork for two years.

Where did you serve?

In the Far East, near Khabarovsk. I had an assistant so that I would not be distracted. I did not even go to construction, just to work. The head of the political department, Colonel Korotin gave a command that I did not go to the dining room with everyone together, so as not to waste time. Here is an assistant for you, he says, he will prepare and receive food for you.

That is, you do not just a portion of porridge from the dining room brought?

No, they themselves cooked what they wanted. I lived like Christ in my bosom...

Where did all this furniture go?

Was in the part. Naturally, the officers ordered: high-ranking and small, under the noise. Like, make your wife on March 8 a carved picture or frame for a mirror. He did everything from shelves to huge panels. A triptych of six figures, telling about growing and collecting bread, made, they decorated a soldier's canteen for 1200 people. And the generals also had something to do. They came with their wives, greeted. The soldiers then joked: Well, everything, Volkov, now my hands are not up to demobilization, with the general I greeted him.

And after the army began to work independently?

After the army, I went to Siberia with a friend, we lived and worked in Novokuznetsk for a year at a metallurgical plant. It is a city-forming enterprise, they have their own kindergartens, stadiums, rest houses - and everything needs to be formalized. We did this. The year worked, and closer to the spring decided that knowledge is not enough and we must go to Kazan. We arrived, entered the Feshinsky School, I studied there for 4 years, also defended with honors and began to build a house. He built it for a long time, 11 years. All that I earned before 1991, ate inflation. We were just robbed. The state has been robbed. Null all completely, had to start again.

What were your losses?

I saved money for a house, a workshop, I wanted to buy land. He worked at the plant "Radiopribor", designed the 52nd garden. Magnificently designed it, saved a good amount, 26 thousand rubles. Everything burned down! And for 26 thousand rubles it was possible to build a turnkey house with heating, with frames, doors, floor, buy furniture, a car "Volga" and more money would remain. Everything is lost. It was necessary to start all over again, and the construction stretched as much as 11 years. Yes, there, still really no repair: the floor was dropped linoleum, the walls were painted with water-based paint and live.

As always, a shoemaker without boots?

Shoemaker without shoes. There are things I could not sell: I wanted to sell for one price, I was offered less. Less I did not like, so I left them to myself, at home I stand. I drive them to exhibitions, they make a splash, they all moan, they gasp - really good things.

Often customers are underpaid?

Yes, recently they did not pay. From autumn to spring, half a year, I made a ladder. It turned out luxurious, like a symphony orchestra, a solid, rich staircase, in the Provence with elements of rustic. And they did not pay me for this work. No money, they say. Someday give it. When it will be? When will they give? I do not know. No money, they say, the crisis is bad for everyone. Some part was given, less than half - that's all. Sometimes my daughter asks for ice cream to buy, I say: buy cheaper. All this is humiliating...

Do not want to sue them?

But how to sue? I do not make paper contracts. It's enough for me to shake hands, like in the good old days. How did the contracts between the merchants consist in the past? Just hit on the hands and all. Besides, I do not understand anything about this. I'm not a lawyer or a "julist", I do not care, so I do not have such a vein.

In your case everything is decided by the source material - stumps, driftwood, quicksands. Where and how do you mine them?

On the Volga and in the forest. I have my places. I know where lonely pine trees grow, on which there are interesting branches with bends. It is necessary to climb there with the help of climbing equipment or ask the climbers to climb up and take off my branch. On the Volga on a motor boat I go along the coast. I examine them and type some stumps, some snags. You also need to know the places. You can drive 100 kilometers and not find anything interesting and worthy, where there would be music, plastic in the stump.

The quicksand, the wood that has been in the water, you also collect?

Yes, the shore washes, the trees are falling, the trunks are taken away by the local, towing boats to their villages, and hemp with roots are rinsed in the waves of the river. Water, sand and pebbles work wonders. And the sun so silver surface, that no dyes and stains with it will not be compared. It turns out a very bizarre, amazing beauty material. You go, you look, that there was some interesting plastic. Something you can apply for a chandelier, something for the table leg. You can cover the stump with a glass canvas - here's a splendid lunch or coffee table.

Water tree does not spoil?

