SALON: What, in your opinion, is now at the peak of interior fashion?

- There are certain tendencies ... Now eclecticism is in fashion - a combination of several styles in one interior. Today, when designing an apartment or house, one style is rarely maintained. As for me, since my childhood I was gothic. When I was five years old, I found a piece of plaster and with a knife cut out a lock from it. And when I was in the sixth grade, I accidentally saw a book by Honore de Balzac in the design of Gustav Dore, and I fell in love with his drawings, with his mystery. Much later, I traveled around France, studied castles, often spent the night in them, wrote down stories connected with them, many of which I embodied in my paintings. I like the work of Pre-Raphaelites, where there are many Gothic. I also love Van Eyck, Memling, and indeed everything from Bruegel to Bosch. The interiors depicted in their paintings are perfect.

S: Not so long ago, you almost finished making out your three-story apartment. And, of course, you learned something from travels, books, albums. What seems to you today demanded from what you have seen and what is close to you?

- If you take high-tech, then modern architects and designers working professionally in England and Italy and actively introducing the most advanced technologies are close to me. In such interiors there is a lot of glass, metal, natural stone and slate. In this regard, Le Corbusier and our Russian architect AV are close to me. Shchusev, in the house under the project of which I live. On the third floor of my apartment, all these materials are present. The attic is also made in a modern style, but the middle floor is in the Gothic style. The lower floor is eclectic, all styles are mixed up there. For the average, Gothic, floor, I specifically bought furniture of the XVI, XVII, XVIII centuries in France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Italy and England. These antique items coexist with modern plumbing, household appliances, and all this is chosen in such a way that it is not much out of the general style of the interior. Any style (regardless of time) can not avoid the invasion of other styles. It is now and was even in the days of the medieval Gothic, when the Crusaders went to the East, brought exotic carpets, lamps, Asian tapestries and decorated their castles with them. In my case this is also the case. For example, on the floor in the high-tech style, where mostly glass, stone, metal, stands a wooden sculpture of the 15th century Madonna, which I specifically brought for my apartment from the Gothic cathedral of France.

S: What colors do you prefer in the interior?

- More of those colors that were used in the Middle Ages - blue, azure, cinnabar, beige mars, brown, burnt sienna, chromium oxide, rich green, ocher. These are the colors that were used in the Renaissance. I love swamp colors and natural earth colors. Gold leaf, silver and small orange or red blotches are very well combined with them ...

S: Is gothic your favorite style?

- Yes. I recently spoke with the Ambassador of Ecuador in Moscow, he also builds a house in the Gothic style in his homeland. In Moscow there is a salon where they sell furniture in the Gothic style - both old and new. Today, antique Gothic furniture - the most expensive, since it was made at one time by the highest craftsmen, and this is a very laborious work. After all, in order to create at least one item, you need to spend a lot of time. I believe that everything that is done professionally is the place to be. And any style is good, if it is made correctly.