Artyom (founder of ÖmankÖ) followed me on Instagram that summer. As I remember now, it was the end of July - the beginning of August, the heat was immense. We had a temporary office at the "Bread Factory" with HARDKEA and other investor projects, we were all planted on 300 squares of open space - no walls, only supporting columns. Artyom Ermilov subscribes to my IG. I write:

- Hello (Gleb)

- Hi (Artyom)

- Is there an opportunity to talk? I have ideas (Gleb)

Then I went with the guys from the TECHUNTER magazine to NIKE's workshop with ÖmankÖ and there we met with Artyom personally. After a couple of weeks, we met at the KM 20 restaurant and discussed ideas regarding furniture.

NAMELESS allowed me to move. We got to Berlin - to fashion. After this, I clearly understood that the way we moved before, you can't move on. It was necessary to do a leap. It turned out that not everyone was ready for it. Not everyone is ready to sacrifice their personal comfort somewhere. Even personal discomfort. As it turned out, there were people on the team who were ready to talk a lot, do nothing and continue to live with their parents. There were personal moments: for example, not to discuss money with a girl present, because a person does not have money. Dude, we have the goods, let's sell them and you will have money. Someone has a mortgage there, a wife ...

You know, no, NAMELESS still gives a good traction. I met with Элджей (Russian rapper), showed him, in fact, NAMELESS jackets. He says: "What is this brand?" I say: "the brand is closed, now I have a new project, which I will lead myself." He says: "Got it, no questions." Even that which is already closed and finished gives you movement to go further. Maybe not in NO DIPLOMA ARCHiTECTURE, but for my personal brand as a designer. People will see Эджей in a jacket made by Gleb Kirenkov, who is Gleb Kirenkov? This is the guy who brought people together under the NO DIPLOMA ARCHiTECTURE brand

GLEB KiRENKOV : I'm probably not afraid to agree with you.

PB : Can we say that techwear is a subculture?

GLEB KiRENKOV : Yes.

PB : This is not something like a bunch of dudes tied to very technologically advanced clothes, it is still a subculture, which means a lot.

GLEB KiRENKOV : I'll even tell you more than that: we have true representatives of this subculture. When we started NAMELESS, there was the tech public/blog TECHUNTER, which was developed into a printed version of the magazine. Nameless budded from it. I was engaged more in NAMELESS, Alexander Zabelin - magazine. Subsequently, I left the magazine, and now Alexander Zabelin manages it on owns it. Ivan, who is sitting over there, joined the team as a photographer and content maker later. Now he is a kind of philosopher - the one who moves the TECHUNTER philosophy and subculture of techwear in general. They participated in the exhibition in Munich, ISPO, there was a stand dedicated to this subculture and where there were art, music, manifestos in three languages: English, Russian and German. We started the topic of manifestos in NAMELESS: we had a text on the storefront, people always came up and read it. if you now watch the TECHUNTER Youtube channel , you can find interviews with representatives of clothes, see how different and similar they are in love for what they wear, what they listen to, what kind of tattoos they have. Such an informal meeting of people of interest. And these intersections are very interesting.

GLEB KiRENKOV : I even heard in my address: "I would never have turned to an architect without a diploma." After closing Nameless, I was offered a role in a start-up HARDKEA. At that time there was no workshop, there were contractors. I acted as the HARDKEA designer, the first order was the office for Rocketbank on the third floor of the premises on Palikha Street. There was total f&%k up in terms of construction: everything was opened to clean concrete. I naturally took all this pictures, posted them on Instagram, my classmates laughed at me: "When you studied, you said that you don't need this and you will never be an architect."

PB : Who did you study to become?

GLEB KiRENKOV : An architect. I just handed over me diploma work, passed on with an excellent, and the last point when receiving the diploma - you go around the library and other facilities, so on, gathering papers, this is when they also give you a summon paper to the army.

PB : Have you served in the army?

GLEB KiRENKOV : No. I immediately left for Ukraine, I had a girlfriend there. I left after I passed the diploma. Then returned, went to Moscow because I wanted to enter the Institute of Graphic Design in the Czech Republic, the city of Plzen. This was in 2013. I wanted to study the design of product packaging ... in general, from clothing to food.

I was engaged in illustration of music discs, mainly black metal, and the design of sports t-shirts, prints, posters. Spun around in sports circles. At that time I earned at least a thousand euros. Then the euro was forty-five rubles, and forty-five thousand rubles for the man from Ufa… well I as simply a king. I came to Moscow and stayed.

