Interview with Max Marka - Founder, CEO, Chief designer

Max Marka is a visionary designer and entrepreneur, known for his work in futuristic design, industrial art, fashion, and innovative products.

He founded several creative companies, including MAX MARKA design, MAXIQUE, and MAX FABRIQUE. His projects go beyond traditional fashion, combining art, technology, and interactivity, often creating products that actively interact with the user and their environment.

Q1.How did your childhood in St. Petersburg influence your current design philosophy?

A. It was a constant search for my own unique style and method of work in the process of creating various objects. I have always enjoyed creating various engineering schemes (probably from my dad, who has a mathematical mind and was an engineer in microelectronics) and transforming them into a finished useful product with design. Since there were always many museums in my hometown where I was born, where I could observe and study sculptures, paintings, and various works of art, this had a significant impact on my taste. However, my taste was transformed through my vision of objects and the reflection of unique forms, which I passionately attempted to bring to life with a clear understanding that I was creating something that could be used by humans in modern environments.

Q2. What was the defining moment that made you see design not just as a profession, but as a calling?

A. When I suddenly felt hungry from the fact that I could create a lot and not implement all the ideas. I began to feel a passion and lack of time for me when I was working on a particular project. I eagerly absorbed 3D software and studied it from different angles, improving my skills and simultaneously developing my own style and approach to creating things using software tools.

Q3. Which project best represents your belief that “design is an experience?

A. The development of small objects such as lipsticks or car body parts (for exterior tuning). This requires experience and skills to form a complete thought into a tangible form, creating something completely "new" (something that people have never seen or touched before). It is a perfect balance between physical reality and boundless imagination.

Q4. Why is emotion such an essential element in your design approach?

A. Because when an object or product can create emotions within us, it means that there is meaning in it. Something that we can understand and feel emotionally about at the same time. In other words, we see the "spark," the very manifestation of God that has put light and energy into each of us.

Q5. What inspired you to found MAX FABRIQUE, and what was your initial vision?

A. I understood that I needed to show my work and start sharing it with the world. However, in order to continue creating with the same passion, I needed to establish a financial foundation. Therefore, I began working as an architect and interior designer to accumulate resources. I created a company under the brand name MAX FABRIQUE (Max is my name, and Fabrique is derived from the French word for "manufactory," which emphasizes attention to detail. This became my primary message.

Q6. What differentiates MAX MARKA design from other design studios?

A. I have laid one simple foundation for the brand. Max MArka design creates only new things with a design perspective, always uses non-standard materials, and seeks to embody a truly unique consumer experience in its products. Not to copy, but to create

Q7. How would you define the concept of “future-oriented products” through MAXIQUE?

A.The future and the constant search for truly new forms and their application by the human race

Q8. What inspired you to develop beauty products integrated with technologies like LED and motion sensors?

A.The main focus is on ease of use. When a woman can find her lipstick in the dark or in her bag by shaking it. There are also other technological innovations that you will see in the product on store shelves.

Q9. How do you see the boundary between technology and fashion/beauty evolving in the future?

A. The boundary will be erased. Because elements of clothing or accessories and even cosmetics will be integrated with the human body. We will still be "wearing" some elements on our bodies. Now, the development and search for the latest materials and their integration at the atomic level will allow us to create truly practical materials for integration with the body, such as "new skin" or neuro-biological cosmetic solutions created technologically for body beauty. We will be able to use clothing as if it were a part of our body, which will have both aesthetic and protective purposes.

Q10. What do you believe is the most important factor in maintaining a creative team?

A. To trust them and let them know that you trust them by giving them creative freedom. Instead of setting them tasks, we should focus on the overall result that we as a team need to achieve.

Q11. What key qualities or skills do you emphasize for young designers?

A.The ability to create with your own unique approach and organization of the process

Q12. What does ‘success’ mean to you, and what is a goal you definitely want to achieve in the future?

A. This is when you do what you love and not what you have to do, when you have the freedom to make decisions and take responsibility for them without looking to any investors or partners. Only in this case you have no fear of failure, because even if you fail but at the same time you continue to walk and search, then you have only confirmed the wrongness of one of the theories that you already bring you closer to your main decision of life. This feeling gives you inspiration to live and create with meaning in every day. My goal is to become the most outstanding company in the field of design and related companies within the holding in the fields of design and software design.