Besides the basic restoration practice, the Amber Workshop in Tsarskoe Selo seeks to apply its knowledge in the field of modern art. In this scope of activity of the workshop two different tendencies are evident. The first of them is a search for new expressiveness in forms of art, which is based on excellent skills of our craftsmen and the use of the revived technologies. The second one is creation of modern design products that are not connected with the traditions of the past.

 

One of the most interesting works within the first tendency is a series of icons created in 1995 for the Kremlin house-church of our President. This series includes the following icons of the lower tier of the deesis - “Our Saviour on the Throne with Blesses Virgin Mary and John the Baptist” and also the images which are specially venerated in Russia - the Holy Trinity, the first Russian Saints Boris and Gleb, Saint George the Patron Saint of Russia, and Our Lady of Kazan.
While creating these icons a range of widely known masterpieces of Old Russian iconography school were used as an example. However the craftsmen of the Amber Workshop breathed new life into old and deeply respected techniques – we used semiprecious Florentine mosaic stones and amber to create the icons in Kremlin. This decision gave us the chance to stick to the old traditions and at the same time to bring the materials that we admire most into the field of art they have never been used in before. Solidity and synthesis of forms, expressiveness of lines, pure colours, and a mysterious luminescence of the background - these are the artistic features of the Kremlin icons. Strengthened by our faultless technique they became a successful example of fusion of the Old Russian painting traditions, old technologies of the West European arts and crafts, modern ideas and perfect skills of our craftsmen.

Besides the basic restoration practice, the Amber Workshop in Tsarskoe Selo seeks to apply its knowledge in the field of modern art. In this scope of activity of the workshop two different tendencies are evident. The first of them is a search for new expressiveness in forms of art, which is based on excellent skills of our craftsmen and the use of the revived technologies. The second one is creation of modern design products that are not connected with the traditions of the past.
One of the most interesting works within the first tendency is a series of icons created in 1995 for the Kremlin house-church of our President. This series includes the following icons of the lower tier of the deesis - “Our Saviour on the Throne with Blesses Virgin Mary and John the Baptist” and also the images which are specially venerated in Russia - the Holy Trinity, the first Russian Saints Boris and Gleb, Saint George the Patron Saint of Russia, and Our Lady of Kazan.