Anyhow, the design, repair of the rocket bank. I take all this pictures, I understand that, f&%k, this is interesting to share. I mean, a dude is really without education, five years after graduation, sits down at the blueprints, and remembers all this. I went to Khimki, to the contractor, to the metal shop, watched, studied. When I was making jackets, no one taught me how to make jackets, I sat down directly with the technologist, watched how she sews, listened to her braging, why this was wrong and that, and winded it on my mustache (Russian saying – to watch and learn). It was the same here. So I thought: I need to make a blog. How to name it? An architect without a diploma. I began to make a blog on Tilda, more for myself, it never went online. Then I had an order from a sports paintball brand for two technological jackets. I started to make it and realized that I was on fire with this, I was getting some kind of buzz. I thought about the fact that I did not want to give up the design of outerwear, but at the same time I liked making furniture. I like to make a product, I do not really like the interior, some huge architecture - I would not undertake to make buildings on my own, no way. On the team, yes. Not that I would be a weak person, no, I'm just talking about attention to detail. The devil is in the details, and these are objects, sweatshirts, jackets, pockets, jewellery, attributes, accessories.

NO DIPLOMA ARCHiTECTURE in myself from the very beginning. And all of this was, you know, the constant search for the concept, you just sit, redo the Tilda website over and over, do some sketches, try to deal with external orders - first, I had an order for a sports brand, then there was an order, "Rocketbank" ordered raincoats from me. You try to bring something to the concept of No Diploma Architecture, but you understand that not a damn thing is coming up, you delete it again. Then one old comrade appears, he had a difficult situation in life and we decided that we would get out of it together, but, unfortunately, we parted ways.

I believe that there should be no competition in the negative terms of this word. Must be a community. For example, there are dudes from Chelyabinsk, whose concrete production is much cheaper than in Moscow or other cities. They make sinks with a really low price. What they do is offer to pay money for training on their basis or organize a master class with a group of people who paid for receiving information about their experience. So, for example, they organized a lecture in St. Petersburg. Naturally, they make money on it, but at the same time they develop the market. They do not capture it, but develop it. I think this is such an echo of American culture. If you capture it in Russian and don't give a damn, it turns out that you don't have a damn in the market. There is no healthy competition.

This is if we talk about the HARDKEA project. As regards competition in NO DIPLOMA ARCHiTECTURE, there are no competitors in the Russian field. Even when I was making jackets, we were the first tech brand to do it not with Korean membranes, but with good quality stuff.

I believe that there are no competitors in Russia, because there is no connection with architecture and fashion ... I'm sure that a couple of years later, Bad Norton (mass market Russian brand) will start to do something similar, as they now do something like techwear. But this will not happen. As pompous as it sounds, for me the competitor is now A-COLD-WALL *. I also have a concrete project and it's a competitor in the sense that I don't argue with him, but I need to try not to become like him. He is, to me, the standard of communication between architecture and fashion, but also a parameter by which I should not become a carbon copy. In this regard, he is a competitor to me. He is a good trigger.

Yes, of course, he lives in the West. There the economy is developed. Having those connections that would be much easier there ... I speak English at the level of "write a post on Instagram." For speaking, I need three days of practice. When I went to Brelin with Nameless, I realized that I could, after a while, my brain might rebuild. But in Russia, getting in touch with local brands and people of the industry is hard. There are communities who do not let outsiders in, not from their party. I believe that this is a rather big problem - how lobsters in a bucket we do not develop. The media generally sometimes distort the interview and your words. There were moments with the same Nameless when you correct an article for a journalist because he is writing something different from the truth. Maybe there is not enough passion. And the mentality, of course. The Russian and the "CIS" (post soviet block) mentality. My personal opinion is arrogance, rudeness and envy, as actor Serebryakov said this in his interview. I now refer more to Nameless, still there was a lot of experience. We had a hater who wrote to us almost every day. I chose the position not to attack, but to explain to him. At the first presentation, he approached me, apologized, and eventually became a regular customer. This is ... through thorns to the stars. We convinced and helped him develop. Then we had the position to talk honestly with the buyer.

PB : Do you often write first? So you work can be put out somewhere, so somebody will tell about you?

GLEB KiRENKOV : You know, yes, often enough. I am a bad salesman. The first NDA home studio drop, which was dedicated to BAUHAUS, I sold insolently, digging into people.

