What a typical apartment looks like and what can be changed in it

In interior design, it is customary to highlight national styles - for example, the usual Scandinavian, luxurious French or comfortable American. Each of them has characteristic features: color scheme, materials or recognizable parts like stucco molding or window layout. At the same time, it is impossible to talk about some special signs of the Russian style. The Village asked the designers what they think about Russian interiors and is it possible to talk about the Russian style as a phenomenon.

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Masha Shatalina

Apartment with antique furniture in a high -rise on Kotelnic

What does a typical Russian interior look like?

Elena Vasilieva

The main architect of the repair service "Made"

In the country of Khokhloma and Hermitage, they never particularly appreciated calm, discreet, plain, and most importantly, minimalistic interiors. Beautiful - means rich, but rich - means a lot. What exactly is much is no longer important. So, in a purely Russian interior there will definitely be decorative drawings, endless vases and vases, toys and figurines, napkins and rugs. There are several reasons for the redundancy in our interiors. Firstly, of course, we are still much more Asians than we would like to think. Look, for example, at the celebration of the Chinese New Year: there is a continuous red, gold, also with patterns. Secondly, after the prosperous period of the late XIX-early XX centuries, mass poverty was established in Russia for many years, when only a small number of people could afford to arrange a house qualitatively. Nobody stuttered about aesthetics: there is something-already good. Therefore, any acquisition was displayed, regardless of its aesthetic value.

Another important difference between the Russian interior and the European interior is to individualize the repair for yourself. You need to understand that for us the phrase “My house is my fortress” is not an abstract expression. Everywhere in the world, people easily move to different cities, states and countries - with a family or independently. It is more difficult for us with mobility: we love our city and our street, we choose the area taking into account habits and preferences and for sure for centuries. As a rule, young people use rental housing. We are not sure of the situation in the country: when it seems that everything can change in an instant, it is better to be ready for this in your fortress. As a result, everyone wants to express themselves due to design. All kinds of decor, colored walls, various floor materials and multi -level ceilings with marvelous lamps are all an integral part of the Russian interior. Perhaps the reasons also lie in the Soviet past, when all housing was typical, with typical repair and typical furniture. Now we got to the variety and want not like a neighbor, but our own unique interior.

On the other hand, our compatriots form, travel, watch beautiful interiors on Instagram - and all this changes the taste. A request for the interior, at least in large cities, has changed. The Russians, especially the young, fell in love with white. We see this both at the request for repairs that come to the "made", and according to the trends in the market. To paint in white is the easiest way to update the apartment and make it fashionable. Add a little wooden furniture from IKEA - and can no longer be distinguished from the picture on Pinterest.

Again, in the past few years, Russian furniture designers have advanced very much. There were a lot of Russian brands and carpentry workshops - Archpole, Woody, The Sarai, Poetry Geometry and a hundred more that make interesting modern furniture. It costs relatively inexpensive, while sets a tone for the interior. And finally, the interior returned to Soviet design objects-restored armchairs, chests of drawers and consoles from the 60s and 70s can be bought on Instagram or find the versions of young Russian designers.

Spacious apartment with references to the Soviet avant -garde

What is missing Russian apartments?

Anastasia Tuganova

Interior designer, co -founder Studio 25

In my opinion, in Russian interiors there is not enough courage, emotionality and immediacy - our client often focuses on the interior of a neighbor. The Russian interior sphere as a whole lacks confidence in the designer: in the West, the designer is invited, and in Russia they are hired. That is, for a Russian client you are a performer, drawing and a shifter, and for the European one - a friend, an accomplice and the Creator. Even in the first stages, when you begin to create, it is difficult for our customers to survive and accept it, they all the time look back at how the other solved this problem, and not at what the designer offers them.

Often we are faced with the wrong approach while buying an apartment. So, for example, in a modern residential complex, the client wants classics, and architecture is the first thing we start from, the first thing we prescribe in the TK. Another example: unfortunately, I meet few people who would like to transport some subject to a new interior-except, perhaps, the piano. It seems to me right when customers use historical things in a modern interior: buffets, samovars or a family oak table with balusters. But most often, everything should be new and fashionable with us. Why should we think about fashion in the interior? It prevents you from being more free.

Yes, there is Russian design, but it is not enough. It is very oriented to the West. It will be, if we cease to be inspired only by Western designers, and the customer will want something new and completely independent. Therefore, if we all want the interior in our country to form and settled completely, first of all we must relax, trust the professional and stop looking back at the neighbor.

