Maksim Kapustin

The basis for this work is the Aberdeen Bestiary, a medieval manuscript that interested me not only because of its imagery, but also because of the way people of that time tried to understand the world around them.

In the bestiary, real and mythical animals become part of an attempt to explain the world through religion, observation, and familiar images. I am interested in this way of thinking: in how something unknown or difficult to understand could be made more comprehensible through things that were already familiar.

I chose five images from the bestiary: the boa, the elephant and dragon, the raven, the basilisk, and the phoenix. I wanted to take a small fragment of this book and its history and turn it into something that could be worn and carried.

The images became the basis for five brass medallions made using CNC milling. In this process, a fragment of an old manuscript leaves the page and becomes a physical object that can be held and worn.

I like to think of these medallions as small fragments of history — not an attempt to recreate a medieval object, but a way of carrying a small part of an old way of looking at the world.

This project was my final project during my studies at WdKA in Rotterdam. It is a series of scarves that differ in length, width, shape, and knitted patterns.

I wanted to experiment with what a scarf could be as an object rather than following a single traditional form. The different proportions allowed me to explore how the shape changes the way the scarf can be worn and how it interacts with the body.

During my time in the Netherlands, I travelled extensively around the country. I was especially fascinated by its Gothic heritage, which I encountered in churches, architecture, museums, and historical objects. These impressions gradually found their way into the patterns of the scarves.

The motifs include a demon, a jester, and a skeleton. The skeleton is reconstructed from an exhibit I encountered in a Dutch museum. Rather than directly reproducing Gothic decoration, I used these historical images as references and translated them into knitted patterns.

The series became a way of combining my experimentation with knitwear and my personal impressions of the Netherlands, taking fragments of its older visual culture and bringing them into a contemporary, wearable form.

The project was created as part of a course at the Estonian Academy of Arts, exploring ethnicity and cultural heritage through the design of gloves and footwear.

My family roots are connected to the Old Believer community of Varnja, a village on the shores of Lake Peipus. The collection takes its name from the red-brick Old Believer church in Varnja, built in 1903 and expanded in 1935. Its architecture became the main visual reference for the collection.

I translated the colour and visual character of the brick architecture into leather, using red as the dominant element and black as a contrasting material. The project explores how a specific place connected to my family history can be transformed into contemporary accessories.

A wearable art piece created during my studies at EKA, made from waste materials from mattress production.

The work takes the form of a jellyfish trapped in an oil-like black substance. Around 1,000 skulls were cut for the project, ranging from 1 to 10 cm in height. The skulls form the main structure of the piece, turning discarded production material into a representation of life surrounded by pollution.

The jellyfish became a symbol of nature trapped in the consequences of human activity. The black drips resemble oil spreading through water, creating a heavy burden around the fragile form. The skulls refer to death and the loss of life that can result from environmental pollution.

Through the piece, I wanted to draw attention to the problem of water pollution and the impact of human consumption on aquatic ecosystems. The work asks whether life can survive when the environment around it becomes a burden created by human activity.

This work was created as part of my studies at EKA.

The piece was inspired by pagan celebrations and the ribbons, bindings and other objects associated with rituals and festive traditions. I was interested in the contrast between the visible, expressive side of a celebration and the secrecy that can surround a ritual.

The red ribbons became a symbol of celebration and ceremony, while the balaclava represents concealment and anonymity. By covering the face, the object takes on a more mysterious character, as if it could belong to a ceremony whose meaning is known only to those taking part in it.

I wanted to create an object that feels both familiar and unusual, combining the visual language of celebration with the feeling of something hidden and unknown.

A series of portraits painted from observation as part of my studies at EKA.

The works are made using black and white acrylic paint and a palette knife. I have always been drawn to the palette knife because of its rough and somewhat unpredictable character. For me, it is a tool that can capture not only the physical form of a subject, but also the mood of a particular moment through the movement and texture of the paint.

I chose a monochrome palette because it allows me to focus on form, texture, light and shadow without the distraction of colour. Instead of aiming for precise representation, I am interested in how a portrait can emerge through layers, marks and the traces left by the palette knife. The roughness of the surface and the visible process of painting become an essential part of the final image.

