Interview with Taiga

A successful design is, first and foremost, a simple design that can actually be built and deeply resonates with the people who use it. At the end of the day, the ultimate proof of success is high demand — seeing children constantly playing on the equipment and knowing that it is genuinely wanted in the real world. For us, successful design is also about winning over our fellow architects and our clients; having the people who drive the industry vote with their wallets, their orders, and their signed contracts in favor of our products and our design is really what defines a triumph.

We always have several massive projects cooking in the pipeline, and we are open to collaborations so your project could be the next one. Keep updated on our news, we are constantly releasing exciting new products that practically any architecture or landscape firm worldwide can easily integrate into their own projects. We build our equipment using vandal-resistant, and wear-proof materials engineered to withstand absolutely any climate on Earth—from the sub-zero temperatures of the North Pole to the intense humidity of the tropics.

Our primary focus in designing is to create an environment that naturally fosters social connections and neuroplasticity in children of all ages, achieved subtly through open play and direct physical experience. We specifically wanted to revive the lost tradition of spontaneous "backyard socialization," with structures that gently nudge children toward collective cooperation, communication, and shared action. For older children, we aim to introduce healthy risks to build assertiveness, self-confidence, and group negotiation skills. Additionally, we want to support cognitive flexibility and neuroplasticity by pairing contrasting materials and textures like warm timber and cool metal.

Our design process always starts with a core idea or a specific area we want to explore within children's play environments, which we outline through sketching and intensive brainstorming before developing it into a production-ready 3D model. At this concept stage we thoroughly analyze component costs, material choices, and manufacturing technologies so we can confidently present a viable design to our clients. From there, our structural engineering team takes over to generate the precise blueprints, technical documentation, and mechanical 3D models required for the production phase, where standard manufacturing processes turn the paperwork into physical equipment. Finally, the process culminates in on-site construction and installation, which is the most critical step of all; even the most meticulously designed structures can be ruined if the installation crews cut corners. That is why we treat this final phase with such vital importance: it ensures that the final user experience and visual appeal accurately reflect exactly what we envisioned during the concept and engineering phases, protecting us from costly mistakes at the finish line.

Our recent recognition by A'Design Award is a key milestone that marks our true debut in the global stage and a whole new chapter of international growth. On a personal and team level, this award is proof that a company from a relatively unknown town in the Ural Mountains can create unique play environments that gain serious global respect. This recognition serves as an incredible source of inspiration for our entire team, sending a powerful message that they are working on a premium, high-demand product capable of finding a place anywhere in the world and proving that, together, there is so much more we can achieve.

First and foremost, I focus on visual clarity, ensuring that our products look simple yet striking by eliminating unnecessary details, joints, or fasteners, while keeping the entire structure safe and fully aligned with children's physiology to prevent any hazards. Aesthetics are non-negotiable, but designs must also be genuinely manufacturable, ensuring our core promise that the final physical product is completely indistinguishable from the initial rendering. Finally, as the industry evolves, we are balancing this creative and technical freedom with economic viability, shifting our focus toward optimizing resources, carbon footprints, and costs as a central pillar of our future work.

Seeing our designs realized brings an enormous sense of fulfillment, joy, and deep professional pride, especially knowing that our team can successfully pull off a project as architecturally and engineeringly complex as the Ural Forest. It is incredibly inspiring to realize that we can create something that will truly resonate with the community and leave a lasting legacy in our city, but that emotional reward is hard-earned through intense grit and technical execution. Delivering this project pushed us to our absolute limits across design, engineering, and logistics, requiring our skilled crews to operate heavy lifting machinery simultaneously in tight conditions to assemble intricate components at heights of 12 meters and up. Ultimately, conquering these immense structural challenges and seeing the final space come to life is exactly what fuels our ambition and inspires us to tackle even bolder concepts for our future projects.