No, I dry it, cover it with varnish, I emphasize cracks with some professional secrets. This furniture will survive more than one generation. It can be destroyed only by fire. She will serve, serve and serve until she gets to the museum or private collection. These are insanely interesting things. People say that incredible energy comes from them. To touch them is a pleasure, to feel all the dimples and cracks. What is the machine? He otfugoval board, and it is flat and level. And I'm old tables, I beat them with chains, I shoot them with a gun. I throw sand, clay, pebbles and start kicking. I rub the paint. I can grate the grass green, then skin, rub, rub with a knife, polish brushes and varnish. All this in order that the surface was magical, magical, so that there was a legend. As if Ivan the Terrible himself was sitting at this table, and the boyars were rubbing and rubbing and polishing the tree.

Looking at the slices of the trees on the countertop, one can imagine that once in their branches nests rippled, the leaves bathed in the rain and the rays of the sun, and under the apple trees the rural youth loved each other and conceived children. Glamorous Italian veneer veneer table will not tell you any stories.

And with what kinds of trees do you work?

Pine, oak, spruce, elm. I love Elm, he has a beautiful texture. Basically it is a dry-dock. Well, the boards, of course, without them.

How is the price for your work formed?

Depending on the time spent, working hours and material. Sometimes I use very rare material. For example, when we went to Crimea with my family, I brought a huge rhizome on the trunk. When we drove through the cities, past the traffic police, everyone turned around. I still had a chainsaw to clean up everything inside, so that the rhizome became lighter and did not crush the car: you drive through the hummocks - you have to hit the car. With care he transported this unpredictable. In recent years I have been trying to take a trailer with me so that I can bring something from the trips.

In the Crimea and the Caucasus, on the coast of the sea, an amazing korjazhnik takes out. I go there, including for him. It is not cheap: by time, by work, by loading. It is very difficult to obtain material. To an ignorant person it seems that these are simple knots and snags. I went into the woods and typed. Nothing like this! All this is sprinkled with pebbles and stones - you need to dig it up. Full of snakes that live there, we must disperse them so they do not bite. Shovel, it happens, 2 meters deep digging. Then the material must be cleaned, wash the clay, dirt. Then somehow manage to pick stones from the roots. If you can not cope with the loading yourself, you need to go to the nearest village, ask for help, pay. A lot of trouble. Rustik - a troublesome style, but very interesting. Usually the carpenter travels to the drying chamber, buys a dry saw log and, as a matter of fact, makes frames, benches or tables. Everything is predictable, simple and understandable. Here to bring one stump, how much trouble! And then he will dry for a few more years.

How many years must it dry?

There are three years. You put it in the garage, you block the doors, and in the summer time in the iron garage a sauna is created, from 50 to 80 degrees. In this sauna my knots and driftwood and dry. This year is bad weather, the summer was cool, rainy.

How much, for example, do you value the snag that was brought from the Crimea?

It is priceless for me, this is the source material for the masterpiece. One friend once asked me to give him some branches of pine. At you, speaks, them it is full, I do a bath, it is necessary for me for registration. I refused him, and he took offense at me and now does not even say hello to me. It seems to him that it is simple: he went into the forest and collected branches there. It's also necessary to get a telescopic ladder, load it into the trunk, which must also be bought, scratched the entire machine with branches, find a pine tree with some beautiful branch, hire a climber, cut it down, pay him for work, and then take it and give it to this branch friend. I collect these snags to work and earn, dry land, remove the bark, harvest it. People do not understand this. If I were a forester and a friend came to me and asked: you have a snag, can I get it? I would say: take it, of course, it's a pity, or what? And this is my work, and much work.

Live sawing trees?

Of course, I do not. I can cut several branches from a living tree, there is no poaching in it. Basically, I harvest the dry land. It is both lighter and decorated with "tattoos" of woodworm.

Are you interested in the roots too?

Yes, but it's on the Volga. In the land, how will you see it? Spend the whole day in the woods, in mosquitoes, dig up - and there's nothing to watch: there's no music, no plastics in it. And on the Volga they are open, washed: take and use.

One day, my son and I crossed the Volga with a huge pine sovel, and a storm began. I tell Danke: we are with you, Danka, now we will puff and drown, we must cut off the Suvel. He says: Daddy, you need to, let's quietly. Usually, I cross the Volga in a glider in 10 minutes, and here we sailed for three hours. The waves were 1.5 meters high. We were all wet, the boat was all in the water. The son scoops water, but I'm on the motor quietly. Maneuvered between the waves: then one wave, then another. For a long time we crossed the Volga, so I did not abandon this Suvel. And she was useful to me, she left for a very famous person in Kazan. Made from her legs for the bench. They look very good there.

