Imperfect autumn. Interior in Japanese style by Tetyana Denysenko

Hyuge, lagom or wabi-sabi? No matter how you try to describe the feeling of comfort and truthfulness of the interior, no wording will help you fully understand what can only be felt. The design of the Kyiv apartment designed by Tetyana Denysenko reflects Japanese wisdom, northern rationalism, calmness, slowness, and the fading beauty inherent in autumn. It's amazing how the designer managed to arrange a full-fledged functional and technical component behind the scenery of the images, which does not claim attention, but works efficiently for the result.

"Nothing is eternal, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect," is how Richard Powell describes the realities on which the ancient Japanese way of finding harmony is built in his book "Wabi-sabi - the Way of Simplicity." If we believe the ancient sages, beauty is in changeability and genuineness, authenticity and imperfection. A clay pot of an irregular shape, yellowed pages of an old book, curtains made of coarse linen and burlap, a wooden table with scratches - sometimes the "flaws" of objects and materials do not distort the home, but give it value, filling the space with special truthfulness and sentimentality.

This philosophy is close to the Ukrainian designer Tetyana Denysenko. She designed one of the Kyiv apartments in the Japandi style. This is a popular direction that combines the imperfections of wabi-sabi and Scandinavian coziness.

Nothing is eternal

However, such an image of housing was not formed immediately. At first, the customer saw his future home as a continuation of the architecture of the residential complex: dynamic lines, strictness, black and white palette. However, the city style seemed to the designer to be obsessively dominant, heavy, and in the process of designing the character of the housing changed radically. "One day, climbing to the floor of the apartment, I looked at the panorama outside the window, and in it - a carefree, immeasurable distance of the horizon, capable of hypnotizing the viewer, slowing down the speed of cars. This state inspired me to create a different atmosphere — an oasis of peace," the designer shared.

While the apartment was transformed from a business space into a warm family home, changes also took place in the life of its owner. The fact is that the client bought the house at the excavation stage. During construction, the customer managed to go to another country, meet his love, get married, become a father, get citizenship, buy real estate and even start renovations.

These circumstances forced him to literally tear away from his heart an already so close and beloved space that did not serve him for a day. Despite strong emotions and passion for design, a decision was made to rent out the apartment. "Fortunately, the interior turned out to be functional and unobtrusive, and therefore universal: it will be comfortable for a man, a woman, a single person, and a family," comments Tetyana Denysenko.

The design process took 5 months. According to the developer's plan, this is a one-room apartment with an area of ​​65 sq.m. Improving the existing layout, the designers organized 2 dressing rooms: in the hallway and bedroom. The appearance of capacious storage systems freed other rooms from bulky closets, and the placement of a washer-dryer in the wardrobe for outerwear made it possible to avoid noise in living spaces. In addition, the area of ​​the living area increased, and the "long corridor" turned into a proportional room.

The result was a space with zones that are interconnected and flow into each other. The living room, kitchen, dining room and hallway all work as one, and many objects in the interior perform a double function. Now in more detail.

Nothing is finished

The hallway always risks being the most boring part of the living space, but not in this interior. Here it fulfills its function, but does not claim a large area, does not form corridors, does not appear passable or dark. When entering the apartment, it is difficult to determine where the boundaries of the hallway begin and end. A full-wall mirror serves as a certain window and space expander, which visually doubles the volume of the living room. The glass block wall adjacent to the bathroom enhances this effect.

"During the planning process, we received a small corner projection of the bathroom. He was not critical, but he made me want to work with him in some way, - says Tatyana, - so the idea of ​​using a glass block with different textures was born. As a result, we got an attractive accent element. In tandem with the lighting scenarios, it gives an incredible variety of decorative effects and moods, both from the side of the living room and in the shower room itself."

The kitchen took on the same mission as the hallway: to be, but not to shout about its presence. It seemed to dissolve in the general living space. Here is a TV area, here is a sofa with armchairs, here is a round table for family dinners and gatherings with friends, as well as flower pots, lamps, kitchen utensils made of clay and glass. And where is the kitchen? Tatyana noted that she wanted to get away from the "kitchen-working" mood. And she succeeded: all the built-in appliances and the cooking surface are hidden behind sliding facades, there are no hanging cabinets and floor bases - only light, cantilevered structures, as if suspended in space.

An interesting decision was to combine the dining room and the lounge with a common element — a shallow shelf running along the entire wall. Equipped with decorative lighting, it serves as a kind of gallery area, which allows future residents to constantly create new compositions from books, paintings, various decor, dishes, art objects. The atmosphere of the living room as a whole resembles a workshop or an art space. "The overall neutral background of the room serves as a canvas for further pen tests," explains the designer.

Tatyana treats art with special trepidation. Her father, now retired, worked as a designer all his life. Tanya fondly remembers her childhood and how her father instilled in her a love of creativity: "Today I really want to say that my most favorite artist is my father. I was born and grew up surrounded by an incredible number of his works and works in our home, in kindergarten, at school, in the houses of pioneers at that time, in various institutions of our city, on its squares, in squares and parks, as well as at various events that there was a huge amount!". His talent was passed on to his grandson - he is fond of drawing and painting, and, by the way, one of his works decorates the interior.

Nothing is perfect

"This color, this slumber of cherries falling into the ground, is a flow of smoke that flows endlessly and changes the color of moisture and kisses. I don't know, do you understand that? Night falls, the lonely poet hears the tramp of horses in autumn..."

Pablo Neruda "Autumn Returns"

Natural textures are very important for Japandi style, therefore, with a limited budget, the designers prioritized the use of natural oak parquet boards and abandoned the finishing plastering and painting works. "The imperfections and unevenness of the walls and ceilings played into our hands, with their help we strengthened the image of the space," explains Tatiana.

Designers used a single color for many elements. Furniture, walls and even a built-in kitchen sink — here everything seems to be molded from the same dough, created from the same material. "This was done in order to avoid crushing, excessive detailing and visual noise, to get the most calm background for those objects that need to be emphasized," the designer shares. The walls were "dressed" in a bleached color from a palette of earthy shades. The general color solution was diluted with accents: orange (in psychology it is defined as friendly and unifying) in the upholstery of the sofa, and olive in the upholstery of the bed made according to Tatiana's original sketches.

The overall integrity and even a certain sculptural, man-made space can be felt thanks to matte textures. "For several years now, I have deliberately avoided glossy surfaces, at least I try to minimize their number in projects," says Tatyana, "with gloss residential interiors have a formal and solemn look, but subconsciously force the owners to correspond to this and keep themselves in a certain "palace tone" ". On the contrary, I strive for the home to promote relaxation, restoration of strength and mental balance."

Linen tablecloths, light walls, a decorative composition of dried flowers... The feelings evoked by this interior are described in the wabi-sabi philosophy as light melancholy or spiritual thirst, and in the understanding of northern countries, such a design borders on the concept of hygge. "Here there are associations with autumn - with its most warm, cozy, sun-filled, soft and particularly unhurried period," reflects Tetyana Denysenko.

The story of the project is not finished, the house is looking for new residents, but already now it can tell about many things and many people. When asked whether the author of the interior herself would like to live in such an apartment, Tanya answered in the affirmative: "Of course, this style is close to me. It is difficult to create something that is not familiar to you in spirit." She imagines: here she would make tea, place paintings, and on the bedside table she would keep the works of her favorite writers - Stefan Zweig, Prosper Mérimée and Niccolò Machiavelli...

Photo: Serhiy Savchenko

Text: Maria Golubka