A successful design is, first and foremost, a simple design that can actually be built and deeply resonates with the people who use it. At the end of the day, the ultimate proof of success is high demand — seeing children constantly playing on the equipment and knowing that it is genuinely wanted in the real world. For me personally, successful design is also about winning over our fellow architects and our clients; having the people who drive the industry vote with their wallets, their orders, and their signed contracts in favor of our products and our design is really what defines a triumph.

We live in the Urals, practically in the center of Russia, right on the border of Europe and Asia, and this unique geographic and cultural context brings distinct advantages and challenges to our design process. One major advantage of designing here is the rapidly evolving domestic market; local playground manufacturers have significantly stepped up their game and expanded their expertise, making domestic collaboration genuinely exciting where we once looked strictly at leading global practices. Additionally, the vast territories of our country mean we aren't constrained by land, allowing us to keep massive production processes within a single company, while having direct access to abundant, renewable natural forests provides us with the premium timber we rely on. Culturally, our historical context fuels an internal mindset: a deep need to do things exceptionally well and to be the absolute best in order to withstand competition. The primary downside is that not every domestic industry currently creates world-class products, but we are actively working to overcome this by aiming our resources toward ensuring our products represent the absolute best on the global stage, reaching far beyond Russia to bring joy to children all over the world.

When working with companies on serious, large-scale projects, we focus on delivering a turnkey, single-source experience that handles everything from the initial sketch right through to final delivery. This end-to-end involvement is one of the biggest advantages of working with us, as we oversee the entire project lifecycle under one roof: drafting the very first concept art, managing production, installing the finished playground on-site, and shaping the complete play environment. While we are occasionally brought in just for specific phases, our ideal approach is to provide this seamless, consolidated solution so the process remains completely streamlined for the client, allowing us to take full accountability for the high-quality results we deliver.

Our design process always starts with a core idea or a specific area we want to explore within children's play environments, which we outline through sketching and intensive brainstorming before developing it into a production-ready 3D model. At this concept stage we thoroughly analyze component costs, material choices, and manufacturing technologies so we can confidently present a viable design to our clients. From there, our structural engineering team takes over to generate the precise blueprints, technical documentation, and mechanical 3D models required for the production phase, where standard manufacturing processes turn the paperwork into physical equipment. Finally, the process culminates in on-site construction and installation, which is the most critical step of all; even the most meticulously designed structures can be ruined if the installation crews cut corners. That is why we treat this final phase with such vital importance: it ensures that the final user experience and visual appeal accurately reflect exactly what we envisioned during the concept and engineering phases, protecting us from costly mistakes at the finish line.

The single most critical skill for a designer trying to build a high-quality product is their visual library: having a broad exposure to versatile design solutions they have seen to apply in new products. The second element is a cultivated sense of beauty, which relies on that same exposure and a strong team environment to intuitively understand what works, what is needed and how to express it visually. The third piece is a robust technical toolkit, which includes rapid sketching skills and proficiency in 3D modeling software to seamlessly articulate their thoughts. A designer simply cannot survive without these tools; having a million ideas bouncing around in your head means nothing if you lack the execution skills to translate those concepts from paper into reality, which is exactly why a strong technical hands-on capability is what ultimately brings a vision to life.

Our plans for the future are to keep perfecting what we do and to create even more spectacular public spaces that will serve the community, cultivate a deeper sense of beauty, and put our brand on the global map. Our recent recognition by A'Design Award is a key milestone that marks our true debut in the global stage and a whole new chapter of international growth. On a personal and team level, this award is proof that a company from a relatively unknown town in the Ural Mountains can create unique play environments that gain serious global respect. This recognition serves as an incredible source of inspiration for our entire team, sending a powerful message that they are working on a premium, high-demand product capable of finding a place anywhere in the world and proving that, together, there is so much more we can achieve.

We always have several massive projects cooking in the pipeline, and we are open to collaborations so your project could be the next one. Keep updated on our news, we are constantly releasing exciting new products that practically any architecture or landscape firm worldwide can easily integrate into their own projects. We build our equipment using vandal-resistant, and wear-proof materials engineered to withstand absolutely any climate on Earth—from the sub-zero temperatures of the North Pole to the intense humidity of the tropics.