- There is not much room for the designer’s own expression. If a design is too much in a Kyrgyz direction, the customers will think it’s a product from Kyrgyzstan! The style mostly follows Moscow.

We are sitting in the office of Alexey Lysogorov – famous graphic designer in Bishkek / Kyrgyzstan, but in his own words a ‘nobody’ in Sankt Petersburg / Russia where he spends some of his time and has an office. Walking around Bishkek, we have already unknowingly got to recognize several of his logotype creations, for example the ekobank logo. It runs in the family: Alexey’s sister Taya is a designer too, and their father is the artist behind the colorful bills of Kyrgyzstan’s currency, the ‘som’ .

Central Asia always seemed like the middle of nowhere; an area we as Europeans don't even consider when looking at the map. But then we got to Kazakhstan, and now Kyrgyzstan. And realized it is right in the center of everything. Between Russia and the Arab world, and between Asia and Europe. So where do design influences in this region come from? Mainly from north, we learnt – Russian influence is still strong, 18 years after the Soviet Union broke down and the country Kyrgyzstan was born. But we wanted to know more. There must be inspiration coming from traditional decorative patterns. From a nomadic lifestyle –a lifestyle which is still prevalent in the countryside. From the mix of people.

But no, there is not really any Kyrgyz style – at least according to the designers we met at our first little get-together in Bishek. We hear the same thing from Alexey. But then he shows us his portfolio. And suddenly, we see it: a little Kyrgyz-looking curl in a logotype here, a traditional pattern there. But sure – most of the logotypes rather look Russian, or European.

Being a country with few designers, the Kyrgyzstan creative crowd sticks together.
- We tend to recommend clients to each others rather than competing for them, says Alexey. Most designers are freelancers and wait for the client to come ask for their service.

Sounds nice, doesn't it – no time wasted on business development, all efforts spent on design. But being a small design nation has its negative aspects: there is limited design education, and nowhere to learn from. Designers here are hungry for information, inspiration, books, techniques. There is also not much promotion of design. The forum design.kg was started as a remedy to these issues, and is now the number one webpage for exchanging news and ideas on design in Kyrgyzstan. Alexey is one of the founders and he walks us through a design.kg pdf collection which contains a variety of local designs. We show a few samples below. For more of Alexey Lysogorov – check out his webpage. And as for the IDEA NOMADS’s own little part in helping satisfying the design hunger in Kyrgyzstan, have a look at our workshop in Bishkek.

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