Yes, of course, he lives in the West. There the economy is developed. Having those connections that would be much easier there ... I speak English at the level of "write a post on Instagram." For speaking, I need three days of practice. When I went to Brelin with Nameless, I realized that I could, after a while, my brain might rebuild. But in Russia, getting in touch with local brands and people of the industry is hard. There are communities who do not let outsiders in, not from their party. I believe that this is a rather big problem - how lobsters in a bucket we do not develop. The media generally sometimes distort the interview and your words. There were moments with the same Nameless when you correct an article for a journalist because he is writing something different from the truth. Maybe there is not enough passion. And the mentality, of course. The Russian and the "CIS" (post soviet block) mentality. My personal opinion is arrogance, rudeness and envy, as actor Serebryakov said this in his interview. I now refer more to Nameless, still there was a lot of experience. We had a hater who wrote to us almost every day. I chose the position not to attack, but to explain to him. At the first presentation, he approached me, apologized, and eventually became a regular customer. This is ... through thorns to the stars. We convinced and helped him develop. Then we had the position to talk honestly with the buyer.

PB : Do you often write first? So you work can be put out somewhere, so somebody will tell about you?

GLEB KiRENKOV : You know, yes, often enough. I am a bad salesman. The first NDA home studio drop, which was dedicated to BAUHAUS, I sold insolently, digging into people.

No, I'm open.

PB : Some guy can write to you: "Let's do something together."

GLEB KiRENKOV : He can write, he can ask something. If I decide, he will get a competent answer, why not. Roughly speaking, everyone has a desire, but no one has the opportunity.... if the idea does not fit the brand DNA, it will be strange if we release a collaboration with this person.

PB : Which DNA is not right for you?

GLEB KiRENKOV : Here is an example: I met with Эджей, showed him my jackets from the simplest to the most complex, and he liked everything, but it will not be a collab with him and NO DIPLOMA ARCHiTECTURE. It will be a collaboration on my behalf - constructed by Gleb Kirenkov.

PB : Now, by the way, Yandex.Food is looking for partners for collaborations.

GLEB KiRENKOV : Yes, yes, I also threw a fishing rod over there, until there is an answer. But I don't know yet whether I need to go there.

PB : Would you like to make a cloak for them?

GLEB KiRENKOV : Yes, I would not mind if they gave me maximum freedom, because often in such stories everything depends on the budget. Now I have purely commercial orders, where I make raincoats for Delimobile (carsharing firm) refueling. The production cost of the cloak should not be higher than 4000 rubles, well, you yourself perfectly understand what kind of membrane can be there, what buttons and so on. It is clear that this is for ordinary workers and all the rest, but of course I would like to make it more expensive, because I believe that it is impossible to save on people, on support, on workers. Make them high-quality raincoats, let them wear them for more than one season, because they usually wear this raincoat for a maximum of two seasons. The question for the long term is how much they need these raincoats.

Yes, I began to visit ÖmankÖ parties especially often – I am especially grateful to them, because over the past two years I haven't really visited anything, but I want to study, establish contacts with people, it's directly important for me.

PB : Are you planning to make an event yourself?

GLEB KiRENKOV : I want, and there are already ideas. But this is not now, I think, next year - we need to collect more material, gain experience.

PB : You have no time at all?

GLEB KiRENKOV : Now just in October there will be Fashion Week, and I have to participate, I'm more occupied with this. And after that I will need to think about scaling. There is a Shukhov Lab venue on Chistye Prudy, I am eager to perform there once.

PB : What about urbanism?

GLEB KiRENKOV : This topic is interesting to me, although maybe not as a profession, but it is more interesting to me as a science. In Belgium, friends were involved in the project, there had very interesting studies when they went to study people and made tracks from colored tape where people walk in the city most often. Such analytics there was with the physical use of materials. I already said that I probably would not have taken up the project of an interior or a huge building, because attention to details is important, but as one of the facets of what I want to learn to listen, study, watch - urbanism - it is interesting.

Let's go back to the name NO DIPLOMA ARCHiTECTURE - if once this was a personal story that I didn't have a diploma, now the concept is not that, but that you do not need a diploma, classical education, etc. - you just need to start to do. The desire for self-education. No one taught me how to make jackets. I just wanted to make a jacket at one point and I started looking, reading, trying, getting the first materials, manufacturing, getting defects and learned from my mistakes and did better and better.