If you lived, for example, in the same Crimea, would the work be even more interesting?

Probably, they would be brighter. I make furniture based on what can be found in our forests. For example, from some simple eaten beetles pine grooves (croaker - a waste of production of sawn timber, the last when cutting logs boards, keeping on one side a natural rounded surface of a log - note avt.) I made the facade of the kitchen.

I saw it in photos, incredible beauty!

This is a simple pine, croaker. A good owner and a fence of it will not undertake to do, but I made a luxurious façade for the kitchen. This facade saw a designer from the firm "Carpenter", says how much it costs? I say, agreed on 300 thousand rubles. What, he said, 300 thousand ?! It's worth 3 million, you do not understand what you did!

How long have you been working on this kitchen facade?

About 4.5 months: there and painting, and forged handles, and stones, and jute. It was done by two people - me and Adele, assistant. I got 300 thousand rubles for it. Everyone likes this kitchen very much. They say that the owners of the house in Borovy Matyusha are already fed up with people who ask them to let them see it, go there as a museum.

What is included in the range of materials other than branches, snags and stumps?

Skulls and claws of bears and tigers, for example.

Where do you get them?

They are delivered to me by my friends from certain places. I buy birds' feathers, horns, constantly look through the ads in the newspaper "From hand to hand". And if someone sells an elk's horns, a deer or a deer, or a skull of some kind, I'm calling. If the price is low, I take them with pleasure.

How many, for example, are the elk's horns?

Each process of the horn on the market is valued, if I'm not mistaken, at $ 100. If you count on the processes, the price can go up to 1000, and up to 1500 dollars. But actually buy horns for 3 - 5 thousand rubles.

You probably have not enough competitors. Who else will buy these horns?

The one who makes out a bathhouse or a hunting lodge. Will buy, why not? But no one is after them. I would gladly buy round sheep's horns, I do not know yet what can be done from them, but it seems to me that something interesting will turn out. He asked me to be brought from Uzbekistan, but it turns out that they can not be exported from there, it is considered contraband.

And why do you need a skull? It's scary, it's all...

No, it's very beautiful! Imagine a mantelpiece, and in the middle above the fireplace there is a white skull of a bear or a tiger. Or, for example, a coffee table, and under a glass some snag, a cobblestone and a tiger's skull, and all this is covered with pebbles, on top of the glass. This is a great topic!

How much does the tiger skull cost?

I dont know. Probably very expensive. They are either given to me, or given for purely symbolic money. In China, from the skull and bones of the tiger, I heard they are doing some medicine. There it is very expensive. There even tiger men are sewn into the collar to be popular with women. They say you make a tiger's collar in your collar, and all the women will be yours.

People, however, believe in this and give a lot of money?

Yes. I have a tiger, but I still do not get it in my collar - I forget. Need to try. I wonder what will come of it.

How long does it take to make a stool or a table?

I make a stool from one day to a week, depending on which stool and how rich the decor is in it. The table can take 3 - 8 months.

All 8 months you do one table or can you do something else in parallel?

No, only the table is done, as the workshop area is small, you will not swing it. Everything that relates to the rustic and adirondack style is much more complicated than the classical style. And at the same time much more expensive. In general, rustic is more suitable for France, America, there he is adored, or at least for Moscow.

Can not afford a local?

Local psychologists are not ready for the value of these works of applied art. I watched the transfer of "Galileo", in which they talked about the rustic style. They show the master, he got a call and said that some sleepers washed away on the coast of the ocean with a storm. It turned out that earlier there was a wooden pier. The master came and began to extract them from sand and pebbles. With great difficulty, he dug up, picked up a crane and loaded it into the truck. He dried these finds, welded a metal frame for the future table and fixed on it these wrinkled and cracked sleepers. It turned out a large five-meter table on a metal frame. In "Galileo" said that this table is like a good expensive car and for such things are hunted. My tables are no worse. What kind of car is this? Is that LADA. In "Suvar Plaza" on the third floor there is a table with a table top made of sections, it was made much longer and looks much more interesting than this table of sleepers. People in Kazan do not understand this. I like everything: they gasp and groan when they see it, but as soon as they learn about the cost with a store price, they leave. It is necessary or to sell cheaper, or to sit behind him.

