Fashion designer Masha Tsigal is one of the most prominent figures in the Russian fashion scene. As well as her apartment, which the owner designed together with the designer Ariadna Shmandurova.
Masha tsigal
Elle Decor: I haven’t seen anything like it for a long time! It’s amazing how organically you fit into your interior. It is not often possible to observe such a unity of the external and internal world! By the way, just today I reread one of your interviews. There was an interesting phrase: “I have always liked everything girlish: princesses, angels and fairies. My favorite designers since childhood were Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood. And no Chanel. ” This explains a lot…
Masha Tsigal: This explains nothing. Much has changed since that interview. I fell in love with Chanel and became much more relaxed about Gaultier and Westwood.
And yet the pale pink apartment suits you very much. However, the question arises: how do your men feel here – Senya’s son and especially her husband Nikita?
How should he feel?
Agree, there are not so many men who like to live in pink.
It is no coincidence that my husband is Nikita Nagibin. We have a lot in common: home, tastes, interests. Nikita and I chose paints together, painted the walls in the nursery, looked for furniture … We had arguments only twice. The first was during a discussion of the layout of the living room with round walls, which our designer Ariadne drew in response to the rounded wall of the house. Nikita believed that the circles eat up a lot of usable space, but then agreed that the apartment would look more interesting this way. The second controversy arose with the purchase of the IPE Cavalli semicircular sofa. It fits perfectly into the concept of an oval living room, but it is not very comfortable to lie on it and watch TV. We are thinking of solving this problem by purchasing beautiful floor pillows.
That is, do you disagree with the fact that the apartment turned out to be very “girlish”?
I do not think so. “Maiden” is when there are a lot of all kinds of vignettes, small roses, gilded cupids, etc. There is nothing like that here. In my opinion, the Empire-Baroque apartments of our oligarchs look much more “girlish”. You can feel adequate in them only if everyone is dressed in Venetian carnival costumes.
Every six months you release a new collection of clothes. Do you have a desire to update the interior with the same frequency?
No. First, I’m happy with it. This interior is in harmony with my inner world. It is no coincidence, for example, that an oval living room and furniture of soft streamlined shapes arose in it. In life, I always strive to avoid sharp corners. And secondly, someone who has experienced a repair at least once is unlikely to want to pass this test again in the near future (except for those people for whom repair is a profession).
Teach you how to survive the renovation. Do you have any recipes?
None. Repair is a completely spontaneous, uncontrolled story. In addition, at first we were very unlucky with the builders. Then, however, they were replaced by real pros: themselves – in smart overalls, walls and floor – in film, just like in a movie. With them, things immediately went smoothly.
Which room do you like best?
I like everything. But especially the bathroom. This is my personal spa, where the aromas are always fragrant, pleasant music plays and candles are lit. By the way, the bathtub itself is more like a mini-pool in size, where the whole family can climb in at the same time. Thanks to this, Senya learned to swim from the very first days.
By the way, how did you make it? Was it cast on the spot or ordered at the factory?
You’d better ask the designer about it.
Let’s ask.
Ariadna Šmandurova: The bowl was cast from concrete (right on the spot) and then decorated with mosaics. By the way, absolutely all surfaces are faced with tiles. I like to design small rooms “at one reception”, otherwise they turn out to be fractional.
What is it like to work with a customer-friend?
On the one hand, great. I knew better than anyone else what she liked. For example, the fact that the most significant space for Masha is the bathroom, for her it is much more important than the kitchen. Or the fact that Masha cannot live a day within the white walls. Its comfortable living environment is cheerful saturated colors. In this respect, our tastes coincided. For the past few years, I’ve been passionate about the vibrant design of the 1960s. Before the apartment I made several projects in this style. One “but”. Even before the start of work, I warned Masha that repairs are stressful and that conflicts are inevitable. And so, by the way, it happened. Several times we were on the verge of an argument. But, fortunately, everything ended well.