/ world today news/ Does nostalgia for socialism and the socialist itself sell? Is there one at all? Is there a nostalgic trend? Why is there a wave of furnishing establishments in Sofia in the so-called social style? Is there a return to that time in architecture, design and advertising? We tried to find part of the answers to these questions in conversations with people who used “teasers” from that time.
In recent years, establishments began to appear one after another in the capital, the style of which is entirely or almost in the social theme and its characteristic elements. On the walls hang well-known signs from that time, such as “Cleanliness brings health.” Health is happiness”, “Cleanliness is a measure of your culture” and “Guard socialist property”. Fives lurk from every corner, the furniture is the typical socialist couches and chairs. Visitors are surrounded by a Russian ZIL refrigerator – the dream of every household, as well as “Opera” televisions – those that are among the first Bulgarian transmitters to enter households.
For the generation of people who lived at that time, these elements were typically socialist. For younger people, who may not be that familiar with social life and culture, such establishments are interesting and modern because they are “retro and vintage”. And, in itself, retro is the new modern, or as some like to say, “The retro is the new black. (from English. Retro is the new black). We see it in various advertisements for beers, sausages, salamis and other “meat delicacies” that have been magically preserved over the years. We also meet it in some establishments and even in individual elements of our surrounding urban environment. Should we, however, jump over the fine line between the memory and the life of a time and also a rather controversial era in the eyes of a Bulgarian.
Why is there a wave for furnishing establishments in the so-called social style? Is there social fashion and nostalgia at that time when furnishing establishments in Sofia in this style? Part of the answers to these questions can be found in a BGNES interview with Ilian Hadjiin, an architect and designer at Funkt studio, which has designed two establishments with motifs and architecture that look like social style to the average visitor. the things we did have a joke with soca, but I don’t think it’s nostalgia by any means. It’s more a memory of people’s household items from their childhood and youth. It’s more a memory of people’s youth than nostalgia for the regime. The regime, as such, I don’t think is a good thing to be nostalgic for,” said Ilian Hadjiin.
According to him, the architectural and design studio in which he works is suited to the task, not because the people in it have a socialist past, but because most of the materials they use are natural. “They are very characteristic of earlier stages of human development. No, so characteristic of our times. Maybe that’s why they fit so well in the theme with the sotsa, because for us the idea is more important than the guild details, how the details fit strictly, etc. They remind of a social performance with a rather large-scale plan and not so strict details. In addition, we use artisanal approaches that are characteristic of the times even before the soca. This is the most characteristic for us in general and in particular for those projects that somehow communicate with social modernity”, explained Ilian Hadjiin.
He is of the opinion that, good or bad period of time, this is a period that actually happened in the history of our fathers and mothers. “We don’t want to make him better or worse. Everything is good to remember. That’s why we use modern techniques. We wanted the emphasis not to be on politically charged objects and ideology, but rather on everyday objects. In the establishments we’ve done, there are displays that show what we wanted to put in, which were more merchandise and design from people’s lives to remind them, like TVs, refrigerators, pepper ovens, tomato crushers , than the politically charged objects”, said the architect.
Hajiin clarified that he himself does not feel any nostalgia for the ideology of that time. “I don’t think it was better then. A large part of people think that this time was better because they experienced much greater security. They even know very well what is bad and will go into camps and what not to do. Some, however, have done it and suffered. It is not nostalgia for the time, but rather for the lifestyle and the historical period. Things have been nice enough and OK. I don’t want political overtones to be attributed to this work, but rather a memory. I would like to distinguish between the political symbols and the cultural-historical symbols of the era”, added the designer.
He explained that in terms of design, a lot of social design as such rests on two main things. One is on Russian constructivism, which is more modernism, the other is stolen Scandinavian design from the 1960s. “Social design in its pure form I do not understand what it is as a concept. Everyone remembers how they used to boil jars in front of the block, for the pepper makers, and it becomes nice for them, not from the point of view of the sotsa, but from the point of view of those times when they were young and strong, it was much more peaceful for them. Things used to be done a little more beautifully, but I don’t think that this is nostalgia specifically for the soca”, said Ilian Hadjiin.
He pointed out that each era goes with its contemporary design and concepts or architectural concepts, tools and means of expression. According to him, it can be said that at some point almost all means of expression have been exhausted, and everyone draws from history in a way that they see fit. “Some do it quite elegantly, others do it not so elegantly. Freedom is quite a heavy burden. It can lead to wonderful results, it can lead to deplorable results. The example is the modern architecture in Sofia and Bulgaria”, believes Hadjiin.
The tendency to draw on all possible stylistic devices, not only from the present, but also from previous eras, will continue to exist, he is convinced. “Modernity treats us with everything from previous times. All dogmas have more or less broken, fallen. Creators are free to use whatever they see fit. It will be more and more like this – to solve the problems of our time in a new way. Everyone wants to do something new, for the first time, that has a very big effect on the society in which they find themselves. Not everyone succeeds,” concluded the architect.
I wouldn’t say that there is nostalgia for social times. People had completely forgotten that time, the actor Slavcho Peev, who recently took part in a beer commercial reminiscent of that time, was categorical. “Now it’s a recall because it’s very convenient. The bottle has a very precise measure and good money, normal and small”, said Peev, referring to the beer brand in question.
According to him, however, social thinking has not gone away, naturally in a part of the people who were well off during the social times. “This is a very complex issue. After all, at one time it was said that communism is going away. We shouted in the squares, I conferred, I made them shout – communism is going away. But, in Bulgaria, those years were very strong, in contrast to the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary. Those countries were something else. They had a different way of thinking, religion was on a very large scale and they were not of this social way of thinking”, said the actor Slavcho Peev.
According to him, the return to the sotsa on the part of industry and architecture is only for successful things of that era. “Only for things that are small. The thing about “Shumensko” is very good that people were reminded of it. “Shumensko pivo” was quite high at that time, unlike others who now say 125, 100 years. I was in a play, it was about an assassination, 1925, and there were two people drinking beer and one of them said – what is this beer? Bulgarian, ours. You’ll excuse me, but that’s how it was written in the play – pee, Mr. Gülev, pee. Czech beer is a completely different thing,” the actor recalled with a laugh.
He also recalled another story – “we left for France with a beer called “Shop beer”. We traveled by train and had a case of beer. When they robbed us in France – they took everything, only “Shopsko” was left. Someone probably tried it and said – “Don’t touch. That’s not beer, that’s piss.” The bomb remembered something good. She had a good name,” said Peev. The actor concluded that returning to something that has a good memory, taste, good name are normal things.
A few years ago, another interesting part of the interior surprised residents of Bystrica. A brick inscription appears on the roof of a supermarket in the village of Sofia, spelling out BKP.
Ivan, who is the owner of the building in question, explained that he put the inscription about 5-6 years ago. “Some write SDS, others GERB, we decided to write BKP. Not BSP, but deliberately BKP. We love socialism”, he declared. He made the inscription for no other reason, but for the memory of a bygone time, for him – good.
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