Dante had his Beatrice, Dali his Gala and Modigliani, his Ebutern. Someone said: 'Behind a great man there's always a great woman'. The mystery uniting two people into one family is like the mystery moving an artist's hand while he makes breathtaking masterpieces in a walk. Our columnist Dina Nasyrova is the brand director of Ilgiz F. and wife and muse of the famous Tatar jeweler Ilgiz Fazulyanov.
I was born into a traditional Tatar family. A good marriage and keeping the family hearth warm were considered a girl's main task. My maternal grandmother was my 'window to freedom' because she and her career didn't fit that model. Grandmother graduated in the 1930's from a Medical Institute and served through the war as a Regimental Medical Officer before becoming the Chief Medical Officer in Berlin. Leaving the Army, she returned to Kazan and was appointed medical chief of the Republican Tuberculosis Clinic. She married my grandfather, who was seven years younger, gave birth to two children, raised them and became a grandmother and died at the age of ninety-two surrounded by love and respect.
I also wanted a bright future for myself. My grandmother said 'When you go to bed ask God for a Path you want for yourself'.
I knew it wouldn't be usual because I took unusual people as an example. Not one of them was born with a silver spoon in their mouths but were ordinary people who attained great heights. Leadership training is popular now but I had already formulated their coaching's' thoughts and ideas by that time. I formatted the reality formulating my wishes correctly and clearly and they came true. I wanted my way and my life partner to be unusual as everything else in my life. So before going to bed I asked for an extraordinary life companion giving my word to be a perfect wife for him.
I hardly knew Ilgiz before we became a couple. We met when I accompanied my friend and, as it was his birthday, Ilgiz invited us to his party. Then one day I had to register residency papers in Kazan's Kremlin. I wore the blue costume I had bought in France and because it was raining and his workroom nearby asked for permission to shelter from the rain. He immediately suggested to join him for a friend's wedding ceremony and party and put something around my neck to make me fit the party dress-code. At home, books not jewelry were held to be important and all I knew was from literature. It didn't occur to me to return the adornment before going home and my family's reaction was very critical when it was realized just how insanely expensive were the diamond necklace and earrings. There was much talk of decency and appropriate behavior. No one could sleep and in the morning my father drove me to give the jewelry back. I was sad about the way misunderstanding brought unpleasant conversations at home but Ilgiz caught the situation immediately and we went to get rid of sadness in St. Petersburg. He asked my parents for my hand when we came back.
The rain match made us and we became a couple at once not dating for years before the wedding like others do. 15 th of August is our Day and it's me who make presents because he thinks I am the lucky one in this alliance. And as for me I just like to give presents and flowers because I live with a man who is an artist as well. I always chose not trivial ways to surprise. I bought and sent him flowers and presents symbolizing our every year together one by one — every day 12 days before our 12 th anniversary.
I am good at being a wife. I could have been a good wife to any man.I don't know if men would agree with me but I think that a woman is given to a man to be his driving force as well. We are the main back up they have. And our prayers, labor, support and at some point, our leadership are all theirs. And these are just wive's functions but if you lead a common business your duties are rising. And that means you can't afford stagnation — you have to go ahead, study and develop yourself. In our case we are lucky that I was always into study: medicine, language in a school with emphasis in French, Italian, clerk courses. During my 6 th year in Medical Institute I went to France and confirmed my Translator Diploma. I like to speak people's native languages at business meetings. I also studied Economy in the Institute to understand the PR and Marketing model we fit in and realized that there's no model of the kind — we have to create it ourselves. Other world known jewelry houses' experience is another story. They had Maecenas, they were educated in this field. Ilgiz is self-educated, he never studied Jewelry. He has an Academic Art Education, he is a painter, he made stained-glass windows, paintings on silk. In the 90s he started from zero having no business-model. And I came up to a conclusion that we should create our own way.
There are hard life moments in everyone's life. Kazan Kremlin where Ilgiz worked was closed for reconstruction and they didn't suggest him anything in exchange. We decided that it was fate: time to move to Moscow. It was a venture because we started all from zero. It was ex-tremely hard and client even had to help us and rent a flat in our first times in Moscow, but in a good place — on Krasnaya Presnya. Then step by step, meeting by meeting we enlarged the circle of our clients. I held an enormous amount of meetings, I could talk for hours. But when I took out creations Ilgiz made silence falls and words are not needed. The world disappears and doesn't exist anymore for those who are inside of the scene: it's a magic, a miracle. That happened at his Presentation in Paris, Cartier and at Expert commission in Auction House Christie's in London, with Watch House Bovet and many others — almost every time.
At some point we understood that we needed a personal exhibition cause we grew over the common statistical exhibitions. We were not a museum format but usual exhibitions fields were not satisfying us either. Stars were always friendly to us and the sequence of events brought us to a meeting with Yelena Yuryevna Gagarina. She suggested us when we met to make a personal exhibition in Uspenskaya Belfry of Moscow Kremlin. All our way, penniless times, uncertainty, moving to Moscow with children, our fears and hopes leaded to this unbelievable moment: a personal exhibition which took place in Moscow Kremlin with a huge crowd guests and luxurious party.
We were lucky to meet each other. My husband makes sketches easily in the run, I realize it and freeze — it is a miracle. I see a ship from the window but he catches the sun light coming through it and the rays playing with refraction. All of us can see the same but only several people are able to transform what they see into the art object. My admiration for Ilgiz'es gift is eternal and my goal as a woman, wife and partner in everything is to tell to the whole world about his talent. This is my future plan and my Path is like this — everything comes true.
