NinA rasiuk
photographed by grisha petrosyan
Where are you from? Are you from Yerevan?
I was born in Krasnodar, lived there until I was 18, then moved to Moscow, worked and lived there. Four years ago, Misak and I moved to Yerevan and now we are based here.
What brought you to Armenia?
Spontaneity. Our friend organized the Urvakan festival and we came to help him. After the festival finished, we decided to stay here without our stuff, without plans and desire to return back. I have traveled from Yerevan once only during four years.
What drew you here? Why did you decide to stay?
Probably the pace, climate, food. I wanted to live in comfort and in a relaxed rhythm, and at the same time do what I want. There was time to think about what I can do, what I like, and some personal projects to think about. Because in Moscow it doesn’t work out, in Moscow you don’t have time for that. And then it turned out to exhale, improve health and just roll into life. Also, people here live more than survive and fuss, they have a very measured pace of life, and this attracted me. And goodwill, people here are very different from people in Moscow, less aggressive, more cheerful. And at the beginning it was difficult for me to understand how a person just wants to help carry the suitcases to the 4th floor, and then gradually this humanity began to soak into me.
Ha-ha, that’s really nice to hear about the locals. Why did you choose this apartment? Did the interior play a role in this choice?
Yes, the interior mattered. At that time, we didn’t have an apartment at all, we lived with different friends who live here. I have seen different apartments, but they were all with some kind of “Euro” renovation, a bit different from what we needed. And when I came to see this apartment, the first thing that caught my eye was the floors and the chandelier. I immediately decided that yes, this is it, we must take it. And we immediately signed a contract and moved in the next day. I was not even scared that there was no sofa, almost zero comfort, a workplace and a bed. But the energy here is great, we have already been living here for three years. Last year we lived in another house, in Avan, but we have returned here now and there is some kind of cool feeling here.
So you lived in this flat, then moved to a house and then returned back?
We lived here for two years, went to Avan, and our friend lived here. And now we have returned and everything is starting to settle down, because here the hostess is good and there is no fuss, everything is calm. We have such an engineering, working vibe here.
And what about the bandit vibe?
Ha-ha, gangster? You know, we live across the Cond, the gangster vibe is there.
What did you change in the interior if changed?
Nothing at all, moved this sofa from the hall to the kitchen and that's it. And we used the dining table as a desktop, moved the bed to the other side and that's it. We didn't change anything at all.
But you have added your equipment.
Yes, we definitely did.
What’s your favorite piece of clothing you found in Armenia?
Oh, there is a lot, ha-ha. Probably, from the last one, it is that satin white olympic shirt. There is a DECADENCE vintage store here. An Armenian girl from Italy moved here and opened it. She has archival Yohji Yamamoto samples, I have some stuff from her. And I wear this olympic shirt almost every day, it's cool, it's like a blouse, but sporty.
Where do you store your clothing?
In some heavy closet. It's not very comfortable because the shelves are strangely placed there, but I like that it's wooden, but now it doesn’t have a door, ha-ha.
Is there something you miss when you remember Russia? Did you bring anything with you from there?
Probably the only thing I think about when I remember Moscow is the scale, the width of the streets. And I don't miss anything in particular. Relatives come to visit me here quite often, they like it here.
What do you do?
I am the founder and owner of TES Models agency in Armenia, I am an agent, booker and scout. And I am also the founder of a virtual model LAVA.
You both work from home, how do you manage to separate work and personal space? You have so many computers here.
Well, our only physical project is TES MODELS. Everything else we have is digital, commercial projects, Misak has been doing this for a long time. But now he is increasing his skills and he needs more computers with good video cards. And I started doing 3D last year when I got a good computer. When nothing slows down for you and your computer merges with your thoughts, that is cool. How do we share space? When you do not go to work, you can work non-stop, there is a minus in this. You can sit on the computer in the morning and leave it at 11 pm. Irregular schedule. But if you don't want to work, you can just go to the next room to watch a movie or I sometimes do pilates. We have the opportunity not to waste time on movements, from home to office and back. And our work has become a lifestyle, we have merged with all our tools.
Your apartment is also in a good location, close to the center.
You know why we moved last year, when everyone started coming here because of the military situation, there was a buzz in the city. When I went outside, I listened to the noise and did not feel calm as before. Because of this, we moved to a house in Avan. It was a great experience, it was far from the center. You just can't go out there for coffee or anything. In the center I spend a lot of time on such things, I go out to a small store and come back in two hours. In the center you blur a little, but in the house you get to work more concentrated. I get up early in the morning, I manage to work well at this time from 6 to 9 am, then everyone wakes up and then messages begin, and then from 8 to 12 pm I also work well. Misak can generally go to bed at 4 am because he is super concentrated at night.
And when guests come to you, do you move all the computers and free the table?
After we moved here for the second time, we haven’t had guests yet, and I strongly doubt that he will disassemble all these wires. But before, when we didn't have so many computers, yes, we put this big table under a chandelier, lit candles. This table and chandelier are made for each other. But now I don't think we'll do it.
When we first saw pictures of the interior, we coined the term “cyber-rabiz”.
Ha-ha, but for some reason it seems to me that “rabiz” is not so intelligent.
Well, I mean, it's like from the early 2000s and 90s.
But there is a mixture, there is something new, there is something old, the chandelier is also old. Without a luxurious collective farm, ha-ha.
Ha-ha, without, but “cyber”.