Maria Silver

architect, head of the Architectural Bureau "Dom-A"

It is very difficult to unequivocally answer the question of whether such a thing as a “Russian interior”. We have a huge country, each city has its own characteristics. The St. Petersburg interior, for example, seems to be a wonderful calm classic of pleasant, muffled tones. Moscow, on the contrary, loves color, hence the brighter interiors.

I think that such a universal concept as “Russian interior” does not exist, we can only talk about what influenced the formation of our preferences, why the Russians are weighing to certain styles and decisions. Occupying the territory between the East and the West, we developed in a sense on our own, but both sides of the world influenced us. Therefore, people in our country are so easily perceived by new currents, fresh ideas. Hence the peculiarity of the Russian customer to mix styles, add provocative things to the interior. You can call the Russian style experimental: in it I want to see everything, while the architecture of space should be fundamental.

How to create a modern Russian interior?

Irina Krasheninnikova

designer

Despite the fact that the modern world is becoming more monotonous and authentic features are increasingly erased, the value and charm, in my opinion, have exactly the features that distinguish one country from another. Otherwise, it becomes just boring to travel: everything is the same everywhere, everywhere one IKEA. Therefore, I consider it important to develop the theme of the modern Russian style in Russian interiors. This is not an ethnic popular style. This is a style, the uniqueness of which is due to the specifics of local life, the features of Russian history and culture, and the characteristics of the climate. Due to the specifics of our country, the Russian interior style is a multicultural, original and slightly naive style.

For myself, I identified several signs of a modern Russian style:

Eclecticity of tastes, which can be designated as "a mixture of French with Nizhny Novgorod"

I often say and write on this topic, and they always ask me why I highlight eclecticism as a sign of a modern Russian style, because eclecticism is a global trend. This is true. As a reception, it works (and is created) in the same way as in American or European interiors. But it differs in objects with which the Russian interior style is marked. These subjects are associated with our Russian (and not American or French) history. That is, these are the objects that give interiors created in Russia, authenticity (sincerity) and identity (authenticity).

Colors and materials characteristic of the Russian climate

I create interiors in Russia, so I use colors characteristic of the Central Russian nature. The palette of natural colors is very wide, and it is important to choose the right shade. For example, if you need a blue gamma, do not take the Caribbean blue, take a shade that you see in your environment: sky blue, the color of the cornflow, the color of the forget-me-not, the color of lake water. I select finishing materials according to the same principle: so that in spirit they correspond to the local climate (for example, wood, stone, linen, felt).

Items playing stereotypes about Russian

That is, those who suggest that we have a Russian house. These stereotypes are widely known: ballet, space, hunting, Tolstoy with Dostoevsky, tea and more. Of course, everything related to stereotypes is often introduced into the interior as irony. But this is such a thin irony, if you don’t think about why it is standing here, then you can not notice. These objects do not climb into the eyes, but the very fact of their presence in the interior give the viewer the ground for thought. For example, in one of my interior there was a large -format photograph of the ballerina in depression. The ballerina was not Russian, a photographer - an Englishman, but this photo posted in the dining room, along with an old samovar on the table, spoke for itself.

Ekaterina Oleinikova

Senior Designer Studio "Point of Design"

Russian design has always been close to nature, so in its design you can find many natural materials, especially wood, combinations of different breeds and shades. In the modern Russian interior, wooden panels and panels, as well as accents on wooden elements, will look good. In addition to wood, designers love to use completely non -standard materials like birch bark or compressed fir needles to create unique design items.

The most recent round of history leads us to the Soviet past with its interesting history of design, architecture and aesthetics. The trend on the 50-60s is now relevant in the global design, but in the Russian interior a reference is important to the Soviet interior. This is also important for us because a huge number of original architectural objects of that period have been preserved. In addition, people often buy apartments in Stalinks, and the design of the corresponding era looks most organic in them. This style involves a very concise interior with strictly verified forms and proportions. At the same time, it always looks easy and, if desired, modern, which means that it will be relevant for a long time.

An important sign of the Russian interior is contrasting combinations. This interior should always be memorable thanks to combinations of color, shapes or materials. In a sense, this love of contrasts is an echo of Russian decorativeness. In traditional arts of art, this technique is always used, but in smaller proportions it can be used in the interior.

In the Russian interior, metal details of warm shades - gold, brass, bronze will always be present. However, you do not always need to interpret this as a love of wealth. In the modern interior, such elements are used as a subtle accent, the final stroke, which gives heat and uniqueness to the image.

Photos: Cover, 2, 4 - Katya Sliven, 1, 3 - Yasya Vogelgardt

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Designers - about Russian interiors and Russian style