In the footsteps of the old city. New interior of the Ruslan Baginskiy showroom by Ryna Lovko

Ruslan Baginskiy is a world-famous Ukrainian headwear brand founded by Ruslan Baginskiy from Lviv. Madonna, Natalya Vodianova, Bella Hadid, Irina Shayk, Sharon Stone, and other celebrities choose items from her own collections. Rina Lovko, architect and founder of the Rina Lovko Studio design studio, which has been located in a historical building built in 33-1895 for more than a year, recently renovated the brand's showroom in Kyiv at 1896 Pushkinskaya Street.

The Ruslan Baginskiy brand team is from Lviv, the cultural capital of Ukraine. They live and work in Kyiv, and consider Paris their third home. Therefore, for the author of the project, Ryna Lovko, it was important to combine the atmosphere of each of these three unique cities in the space. Thus, the idea arose to create an interior based on the motives of apartments in old European residential buildings.

"Everything was done in the shortest possible time, literally in three weeks," Rina says. — I specifically went to Lviv to be inspired by the old streets and houses, to remember what shades and materials were used there. And I realized, for example, that the facades and walls here are often covered with lime, a lot of calcareous material is used. Therefore, I took the same color as a basis, only a little lighter, more creamy."

When the mezzanine above the hall began to be cleaned of plaster, a concrete floor was discovered under it. We decided to leave it that way. "We wanted some carelessness," Rina comments. To the left of the hall there is a kitchen, a guest bathroom, a pantry, a small warehouse, and in front of it there is a meeting room. The corridor part leads to the main room. "I understood that Ruslan's collections are sewn seasonally and often mix with each other, there are also bright models, so a neutral background is necessary as much as possible. We covered the racks and shelves made of MDF with lime plaster, painted the walls with light ash paint with the addition of quartz chips, which gave it a pleasant roughness," says the designer.

Rina suggested turning one of the rooms into a meeting room for comfortable communication between VIP clients and Ruslan's team. "Here, we made showcases and shelves made of veneer and solid walnut for accessories, models from last year's collections, which made it even more similar to the atmosphere of the apartment. By the way, two black wooden chairs came from the house of Lviv architect Roman Shpelik. He brought them from Europe, and his masters made copies in oak, and we painted them black," the author shares. In the center of the room, attention is drawn to the elegant wooden chandelier "Spirits", made to order by the world-renowned artist Vasyl Hrublyak, and below it - a black table from Poliform.

A huge round mirror is the visual accent of the main room. Ego is visible from the hall - the visitor immediately understands where to go. The mirror visually makes the room larger and gives customers the opportunity to see themselves in full height, trying on and choosing headwear. "The molding you see on the ceiling," Rina says, "is not historical. In 1962, the house was reconstructed, the concrete floors were replaced, and all the stucco was completely knocked down. When Ruslan came here four years ago, he specially ordered it. We embellished and aged this molding, as if we dusted it, for which we specially invited an artist. He slightly darkened both the ego and the corners, due to which the depth of the pattern, shadows, and the effect of antiquity appeared. At the entrance to the room there was an arch at the level of the door, we made it higher and specially smoothed the corners, as it was done in the distant past. The window openings here are also arched, with smooth corners. I even wanted them to be even more crooked, but too good builders were found. By the way, the doors leading to other rooms were also aging."

Almost all the new furniture in the interior is made to order. For example, a large oval table in the center of the main hall is intended for the demonstration of headdresses. "It is covered with Kerakoll material," Rina shares. — At first, they thought to paint it black, but when I saw the rough, speckled texture of the material, I decided to leave it as it is, and it echoes the texture of the walls. Ruslan originally wanted to use cubes in space. We made them according to an individual order and covered them with lime plaster, which visually harmonizes with the stone of Lviv's historical buildings. And the material for the green marble blocks, which are combined with the Saba sofa of a similar shade, was found at one of the marble warehouses, and local masters made them very precisely for us. They also made a rack for displaying models. They thought about him for a long time, until Ruslan said: "Let's get one like yours!" He visited my office and saw a similar one. But that massive one, made of pine timber. It wouldn't fit here, so we made it from thin walnut slats and glass, which added "air" between the shelves, and attached it to the wall."

"I would call working with Ruslan a collaboration between two design studios," Rina adds. — He is a very talented creative person who invents items for his collections himself. Ruslan has an excellent team - they really are like one family. It is easy to negotiate with him, he understands everything, that is, we speak the same language. Synergy!"

Text: Nadezhda Bogataya

Photo: Yevgeny Avramenko