Interview with Violeta Maya and Persiis Hajiyanni, Martin Miller’s Gin – Artist Commission (Affordable Art Fair, October 2021, London)

Martin Miller was a creative soul; everything he did had an artistic halo.

From publishing an etiquette guide to founding the Miller’s Academy in London then to having the mad idea to create what turned out to be the most awarded gin of all time, he always brought his original signature to his powers of genius.

In the context of this strong connection to art, and in the framework of its new global campaign, Martin Miller’s Gin is commissioning young artists to explore their ‘Genius’ and find meaning in their ‘Madness’, unlocking their full creative potential.

Violeta Maya and Persiis Hajiyanni are the talented artist-duo who won the Martin Miller’s Gin artist commission to create a bespoke installation inspired by the brand’s Transformative DNA, at next October’s Affordable Art Fair in London.

Violeta is a multidisciplinary artist who works with different mediums like painting, sculpture and print, Persiis is an experienced designer and artist. Both feel that they collaborate successfully together and with their teams, they met years ago at art school in London

Martin Miller’s Gin Blog caught up with Persiis and Violeta in the Gallery Garrido in Madrid and started by asking about their inspiration…

Persiis: Inspiration is very much linked to fascination and connected to how we observe the things that happen around us.

Violeta: Yes, we usually find inspiration in the very small details of our daily life.

MMG Blog: What about what you have in common with the spirit of Martin Miller, our founder?

Persiis: When we team up, we have many things in common with his enthusiastic spirit. The idea of the piece we’re working on came very naturally, it came to us during a moment of inspiration, as our excitement and enthusiasm was increasing.

Violeta: As a team, we share the same interests as Martin Miller, we get really ambitious, we have quite big ideas and together we do crazier, bigger and daring things.

MMG Blog: So it seems like you build on each other’s passion and enthusiasm. Martin Miller did that too, with his two co-founders, they went all that way to Iceland searching for the purest water to make his dream come true.

How far do your dreams take you?

Violeta: We think really big for the future. I hope that we can make a lot of incredible pieces as we go on, getting bigger and bigger, nicer and nicer.

Persiis: We don’t know how realistic it is, but it’s ambitious and it’s exciting! And hopefully, we’ll have another collaboration with Martin Miller’s Gin.

MMG Blog: How important is it for you to have the support of brands inspiring you, even supporting you financially so that you can go further on down the line?

Persiis: It’s amazingly important for any artist to have the support of brands, especially, in such a free context that we had to explore, get inspired and create something totally personal linked to Transformation the key element in the Martin Miller Gin DNA.

Violeta: Martin Miller’s Gin gave us the freedom to do whatever we wanted with the piece. They didn’t want to influence it. They were very respectful with what we wanted to do with the artwork, and this is amazing. Also, having the support you mention gives you the opportunity to explore different artistic paths. For me, as a designer on the side, it’s something very important to be able to keep up my practice.

MMG Blog: Let’s talk now about your artistic collaboration with Martin Miller’s Gin at the Affordable Art Fair. What is the idea behind this creation?

Persiis: Our collaboration with Martin Miller’s Gin at the Affordable Art Fair is aiming to offer a ‘slowdown moment’ in a crazy art fair environment.

Violeta: Yes, it’s basically an immersive piece to make you get completely involved into something tiny that we have amplified. We got very inspired by the Transformation starting point, because it’s something we relate to a lot. The objective is to make the public who go into the piece somehow undergo a small transformation whilst inside. But we can’t tell you anymore, it’s still secret! We will unveil it later.

It was a privilege to finally meet Violeta and Persiis in person after working together online during the lockdowns. After our meeting they were going to Greece to continue working on the piece for the Martin Miller’s Gin partnership and also to niche out inspiration for other projects …

We’ll be watching their progress and the creation of our exciting artistic commission and will keep you informed.

The commission will be unveiled at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea in October.

In the meantime, enjoy a Gin & Tonic and follow the Instagram profiles of Violeta and Persiis to get a further feel of their work and their inspiration:

Thank you to Gallery Garrido, Calle de Serrano Anguita, 7, 28004 Madrid for their collaboration