Russian Balloon Artists Olga Baranova, CBA and Olga Samoilova, CBA share their creative flair!

I recently attended the 15th Moscow Balloon Festival and I can honestly say that I was completely blown away by the incredible balloon art that was  exhibited at this event! 

One of this year's design teams was headed up by formidable artists Olga Baranova, CBA and Olga Samoilova, CBA. You might be familiar with these artists as they won first place Large Sculpture at the World Balloon Convention 2014, and then went on to win first place Master Sculpture at BACI 2014.



Olga Baranova CBA & Olga Samoilova, CBA run a very successful balloon business, Sonlnechny Veter (or Sun Veter which translates to "Sunny Wind") from their home city of Samara, Russia.

I have always admired the work of these two incredible artists and asked Baranova and Samoilova if they would kindly share with us a little bit about their business, the jobs that they enjoy most, and how they find their creativity! 

"Our studio provides very wide range of services, mostly with air-filled balloon decoration. We deal with delivering balloons and balloon figures; with decorations of different holidays both indoors and outdoors. Perhaps our favorite, exciting and memorable decorations are those of theme holidays. At these events we consider as very useful and exciting, offering our customers unique photo zones. As a rule, they happily take our offer. 

It can be arch, photo frame or three-dimensional wireframe composition. More often the basis of all these compositions is just a simple balloon garland. We use some not so sophisticated tricks which make compositions more emotional and memorable:

• We carefully choose colors and due to the amazing color palette offered by Qualatex^®, it’s not hard to implement.

• We combine different sizes to increase the visual impression the composition provides. It’s easy to do with professional equipment Conwin.

• We also use additional elements for providing volume from simple round balloons to more sophisticated ones. Detail focusing attracts people and immerses them in the atmosphere of a holiday. 

• We personalize composition giving it logo, name, slogan, and etc.

In order to get bright and high quality compositions, we try to find out as much as possible information about upcoming event. While talking to our customers we are figuring out:

• The venue details for decorations,

• Color preferences and their expectations,

• What is the role or function of the decoration,

• Which particular spots have to be highlighted,

• The format of the events; the number of guests and their disposition.

During our communication, we present photos, which illustrate our suggestions. But more often for better understanding the sketch is required. The sketch can be handmade or computer one. It depends on different factors: offered techniques for order implementation, time for preparation; and cost of the order.

The creation of each of our project starts with our notepad of sketches – it’s a big notebook with squared paper. As a matter of fact, it is comfortable to work with and it also keeps our ideas.









Here is a selection of some of Studio of Balloons incredible work from the design stage through to completion.

"The illustration above shows a design that we created for a theme Birthday party – The Kid & Karlson. We used a computer sketch, according to the client's wish. Our aim was to recreate mini-Stockholm and design an interesting photo zone for the family and numerous friend's photo-memories."

"Very often a customer needs to create a particular logo. For example, for the final of the best school teacher contest we were ordered to recreate a pelican - the symbol of the contest. The design of the stage decoration is typical for our city: you can’t take much of the stage space so you need to decorate only the forefront. Consequently, the nest of the pelican was set on the 2 meter pole and at the other side of the stage we placed a globe – the symbol of school. To complete the decoration we created helium arch. Besides the pelican, which undoubtedly appealed to emotions, the decoration impressed by its color combination. The successful combination of shades of Qualatex made the work very expressive."
 

 

"We believe that for children birthday parties it’s a great idea to use big figures as a photo zone. And our clients agree with us. For instance, in the case when our customer was choosing out of 3 sketches of figure '14', which we’ve hand-drawn for him. In the end we created in balloons one of these sketches. Next year, the same client trusted us so much that he asked us to create the figure '15' based on our choice and there was no need for a sketch; they’d only offered the theme “bowling”. And the next year, the same client was offered the star photo frame with the figure '16'."

I love the creative arches that Baranova and Samoilova offer their clients. There is so much visual expression and detail within each of their arches!

To find out more about these great artists check out "Taking the Team Approach to Success" in Balloon Images Magazine Jan/Feb/March 2015.

And, if you are planning to attend the World Balloon Convention 2016, Baranova and Samoilova will be teaching. They have 2 classes:  Color as a Tool and Bubble Deliveries, so don't miss out and book your place now!

You can also see both ladies at this years Millennium Jam! Baranova and Samoilova are Team Leaders and designers of the Secret Rooms in the World's Biggest Maze! To find out more about this awesome project, check out my blog: The Biggest Labyrinth in the World at the Millennium Jam 2015!

A huge thank you to Olga Baranova and Olga Samoilova for sharing some fantastic tips on how to present ideas to clients and how to find and fulfill a client's needs!


Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com