Maybe the Kazanians are not yet ripe for this style, they are more likely to go to Italy, order an Italian glamorous table and lay off a fortune for him. They need a crystal chandelier Swarovski hanging in the house.

And from other cities orders are received? From the same Moscow?

Not often, but it happens. Mostly I work in Kazan, I do not want to go anywhere. I would be happy somewhere in America, in France, in Germany. In America my colleague works only 1,5 - 2 months a year. This is enough for him to ride a good car, buy expensive photo and video equipment and arrange expeditions to the lakes, conquer the mountain peaks.

Have you thought about moving to a country where the public likes such things?

I am 53 years old, where will I go? It hurts, it hurts. It would be nice at least 15 years ago to go to Canada, in this lake district. There it is all very, very much in demand. There, such things are understood, valued and loved, there it is bought with hurray. In Canada, a small desk with ease goes for 35 - 40 thousand dollars. In Kazan, such a table with great difficulty, I would sell for 100 - 150 thousand rubles. The difference is astronomical!

It would seem that the Internet pushes the boundaries...

Friends say, put the furniture on eBay, but I do not understand this.

Designers with you do not work, do not reduce it to customers?

No, the designer wants to get 15 - 20 percent for what drives me to the customer. And I and the hands still have the same 15 - 20 percent.

And if you raise the price?

I think they will stop ordering. Everyone needs cheap. In Kazan there is a certain Yuri Karbivnichy, he also makes furniture from branches and snags, he literally in two days the shop is ready. It is worth it cheap, 12 - 20 thousand rubles. He has a flurry of orders: people like monetary cheapness, and the cheapness of their quality does not bother.

People need cheapness, but I need a flight in work. The soul demands to create something that will go down in the history of applied art, which will be sold afterwards from auctions. Man is a sinful creature, which means he is vain, and I am not without sin. You can, of course, come down from heaven to the ground and spank some rough stools at 500 rubles per piece, 20 pieces per day. And my wife more than once offered me such an option. What am I telling her? Let die an artist.

What is the portrait of the customer? What are they, your customers?

These are, as a rule, very wealthy people who have several sources of income. They are active, intelligent, interesting and talented people. It's interesting to communicate with them.

What did you work on the longest?

Over the stairs in Borovoye, I did it for six months. The month left only for the preparation of the material. In general, making stairs is the most time-consuming process. It is very difficult to do, very many fits, connections. All branches and logs are curves, and all of this must be tightly connected.

And what items of furniture and interior are ordered most often?

Order an interior, and in the interior you need a staircase, a table, a chair, a chandelier, a mirror, and a bed. Basically they take not one thing, they order an interior.

Which order was the largest?

I worked for one master. He made a dressing room, a pergola and a guest house. There I worked for three or four years. It was the best and most interesting work in my practice. Abroad, I have never been, did not go anywhere: neither to Germany, nor to France, nor to Turkey. I do not even have a passport. We live in prosperity, it seems like enough. But everything happens in periods: two or three years you are doing well, and then there comes a period when, in general, it is sad. What I do can not be called a business. What kind of business is this? It seems to me that business is when you bought something and sold it, or you produce something in circulation. That's business! At me today it is dense, tomorrow it is empty. There are successful years, there are unsuccessful. Successful in my entire life was about six years.

Everyone wants cheaper, I also want cheaper when I go to the store. People strive to buy an exclusive thing at a price two to three times more expensive than laminate furniture. They say laminate is so much worth it. And I give you twice as much, Misha! Suppose you order a complex table, call the cost, but they are surprised: it's a car! So what? And here is the car? I do the table for four to five months. And what, the car is a criterion of high cost? How so? And so, understanding customers is very small. Such a customer, on the contrary, understands that he receives a thing much more expensive than he pays for it.

How many such customers? One of ten?

Not one in ten. In my whole life, I've had two such people. The rest resemble a fairy tale: can you sew a hat? Sow. Can you make two hats? I can. And three? And five? And seven? And the skin is one.

Your wealthy clients probably think that you would not cheat them...

Not all, there are exceptions. But most people are used to buying for cheap, selling for expensive. They have a constant fear that they will be cheated, they will cheat, they will take something superfluous. In them it sits, and they press this "pedal" where it is necessary and where it is not necessary. Underestimating the price, they immediately chop off improvisation, fantasy and many other important factors of creative work. How can business and creativity work together?

