Interview with Artem Militonian, Artist & Creative Director at orb: Lovers Magazine by Spaces

Artem Militonian (born 1996 in Yerevan, Armenia) is a Helsinki-based designer known for his award-winning works in digital design. Often described as “Comme des Garçons in the world of digital design” (q. L'Officiel)

Helsinki, Finland • October 23, 2025

What led you into design?

It wasn’t a conscious decision, more like a gradual surrender. I was drawn to visual storytelling long before I knew what “design” even meant. Cinema, photography, architecture – they all became languages of composition to me. Design simply united them into one practice. I never saw it as a career choice; it was an inevitability. I don’t do design, I live inside it.

What's your workstation setup?

My brain.

Where do you go to get inspired?

Life... and women.

What product have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?

One of the most turning points - to be more precise objects - that has built a foundation for the massive modern functional design is the “Bauhaus Chess” constructed by Josef Hartwig in 1923.

This set of chess has presaged many things, trends and tendencies in design. Chess pieces represent the visualisation of a move. For example, a cubical pawn shows that it moves only forward, the bishop has a shape of a diagonal cross and demonstrates its diagonal movements and, let us say, the queen that has a cube topped with a globe, seems to show its absolute power in this world.

Actually, they represent a prototype of a very ultra-modern minimalistic user interface of some programs. A fantastic thing of tremendous beauty, simplicity and power.

What pieces of work are you most proud of?

Orb - web3 social app where I lead design. It’s more than an app; it’s an experiment in how digital culture can exist beyond algorithms and vanity metrics. Every pixel there is a reflection of how I see the future of the internet: decentralized, emotional, and beautifully human.