Maria Osminina is artist who touches many mediums including interior design. A minimalist signature style that evokes a sensual feel by including natural texture, her work combines vintage and contemporary furniture with intentional meaning. “I love to find balance in forms, color and emptiness so each component becomes an integral part of whole space,” she explains. “The emptiness is essential and should be precisely sculpted.”
Maria first became interested in art at the age of 13 and began to study art at private art studio. “There was a completely indescribable chaotic atmosphere in which there was a lot of freedom and creativity. It resonated a lot with me, and I understood that I wanted to move in this direction,” she recalls. “My parents helped me find my first art teacher, and I’m very grateful to them for it. The teacher was wonderful, and we did a lot of hard work together. It was like whole new world was opening to me.”
Maria went on to study art at the Academy of Mukhina and later attended Saint-Petersburg University of Technology and Design for a total of nine years. Her studies included academic drawing, painting and composition, which Maria says became fundamental for her development as an artist. “At the period of my education, I felt that techniques and materials in the world are constantly changing, and to truly express myself in present time, I needed to study and adapt new technologies to my artistic workflow.”
Although fond of design and architecture for a long time, it wasn’t until she discovered the work of architecture Tadao Ando that she switched her focus to this medium. “I understood that level of influence on a human through space can be as powerful as art is,” she says.
Marian began to design furniture for her spaces when she realized that she needed certain lines and shapes that she couldn’t find it in works of contemporary design. Maria states: “It is important for me to create spaces on the edge of design and art that has strong sense of freedom. Each object fills its space creating relative internal and external shape. Emptiness has its own form, which fills curves of furniture and walls and creates shape that is equal to the space’s content.”
Paradoxically, Maria’s minimal use of color is arguably the most striking part of her designs. Color, she says, is very important to her. “I prefer natural and sophisticated colors that are live in space appearing from materials and light,” she says. “Such decisions aren’t monumental and trendy, but they contain components that form the essence of space.”
Maria says that art is the endless source of her inspiration along with her favorite artists, including Anish Kapoor, Cy Twombly and Richard Serra. “Tarkovsky has a strong influence on me. He is truly Russian and very global at the same time,” she adds. The Arte Povera movement also speaks to Maria. “New poor art raised problems of humanism and society creates monumental objects and installations from very basic objects.”
Her art, curatorial work, experience in publishing a book, and typography have all influenced Maria’s work as a designer. “In general, I do not feel only as a designer, rather I work as an artist, and everything else are a tools and techniques for me,” she explains. “I’m inspired by the beauty that is not we see on the surface but something that is true and inside of things.” The beauty in art is its fullness and imperfection to Maria. “It speaks of what surrounds us through the senses, serves as a mirror exposing. Looking at it, you can understand who you are, if you want.”
See more of Maria’s work, visit https://mariaosminina.ru/.
