A minute with: Olga Evtushenko aka full metall badger, chainmail jewellery maker

Where do you live?In a lonely house on a hill with my dear husband, two guinea boars and countless fish. What did you have for breakfast?Normally lunch – I’m a serial breakfast skipper. Describe your perfect dayGet up, get some chores done, then either go for a short hike or drive to an interesting place. Back at home I’d have some analytics job done, experiment with new crafts and then stay late making my jewellery and while watching videos according to my latest hyperfixation. Orrrrr… row kayak along a slow river all day, just looking at shores passing by. Best book ever read?Oh my. I can’t name one. Lord of the Rings and the first book of The Witcher series because of the poetry of fragile, fading worlds, Terry Pratchett – all of him – as a full dossier on human nature, and one terribly toxic Russian book Adventures of Major Zvyagin when I need a kick to power through whatever I’m facing. Best childhood memory?Driving home with my father in the front seat of the car when the sky is turning golden and blue, warm light on a wooden kitchen ceiling. What is always in your fridge?Jams. Also the only thing I enjoy making from scratch. What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?Folk-punk, blues-rock, country and Mongolian power metal. What’s your spirit animal?My brand is called Full Metall Badger, dare to guess? Actually, badgers are a spectrum – from peaceful and grounded to totally chaotic. But definitely not flashy, very self sufficient and you don’t want to make them angry. What are you most proud of?I keep a mental list of people whose lives I’ve managed to change for the better, whether through my work or hobbies. I return to that list whenever I need reminding that what I do actually matters. What movie scene has really stayed with you?Two words: “No fate”. If you could pick anyone at all (alive or dead) to go out for the evening with, who would it be?I’d time-travel to an evening at the Leningrad Rock Club in the late 80s, just to soak in the atmosphere of the music scene that shaped my childhood. As for meeting famous people, I’m not so sure. Sometimes it’s better to protect your favourite books and music from their creators. If you could time travel when/where would you go?I’d probably need a time machine with unlimited mileage. I’m very Eurasia-centric in my aesthetic interests, particularly drawn to archaic cultures, forgotten civilizations and visual traditions that rarely make it into popular culture. I’d love to visit ancient Egypt, Phoenicia, pre-Hellenic Cyprus, the Cucuteni culture, Etiuni in the Armenian Highlands, the Scythians, ancient Perm, and the Baltic and Sámi peoples… What is your greatest fear?Stillness. Wasting my time without evolving What would you say to your 18-year-old self?That was a hard time for me to scrape off the glaze of youth. So… ‘Find yourself a good psychotherapist and psychiatrist. We’ve still had a good life – but you could do much better. You’ll still be yourself but happier and more successful version’. Name the one thing that would stop you dating someone.Animal cruelty of any kind. What would you do if the world was going to end in 24 hours?Depends on the type of apocalypse. If it’s the inevitable end of everything, I’d call my mum, make sure the guinea pigs aren’t scared, make a cup of tea and watch the sky with my husband. If it’s a survivable kind of apocalypse, well, time to make a plan. Follow Olga on Instagram at www.instagram.com/full_metall_badger