A tall, sturdy man with black hair and a long salt-and-pepper beard walks into the Kovalskyi's Optical Space, an upscale boutique that sells eyeglasses in Kyiv. He shakes the raindrops off his coat and immediately becomes the center of attention when he jokingly asks the staff to "turn off the shower."
The man, Sergey Petrov, appears to enjoy attention – and it is reflected in his work. He is the designer behind the Bob Basset brand of masks and accessories that feature in movies, music videos and catwalks of established fashion houses.
A native of Kharkiv, Petrov is in town for just one day before his vacation begins.
“I’m already nervous! I really hope that the work in Kharkiv goes full steam ahead without me,” Petrov says as he plops down on a red sofa.
Even in his absence, four to six assistant designers work at his workshop creating masks that will be used in movies, Western magazine photo shoots, at rock star shows, or simply bought as a décor piece, like they do at the Kovalskyi boutique.
Prices for masks range from $100 to $1,500.
A model presents a creation by Italian designer Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy during the men’s 2011 spring-summer ready-to-wear collection shows on June 25, 2010 in Paris.
“I think our masks are worth even more than that,” Petrov says. “After finishing a piece, one feels so tired and depressed. No money can compensate for that.”
The masks reflect Petrov’s fascination with Steampunk, a subgenre that incorporates technology and designs inspired by 19th-century industrial machinery.
They at once look creepy and intriguing, and are intricately crafted out of leather, metal and glass.
The brand’s history begins in 1989 when Petrov and his older brother Oleg Petrov founded a leather workshop in Kharkiv. In the 2000s it grew into the Bob Basset workshop. The brothers named their brand after their dog Bob, a basset hound.
The brothers have achieved a lot since then. They produced masks for the Givenchy fashion house. Masks appeared in the music videos of Metallica, Slipknot and Avril Lavigne, as well as on the pages of Vogue International, The New York Times Fashion Magazine, WAD magazine, Vice U.K. and Bizarre Magazine.
The brand’s masks also featured in the short film “The Gift” by the Ridley Scott Agency Films.
Oleg Petrov passed away in 2011, and his brother runs the family business alone.
“My role now is to control the process, produce ideas and help my staff in production,” he says.
The range of masks is impressive. There is an eerie looking gas mask, a leather mask that looks like Darth Vader’s helmet, a mask of Cthulhu, the deity from the fantasy novels of H.P. Lovecraft, dragon masks, and many more.
According to Petrov, to create a mask he needs a hat block, a leather pattern, and a strong dose of inspiration. It can take from 10 hours to one year to produce one mask.
Petrov confesses that sometimes he comes to the Kovalskyi store in Kyiv just to see the people’s reaction to his five masks on the store’s wall. It pleases him to see people stop walking when they see the masks through the shop’s window.
“Sometimes I even sneak out and listen to what they say about the masks,” says Petrov. “We at Bob Basset do something that forces people to stop and take a second look.”
Kyiv Post writer Veronika Melkozerova can be reached at [email protected].
