ALTER VISTA
My work explores a sense of in-betweenness — navigating life across borders, balancing the roles of mother and artist, and inhabiting the space between speech and a forced silence.
I create assemblages from antique ceramics, porcelain, and metal, restoring to functional life items previously intended for disposal. My method is a symbiosis of surrealism with functionalism, where I combine a preference for laconic forms with technical engineering solutions.
Through my work, I aim to challenge the culture of overproduction, inviting the viewer to see in the destroyed not just trauma, but newly created harmony.
Born in 1991, Olga Chekmazova graduated with honors in Radio Engineering from Vladimir State University in 2013. She began her career in the space industry, where she developed complex docking systems for spacecraft. This experience in high-precision technology later intersected with her study of art and architectural history, as well as the draping method of tailoring.
A desire to preserve cultural heritage led Olga to pivot toward the restoration and redesign of vintage lighting. This transition merged her engineering background with a new creative focus. In 2020, she founded Alter Vista Crafts.
Her practice evolved from restoration to creating original pieces from antique components, leading to the launch of her Electrics as Art educational program in 2022. Since then, she has trained over 100 lighting restorers. Her work Space Forever, which pays homage to her experience in the space industry, was exhibited at the Museum of Decorative Arts.
Relocating to the Cotswolds in 2024, the historical center of the Arts and Crafts movement, marked a shift in Olga's practice toward a conceptual stage. She has moved away from classical restoration and the concealment of defects. Instead, she works exclusively with decommissioned fragments of past eras. Olga focuses on domestic elements, viewing the home as a space where individuals are most receptive to contemplation. This choice reflects a global reality of displacement and loss. By working with the ruins of the domestic sphere, she seeks to identify a point of departure for a new beginning.
Her method is a symbiosis of surrealism and functionalism. Utilizing antique ceramics, porcelain, metal, and electrical components, Olga combines laconic forms with sophisticated technological solutions. She asserts that a unique beauty is concealed within loss and defects, which become the foundation for a new contemporary harmony.
Through her work, Olga addresses universal questions of memory, time, and ecology. She challenges the logic of the linear economy, inviting the viewer to see ruin not as trauma, but as a chance for a circular and conscious beginning. Her works are held in private collections worldwide.
Explore the materials used and the inspiration behind each piece.
An engineering reflection on the concept of homecoming. This beacon serves as a point of arrival through physical or internal darkness. Its illumination is kinetic, shifting with the movement of the viewer.
Materials: Antique fragments (brass and pewter), glass, raw chalk from the Seven Sisters coastline.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions: Height 24 cm.
Status: Artist’s Collection
Currently on Exhibition Reserve Selected for The Open: Odyssey Hastings Contemporary, UK |
28 March – 31 May 2026
This work explores the anatomy of a defect and the ways of navigating irreparable trauma.
The object fully exposes its back, acknowledging the impossibility of returning to its former state or function.
In this act of transformation, the hidden back becomes a new facade, while the integrated light turns the void of loss into a source of new energy. Here, illumination does more than just light up the piece; it manifests the object’s hidden history, turning its scars into conduits for a glow. The space created through destruction is inhabited by fragments of other broken entities, forming a new, fragile harmony. It is a search for an identity where inner light becomes more vital than outward wholeness.
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Materials: Reclaimed 19th-century earthenware, 20th-century porcelain, vintage brass, steel.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions:
Height 38 cm
Width 30 cm
Depth 22 cm
Status: Artist’s Collection
Can architectural integrity be achieved through the synthesis of disparate fragments?
This 1:15 scale prototype explores the potential of reclaimed materials as an alternative to the culture of overconsumption. The project suggests that architectural form emerges not from a "blank slate," but through the structural reorganization of elements that have lost their utilitarian function yet retain their material memory.
By applying principles of circular design, the work demonstrates how fragile domestic objects can be transformed into resilient components of urban infrastructure. In this digital presentation, the model serves as a blueprint for a sustainable social initiative, bridging the gap between physical waste and architectural renewal.
Materials: Salvaged antique porcelain and earthenware, pewter, steel, fabric.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions: Height 24 cm.
Status: Artist’s Collection
This work functions as a physical metaphor for the innermost sanctuary of the psyche. Drawing from the architectural concept of an 'adytum' - a restricted, sacred space - the object shields its internal glow behind a veil of chainmail. It does not seek to communicate or escape; instead, it exists in a state of quiet subsistence.
Materials: Antique fragments (brass), mid-19th century British ironstone, steel.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions:
Width 32 cm
Depth 27 cm
Height 30 cm
Status: Artist’s Collection
- AvailableWork is ready for purchase. International shipping is available upon request.
- Artist’s CollectionThese pieces are currently held by the artist for exhibition purposes and are not for sale at this time.
- Private CollectionThese works have been acquired and are no longer for sale.
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Forthcoming: The Open: Odyssey, Hastings Contemporary,
Hastings, UK (Selected Artist) | 28 March – 31 May
35th Community Art Exhibition (Virtual Reality), Circular ArtSpace,
Bristol, UK | 26 February – 22 March | Link to Exhibit
Existentialism Art Contest Online Exhibit, The Dalí Museum
(St. Petersburg, FL, USA) | Link to Exhibit
Engineer and artist
(Cotswolds, England)
Instagram: @the_alter_vista
Telegram: https://t.me/alter_vista_Olga
Available for commissions and collaborations
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©All Rights Reserved. Olga Chekmazova. Alter vista. surrealist functionalism. 2025-2026