The granddaughter of the ex-president of Georgia, Sofiko Shevardnadze, was born in Tbilisi, lived in Paris, Boston and New York, and eventually settled in Moscow, which she considers the best city on Earth. And that’s why…
Sofiko Shevardnadze – host of the English-language TV channel Russia Today, Master of Journalism at New York University (NYU). In her free time she writes articles, speaks on the radio, does Georgian dances or stands at the stove, conjuring over Georgian and French dishes. They say it turns out magically!
Sofiko shevardnadze
ELLE DECOR: Sofiko, why did you choose Moscow from all cities in the world – covered with dirty snow, paralyzed by traffic jams …
Sofiko Shevardnadze: My parents were also surprised to learn that I was leaving Paris, where my family lives, and leaving for Moscow. This is a phenomenal city, interesting, lively, in it, unlike New York, you can still do something, become a part of some new process. Here I feel like a fish in water. After all, the Russians are dearer to me than the French or the Americans. And as for snow, snow – this is Moscow. I love it when frost blows on the street: you go out, take a breath and feel yourself filling with new life.
It’s unusual to see you without makeup and without diamonds. Have you decided to part with the image of a socialite?
I hate this phrase. I am a serious journalist and certainly not a lioness. Sometimes I go to “Swets” parties, but for me this is not the goal of life, but the easiest way to meet my childhood friends. It just so happened that many of them belong to the circle of the so-called elite. Believe me, most of the time I look exactly like in this photo. As, in fact, my apartment. See, she’s also “no makeup and no diamonds.”
How did you choose the apartment?
For a long time. The search was complicated by the fact that I knew for sure that I wanted to live in the old house on Patriarch’s, and did not agree to anything else. This is one of the few places in Moscow where neighbors have not yet forgotten how to communicate and where there are still pleasant places for walking. Even on the gloomiest unlucky day, when I seem to be ready to shoot myself from these traffic jams, smoke and human aggression, I just turn to Malaya Bronnaya and … forget about everything.
The walls are decorated with works by Georgian artists. One of them is Nikolai Ignatov.
Sofiko really wanted a large soft sofa upholstered in burgundy velvet in the living room. He was found at the Giorgetti company. Above the sofa is a painting by Irakli Sutidze, painted especially for this interior. Doors with blind transoms extending to the very ceiling are made to order.
How did you choose your interior designer?
Georgy Chaushba is my childhood friend. I asked him to make an interior similar to me. He immediately understood everything and did what I wanted. This could not have been done by any other, even the most ingenious, but unfamiliar architect.
A full-fledged kitchen block is located under the windowsill.
Living room combined with kitchen, stove, Ascot. The low table is both a coffee table and a dining table. The work of Irakli Sutidze hangs over the Yenisei piano.
Georgy Chaushba, interior designer
“I immediately liked this apartment: high ceilings (3,6 m), bright (6 windows by 76 sq. M), in an old house (built in 1914). The only drawback is the inconvenient linear layout, but I managed to fix it and even agree in endless instances. I am very careful about antiquity. Therefore, I began not so much with the interior design as with the restoration. We took casts of the remains of the papier-mâché ceiling molding and made the same one out of plaster. The only surviving radiator was measured and the missing ones were cast in its likeness, the old brickwork and the brass ventilation grilles tightly filled with paint were cleaned. The apartment is small by Moscow standards. So the experience of studying and living in France was very useful to me. Parisians know how to squeeze the maximum out of every centimeter – turn window sills into sofas, hide storage systems under them, make roomy wardrobes out of narrow technical niches, squeeze dressing rooms into places where it would seem impossible to get through. There are a lot of such tricks in this apartment. This would not have been possible without the built-in furniture made according to my sketches. In general, a lot of things are mixed here. You can hear the echoes of the French, Georgian and Russian traditions – everything from which Sofiko’s life is woven. ”
The project was carried out with the participation of the architect Daria Rumyantseva.
Are there any things from your childhood here?
No. I am against dragging things with me. My childhood was spent in Georgia, there were also things. Everything in this apartment is new, with the exception of the Yenisei piano, which the previous owners left for me to throw away. But I’m not a beast to send such a lovely creature to the trash heap. It waited for me for a long nine months while the builders hammered the walls and made repairs. Now I play it. And I am glad, and it is glad.
Milky glass lamp in the spirit of the 1920s, Ralph Lauren Home, purchased from the Park Avenue showroom.
Curtains with a slight yellowish tint create the effect of a sunlit room in any weather. Two contrasting canvases are joined at the level of the windowsill.
The bathroom is one of Sofiko’s favorite rooms. Sink, Villeroy & Boch. Mixer, Hansgrohe. Luminaires were purchased in the Lege Alto showroom.
How strong is your love for natural materials? Could, for example, plastic windows appear in your apartment?
No!!! I absolutely need to have massive wooden windows, plaster moldings, normal tiles, a real oak floor, on which I like to walk barefoot.
The bedroom and the dressing room are separated by a wooden partition with stained glass windows. Bed, Giorgetti. Table, Andrew Martin.
The old windows were replaced with new ones, keeping the frame pattern.
What is your favorite place in the house?
I know this will sound trite, but I love everything. And the table in the bedroom, at which I type, reflect, look out the window onto a quiet courtyard with paths stretching into the distance. And the kitchen, which Georgy prudently equipped with a professional stove. I love trying on outfits in my light-flooded dressing room or lounging in bed and reading a book. And also the bathroom …
But is there anything you don’t like?
Well … I was a little confused by the gray color of the walls. If I am ever going to change something in this interior, I will bleach the walls. Or maybe I won’t touch them either. I feel so good at home, you can’t even imagine!
Both the bathroom and the dressing room have windows. This is the result of redevelopment.
The table, which is a continuation of the window sill, was made according to the sketches of Georgy Chaushba.
Not a single centimeter was wasted. Where there used to be a closed door to the back staircase, a spacious sliding wardrobe appeared. Behind it there is a pantry for storing a vacuum cleaner and other things needed in the household. All built-in furniture in the apartment is made by Rubicon.