For example, Nikos Safronov combines these things.

He is very popular, he is very fashionable. And he sells his works at fabulously inflated prices. His portrait costs a maximum of 30-40 thousand rubles, and he sells it ... Well, Nikos Safronov is not a creator, he is a businessman. Now, Salvador Dali, who do you think is?

Artist

But in fact he is a showman. Many people are confused. For example, as Malevich, who drew the "Black Square", you can call a painter? It's ridiculous! What is an artist? The word "painting" comes from "vividly write." Here you look at the picture, and the person seems to be breathing, his eyes are moist, and as if from him breath comes. Zhi-in-pi-sat. A person draws squares, triangles or cans of beer glues on canvas. This is not a painting. People begin to be confused, where art is, and where it is not: they have a complete mess in their heads. An artist, a painter, a showman, a theatrical figure - they all fall into one jar. But, sorry, flies are one thing, pies are another. Nikos Safronov is a businessman from art, he is not a painter. The richest "artists" long ago surpassed the cost of Rembrandt. Rembrandt's paintings are already not so much worth, how much are their beer cans glued to the canvas.

Are there any craftsmen in Russia who create similar furniture?

There is. In Russia there is Vadim Tsyganov, the husband of Vika Tsyganova, he serves the entire Rublyovka. The prices at it fantastic! By the way, the students who work for me always want to "bite me." I tell them that I am recognized as the third master in the world. They are hurt, and they begin to dig the Internet in search of a "refutation." They want to find and show me... that's better, they say. They ask me, who is the coolest master in Russia? I say: Vadim Tsyganov is the most expensive. They go to his site, watch the work, look how much it costs, and they say: Well, Michael, you can not put his work next to yours. And by the way, this is a famous and very expensive master. There are also Vladimir Potlov, his works are even kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. But they have it different, this is a wooden sculpture, where he works more as a chisel. In the south there is another master, he lives in the Krasnodar Territory. He came to the exhibition, he wanted me to sell his work in Kazan. Was, as it is called, his dealer. I say: I do not know how to trade at all, it's not mine. God forbid, I'll do something stupid, "I'll get into it," and I'll have to.

If you are the third rustic master in the world, who are the first two?

In the first place Frank Lefeber, then Brent McGregor and then himself Mikhail Volkov-Sorokin. This was told to me by my colleague, Latvian Harij Stradins. Posted in Facebook. Apparently, there are some ratings.

The American works are powerful and wild, and Brent McGregor himself is a real cowboy: a wiry man with a beard in a plaid shirt and jeans. Frank Lefeber is a pure European, his works are restrained, ideally fit into minimalism and high-tech. And I am a Russian, a continuer of Russian culture. These are tales of Pavel Bazhov, Pushkin's tales, illustrations of Ivan Bilibin, three heroes of Viktor Vasnetsov.

Mikhail Borisovich, you have a beautiful forest double surname - Volkov-Sorokin. How did you get it?

I acquired it, one from my mother, the other from my father. I was always Volkov. And when we started to do the site, it turned out that the domain name volkov.ru was already taken. We decided to try Volkov-Sorokin, like Petrov-Vodkin or Borisov-Musatov - freely. Here, in fact, the whole story, since then I am Volkov-Sorokin. Volkov-Sorokin is a creative pseudonym. There was such an artist - Picasso. What paintings he painted? Angular, scary, "Picassian" some. Shishkin drew coniferous forests. What songs does Sergey Starostin sing? Ancient. Well, I'm Mikhail Volkov-Sorokin, there's a bear, Misha, and a wolf, and forty-all forestry, bestial. I have the same furniture: fabulous, woodland, wild. There is some kind of mysticism in this.

How do you spend your free time?

It is not as such. All the time it takes work. One of the greatest pleasures and pleasures is to raft on a kayak or on a boat. And this is again the search for material. I'm looking for where and what is growing, I'm jamming the points in the navigator: yeah, there's such a branch growing here. Well, what to cut it for future use? Let it grow. If the order drops out and you need such a branch, I have the coordinates. My bases are scattered around Tatarstan and Mari El.

What principles do you follow when working?

Make it so that it was extremely interesting, extraordinary, practical and convenient. To me as the most demanding and demanding viewer, this pleased and surprised. If this will please me and amaze me, then the customer will also be happy.

Blank Gif