This work was created as part of my studies at EKA as an exploration of the idea that a calm exterior can hide a much more complicated inner state.

The work developed during the painting process rather than following a fully planned image. I used black and white acrylic paint and a palette knife, as the rough marks and physical movement of the tool help me express tension and mood.

I kept recognizable elements of the human figure within the painting, while allowing them to become mixed with more abstract forms. For me, this reflects the contrast between what can be seen from the outside and what can remain hidden inside.

The monochrome palette is mainly used to create a strong contrast between light and darkness. The final image is an expression of anxiety that can exist behind an otherwise calm appearance.

This work was created as part of my studies at EKA using acrylic paint and a palette knife.

The painting explores the idea of destruction, change and creation as an endless cycle. The storm of colours represents a moment of destruction and transformation, where something comes to an end and its previous form disappears.

In contrast, the geometric shapes represent what can emerge from this chaos. They suggest that even when something is destroyed, it can become the beginning of something new. The shapes appear within the chaos as fragments of a new structure, gradually taking form.

The title My End Is Your Beginning refers to this connection between ending and creation. One thing has to come to an end for something else to begin, making destruction and creation part of the same continuous cycle.

The project was created as part of my studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts. It is a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional Japanese geta.

The project explores the idea that some objects and forms do not disappear from human history or everyday life — they simply change their appearance and adapt to a new context.

By redesigning the geta, I wanted to preserve the connection with the original form while transforming it into a contemporary footwear object. Geta 2.0 looks at how traditional objects can continue to exist through reinterpretation rather than simple preservation.

A leather belt pouch created during my studies at EKA. It was one of my first projects working with leather.

I have always been fascinated by medieval belt pouches and used to imagine what might be hidden inside them. In my imagination, they were never just practical objects for carrying money. I imagined them filled with small treasures, coins, keys, stones and other personal objects collected during a journey.

This idea became the starting point for the project. I wanted to create my own version of such a pouch and also create the feeling of what could be found inside it. The leather construction, belt and small objects all contribute to the image of a personal belonging that might have travelled with its owner.

For me, the project is connected to the fascination of discovering what is hidden inside an old object and imagining the person who once owned it.

A clay sculpture exploring the structure and physiology of the human face through a gradual process of transformation.

The sculpture began as a simple human skull. Layer by layer, I gradually built up the structure of the face, adding the forms of the muscles, features and skin until the skull transformed into a recognizable human face.

The process allowed me to study how the underlying structure of the skull determines the appearance of the face. At the same time, I was interested in the transformation itself: how something that initially represents only the structure beneath the face can gradually become a recognizable individual.

Rather than creating the face from the outside, I worked from the inside out. Each new layer changed the previous form, making the final face a result of the entire process.

The work is made with ink and explores the nature of evil. The title suggests that evil comes to the city from outside, but in reality, it has never left — it has always been a part of human society.

Evil is represented as a mass of human faces merged into a single figure. These faces symbolise different aspects of human nature and show that evil has no single, definite form. Some of the faces can be seen as representations of the seven deadly sins — wrath, gluttony, sloth, and pride.

The city in the background becomes a symbol of society, within which this figure exists. Thus, evil is not an external threat that has come to the city, but something that has always been there — within every person.

An ink painting exploring the pressure of authoritative opinions and the feeling of being unable to ignore them.

The work is about a voice that presents itself as knowing what is best for you. It does not necessarily need to be aggressive or forceful. Its authority comes from the feeling that you are expected to listen, even when you do not agree or do not want to.

I wanted to capture the tension between personal choice and someone else’s certainty. The figures and hands create a sense of pressure and control, while the large dark form surrounding the composition makes the space feel enclosed.

The title I Know What Is Best for You comes from the kind of statement that can sound caring on the surface, but can also become a way of imposing someone else’s opinion. For me, the work is about that feeling of being caught between your own decisions and an opinion that is difficult to escape.