interior of a Moscow apartment Svetlana Gulina, Vladimir Yakovlev

Passing the gallery

A photo: Dmitry Livshits

Interview prepared: Oksana Kashenko

Stylist: Alexey Onishchenko

Architect: Svetlana Gulina

Decorator: Vladimir Yakovlev

Textile: Anastasia Prokhanova

Magazine: Download

This interior has been created for more than two years. And it seems that has developed in one moment. Its elegant classical layout refers us to the works of Palladio. In terms of lightness and some kind of indescribable liveliness, the interior resembles a watercolor sketch. It is absolutely impossible to separate architecture from the decor, so we asked our questions to both interior designers: architect Svetlana Gulina and decorator Vladimir YakovlevCvetlana, how was this interior created? What was first - planning or idea? Svetlana Gulina: Usually, architects do not make such confessions, but here the reminiscences are so obvious that one cannot say anything about them. I was influenced by the interior of the restaurant "Antonio". These moving canvases of Leonardo da Vinci shocked me so much that I had planned to myself use some fragments of his paintings in the interior myself. I must say that not every customer will go for it. But in this respect we were lucky, the owners of this apartment turned out to be very thin, intelligent, educated people. It was a pleasure to work with them, we have established such a creative understanding, which we can only dream of. So when I suggested applying this design move, they supported me. You enter the apartment, first of all you turn on the lighting of a small part of the hallway, and right there at the other end of the corridor the picture is highlighted - a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's fresco depicting the head of St. Anne. It gives such a powerful emotional effect, that in words it is even difficult to convey.SON: What is behind the mural? Does it seem to have a door cut through it?S.G .: Yes, there is a door here. And in this - an element of surrealism, because the door without a platband. It's like the "Venus" of Salvador Dali, all made up of drawers. Guests notice the door is not immediately: it is barely marked, it gives only a pen. According to the plan behind the door - dressing room. I think that making the door to the dressing room chic is absolutely wrong, the dressing room is not the room to which the front door should lead. And here it turned out that we did not lose the grand entrance of the hall, and the door to the dressing room seemed to be washed away, dissolved.S: How did the columns appear here?S.G .: From the need to somehow organize this corridor space. Judge for yourself what would be without columns: a long corridor, at one end - the door to the dressing room, at the other - the entrance and another door to the living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, nursery. And now you see only a beautiful hall with columns, which, in fact, mask the entrances to other rooms. I applied the layout according to the division of the nave into sections. It was necessary, of course, to use the arches so that the architecture looked logical and light. It turned out elegant space. Usually, with such a height of the room, columns with arches are not lined up so that there is no feeling of a crushing ceiling. But it turned out well. We visually lifted the ceiling of the central part, made it oval, emphasized this oval with its projection on the floor. At once a beautiful vertical appeared, optically increased height. Yes, and unusual columns.Vladimir Yakovlev: Our columns look as if we left one armature from them, they are completely bare, empty inside. This is such a constructivist method: to expose the frame and make it the main decoration. But our columns, although made of brutal black metal, turned out to be still feminine. We crowned them with exquisite gilded capitals. Light is also given by the light spreading over the columns. The luminaires are hidden in the ceiling above the capitals, thanks to this lighting, the effect of soaring ceiling is created. That is, the columns of our item is absolutely functional. Well, decorative, of course, too. The whole interior is built on a game of contrasts and contradictions: black metal graphics and delicate fresco painting, voluminous massive ceiling and delicate design of openwork chandeliers, simple light walls in texture and complex gilded elements.S: What does the hostess think about this?S.G .: She is happy. I have already said that these people are intellectuals, and therefore the apartment turned out to be so thin and seasoned in style. For this interior, we selected everything together: from furniture and lamps to the smallest decor items. You have probably noticed that almost all the lamps and furniture in the living room are made in the same way. This is our favorite brand - MAROESKA METZ. Several years ago, we were the first Russian architect to bring it to Moscow and began offering it to our customers. Designer Marushka is a clever girl, she has such amazing, subtle, artistic, emotional things. They can not be confused with anything. Now MAROESKA METZ is already in several salons in Moscow. MAROESKA METZ for us is not just beautiful models. This is our inspiration. Take the columns: we designed them ourselves, but under the “Maruska”.S: That is, a living room is, by and large, an interior for several things of MAROESKA METZ?V. Ya .: This is an interior for people who have shared with us the love of the things of this brand. From the point of view of architecture, the coffered ceiling plays an important role here. From the point of view of decor, the main here is the sofa "Gioconda". He is good already in itself, as a design object, like a sculpture. Chandelier and sconces with grape leaves made of copper, light bookcase, elegant table - all these things are very elegant, very Italian in spirit. No wonder because the sofa is called "Gioconda", this is also an appeal to Leonardo. We picked up for the walls a gentle vanilla tone that echoes the color of the kitchen set (it can be seen from the living room). It seems to me that in the winter, when the frosts start to frost in Moscow, the apartment will be very comfortable. Cozy and easy.Svetlana Gulina: "We were lucky: the customers turned out to be very subtle, intelligent, educated people. It was a pleasure to work with them. When I suggested applying a non-standard design move - to make a copy of Leonardo's fresco at the center of the composition, the customers supported me.".