Yes, there are courses and schools that target me with the words: "How to create a competitive global brand in 3 months." I want to write to them: "This is not done like that." I already know how to do this. I managed to create, albeit at a European level, but a brand that they know and still know. People still write and ask if there will be anything new. Therefore, in this whole game, my main mission is to convey that nothing is true, everything is permitted. If you want something and it is something creative, for example, to draw or write music - try, do. No need to wait for a kick, no need to go to some unknown university. You can separately tell about my institute and my attitude, why I still have not taken my diploma. It is very important to try to convey to the people who surround me, my team and friends, that all this is done not because of money, although they are important, but because of the desire to learn, set goals, move towards them. It's not some kind of business motivation, no, it's just that it's not life otherwise. You can work for somebody all your life and not set any risky goals, or you can try to do what you want at least on weekends.

PB : Have you ever looked for additional motivation to create something? Wasn't it like you were lying at home, smoking a joint, and it all went to pussy?

GLEB KiRENKOV : It happens, but it's very short and rare.

PB : Is there a fear of death before you?

GLEB KiRENKOV : Yes. Because death is the best tool for motivation, here I agree with Jobs. NAMELESS began a difficult period: I lost my sight for a month. Yes, the month was in the dark. For a whole year I thought: "Fuck, we all die, we need to do something." Now this topic has got cold, but there is a background left at the back of my brain.

I hope not, because then it will be wrong. People should be different, complement each other. I think I can inspire. It's good that my name is not Navalny (Russian politic). I am surrounded by people motivated by a desire to create. Even those who are not associated with creativity. We have a person involved in insurance products. He is not a designer or fashion, but he has a desire to help create, to be involved.

Alexander Zabelin, who is currently keeping a magazine, when I completely moved away from it and worked only on NAMELESS, assembled a team of guys, now he is conducting a project, he is not listening to anyone, he is motivated. I was pleasantly surprised that there are people who are developing the project. He did not start it, he did not invest money, but he develops it.

The desire to be involved in something, it unites us all. I have a dream, and I share it with others. I find those who like it, and they become infected with it. Why not? They begin to dream so that it will not work out for me, but for us.

PB : Dudes treat you like a boss?

GLEB KiRENKOV : This question has never been raised. I am the CEO, I have to close holes everywhere, but the most important thing is the team, delegation and trust in those to whom you delegated responsibilities. If there is no trust, it makes no sense to have a team. "Do you want to do well - do it yourself" - this does not work. Firstly, it will lead to perfectionism, and you will stand still. Secondly, your eyes will simply be blinded, you will not see your jambs. Working as a team, you can see them.

I felt such pressure twice when we were in Lviv, we were in a prison that wandered between Tsarist Russia, the Reds, Germans (National Socialists) and the Reds again. We stood against the wall for execution, we went into prison chambers.

When we got out of there, I wanted to wash myself. I wanted to scrape something off myself.

The second time it was time in the Roman Coliseum: we went into complex, there was about 10 of us, and we all silently, touching the stones, walked the Colosseum in a circle. And completing this circle, we decided that it was a certain center of the earth. Nero stood there and read his poems while Rome was burning. Here, the first Christians were torn to pieces by lions. Here laid the fate of civilization. These stones are heard, they remember events so great that you feel like a small grain of sand in the abyss of the desert of time.

With media people, because we need coverage: like the United States during the Vietnam War, you need to burn whole hectares of forest in order to accurately find only a few people - the target audience. Now you need to gain an audience, in the future to recruit wholesalers, expand production - both clothes, and furniture, jewelry, accessories. Then the level-up team: to get, train, self-study. The more there will be movement, the more competent you need to connect and combine everything. NAMELESS experience has shown that everything needs to be considered competently. It is necessary to delegate: the one who considers and the one who creates. There is Pasha, he believes. There I am, I create. There is Andrey, he is promoting.

PB : Are you looking for a designer and people who can tell about you?

GLEB KiRENKOV : I am actively looking for graphic designers for prints, interior designers, to offer them my furniture, or architects. Designers for collaborations, with someone we already started. I don't mind if there is a person who understands the brand DNA and will be a clothing designer with me. Now I draw by hand, then I do it in 3D, then I go to the designer patterns - why not just draw, and the other dude will put everything into a 3D layout? This will give me more time to search for ideas. I would like to have a "left hand", with which I can show sketches and say: "Model". And so that he will be in a buzz. Let him model, maybe something not like NO DIPLOMA ARCHiTECTURE so it is not me alone. This is teamwork. I like one interesting fact from the world of fashion - Margiela has a photograph where the whole team is captured, but without him, since he was taking pictures at that moment, he was photographing his brand, people without whom we would not know his name.