America, Russia, and Doors

On the train to Novogorod, a couple of us had a sit down in the dining car. Before long, a younger Russian man invited us over to chat. We obliged. We discovered that he was a businessman working for an architechture firm that designed only doors. We found this rather strange, by our American standards, it would be unrealistic to expect that an architechtural firm that designes, not builds, doors could survive. He laughed and explained to us that in Russia, doors are actually a very important part of the esthetics as well as formality of business. He continued with an example: if you were looking to store your money in a bank, would you rather trust your money to a bank where the first thing you see on the street in front of it is a plain, assembly line made, unoriginal door, or a bank with massive, heavy, and beautiful oak stained and ornately figured door? It's all about perception, and sight is a very important part of this. So thus, there are architechtural firms in Russia that design only doors; its a big money business. We also discussed Russian/American relations in some detail. This man, Max, said he was heading for America in a few months to try and convince some wallstreet-esque businesses of the importance of doors and then sell them some of his firms. This, to me, shed light on the nature of the bridge of ideas that have been streaming between America and Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, that is, very cultural based. I have no idea if his door idea will flourish in America, only time will tell. As we walked away, I thought about the extent to which this idea had already permiated in America and was left with the gut feeling that if it has, it certainly hasn't to the extent to which Max was looking to bring. Anyway, it was a very interesting conversation; I learned a lot about Russian business, Russia, Novogorod, and laymans political relations that I otherwise wouldn't have.