DzenSpaceClub Apartment by Olga Fradina

DzenSpaceClub is a new project by Ukraine-based interior designer Olga Fradina. Located in Kyiv, the apartment belongs to multi-talented fashion designer Katya Bakhirka, who is also a hip hop singer and founder of a charity devoted to saving the indigenous people of the Amazonia. Gradually transformed into a space for meditations and tea ceremonies, the apartment is a cosy sanctuary in strikingly moody grey and blue hues.

Situated in a Soviet-era building, the apartment’s compact size called for a new floor plan to allow enough space for functional zones. By moving a wall dividing the bathroom, entrance hall and living room, a more spacious bathroom has been realised, while at the same time leaving enough space for necessary storage systems. A bedroom has replaced the existing kitchen and a new open plan living, dining and kitchen area has been the final piece of the puzzle. This hybrid space also includes a home office, dressing room and tea lounge.

Aside from the chairs and sofa, all the furniture is designed by Olga Fradina exclusively for the project. Carefully designed in terms of proportions, forms and colour balance, the furniture creates a sense of harmony, while the apartment's dark ceiling gives the illusion of more height. The absence of doors between rooms in the apartment further enhances the feeling of spaciousness.

A starting point for the interior was the combination of dark-grey flooring and wooden chairs on top. Smooth microcement on the floor, walls, built-in storage and kitchen facades provide the perfect background for objects with vivid texture. These include a low wooden tea table designed by Olga Fradina and made by Staritska Maysternya, wooden shelves, bamboo shutters, sisal carpet, dark blue painted brickwork and last but not least, wooden panelling on the ceiling.

Olga Fradina is known for artfully mixing different styles to give her design a sense of timelessness as opposed to a transitory or trendy look. Her own designs centre around simple geometric forms and reference midcentury design and include a shelf with sliding doors and a round black wooden dining table, also made by Staritska Maysternya. These are paired with traditional Ukrainian hlechyky tableware, her own ceramics and those by Vos`ma Komora. 

Photography by Yevhenii Avramenko