Блог / Тренды

Olga Canneberges:  Hi Apti, How are you? What drinks do you prefer?

Apti Eziev: I prefer milkshakes and non-alcoholic mulled wine.

Olga Сanneberges: Then I will be happy to share one with you today.

 While my drink is coming we begin a conversation. 

Olga Canneberges: May I ask why did you decide to become a designer?

Apti Eziev:  Firstly, I didn’t want to become a designer. Each day is a combination of circumstances. Some of them depend on you and some do not. I came from Russia to Minsk when I was 6. Once a coach from the local Tennis Academy came to school. It used to be common when teachers from different social clubs went to schools and offered their services. He said he was a tennis coach and that on a certain day we could go to a trial workout. So, I went with my mother to the Tennis Academy. At that time it seemed difficult to achieve what the coach wanted, but I managed to do it. It was 1996. But, unfortunately, my parents didn’t have any money. When we heard what the price of the sports uniform and a racket was, this idea had to be postponed. After 2-3 years, in the yard where we lived, someone set up an iron table tennis table. We trained with those guys a lot and I went back to tennis. After that I was professionally engaged in it. In the 11th form, I needed to get a good year's assessment in physical education so that I could enter the Academy of Physical Education. I behaved badly at school - smashing windows with a volleyball, for example. The coach gave me an ultimatum - if I succeeded in the relay race, he would give me a nine... otherwise, an eight. I jumped over an iron stick, knocked it down and landed on it. As a result, I had a displaced fracture of my right playing hand. It was Monday. On Wednesday I had to apply for my master of sports. It was a real tragedy for me. Afterwards, I passed entrance tests with low scores which were high enough for the university I wanted to apply for. I came to the admission committee which asked me about my qualification book. It was at my coach’s place and he was in Belgrade at that moment. The committee didn’t allow me to bring it later. I didn’t want to go home and visited an acquaintance. She asked me what I wanted to do in life aside from tennis. I said that I enjoyed keeping an eye on appearance.

We got into the car and she took me to a college for drawing courses. So I went and drew for 2 weeks. 

I wanted to work with clothes and it was a shoe design college. That’s why I dropped out of the courses and applied for sewing courses at R. Luxembourg. This is how it all began.

Olga Canneberges:: I guess it was your destiny to become a designer. What do you think about Western designers?

Apti Eziev: I think too little about other people and it’s a problem