Meet Maksim Iv | Graphic Designer & Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maksim Iv and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maksim, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I used to have a band and I decided to create some merch for us. That was the first step. I really liked the result and it made me think it would be interesting to design a few different t-shirt prints and share them with people. This was back in 2007 when I was inspired by the stories of Benny Gold and Johnny Cupcakes. That’s how my very first brand of t-shirts and hoodies was born.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been working in graphic design for about 19 years. I started out in a photo studio. Then moved into a small music label and TV. Very quickly I realized that I was far from corporate ‘culture’ and the rules that try to make everyone the same. It held me back from growing professionally and creatively.

I left my last office job in 2010. At the time, I was working at one of the biggest advertising agencies with clients like Burger King, IKEA, and Nike. But honestly it was incredibly boring. The role of a purely functional designer didn’t suit me. So I started focusing more on my clothing brand which I had been building in parallel with my office work.

The brand was growing but slowly. There was no real streetwear industry in Russia back then and I lacked experience. At one point, a streetwear store owner asked me to shoot a catalog for their website. Photography was just a hobby for me at the time. We got talking, I shared my production background, and that led to three large projects that operated across the country.

By 2014, I came up with the idea for what became my main project Yunost (Youth). We launched successfully and grew very fast. Along with a couple of other pioneering brands we helped spark the rise of a whole streetwear scene in Russia. Stores began opening nationwide and new brands emerged, many of them inspired by our success.

In 2019 I left Yunost for personal reasons and started thinking about my next project. Even now I sometimes meet Russian speakers in Los Angeles who know Yunost and they’re surprised when I tell them I was its founder. That’s always a unique experience.

At the moment I’m working on two new projects I can’t reveal yet. But I can say they won’t be streetwear. One will focus heavily on women’s clothing, the other on jewelry. I want to create something more mature. We’re planning to launch in spring.

The most important thing I’ve realized is that for any project to grow, you need a professional team. You can’t compromise on any part of the process if one of your goals is quality. It’s hard, it takes a lot of time and energy. Especially today when so many people are only focused on money. But if you manage to build the right team with people who share your spirit and values, you can achieve anything. True passion and commitment can’t be bought with money or imposed through corporate culture. They only come from people who are genuinely aligned with you

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friend from Finland recently visited, and since we both love nature and unusual places, I wanted to show her spots that felt unique to us as Europeans. We explored various outdoor locations, like Sequoia Park and Velasquez Rocks. I personally prefer experiencing places and nature rather than visiting bars, restaurants, or attending parties.
Being a coffee fan, of course I also took her to some of my favorite local coffee spots like Maru, as well as a couple of my regulars like Filesystem and Established Today.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to thank all the guys from the design department I worked with at the A-One TV channel (kind of like MTV2). Thanks to them I leveled up my skills and gained a lot of design experience. The core skills I use every day came from working with that team. I also want to thank my business partner Tony T for believing in me. Together we built a brand that was one of the pioneers that changed the streetwear industry in Russia. And of course, I want to thank my friends who helped me at different times and played a key role in my growth: Pavel B, Pavel K, Pasha K, Roma U, Sergey D, Mikhail L, Anastasia J, Sasha K

Website: www.mxmiv.com – photo, https://www.instagram.com/txnart_design – design

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maksim_txnart/

Image Credits
All photos and designs by Maksim Iv