Nowadays architect Nata Tatunashvili in her office
RUBRIK "ROOM"dedicated to the place in which a person spends most of his time. It can be absolutely any space: a huge kitchen in which the hero works and rests, an art gallery that has become the second home of its owner, or just a living room in a one-room apartment, which is at the same time office, bedroom and secret place. The space in which a person is able to concentrate on himself and his affairs and not feel himself a participant in the eternal race of a big city. In our new issue - architect Nata Tatunashvili and the founder of the bureau Nowadays in her office.
Prior to this bureau, we worked mainly in my apartment - close by, in Afanasyevsky Lane. We had a very homely atmosphere, and so everyone was terribly afraid to move to the office. Were worried that it would bring down our usual rhythm and we would be uncomfortable.
We searched for the premises for a very long time - it was important for us to stay in the same area. When found, I took it as a compromise: although it is not an office of a dream, it is more than an apartment. We thought that we would somehow survive, and agreed to it intuitively. The fact that this space turned out to be so cool was already discovered during the repair process. We really work a lot, both on weekends and at night. Sometimes we do not leave here at all. Therefore, it is especially important for us to maintain the feeling of home.
About repair
It should be understood that in this space there were initially eight rooms: it was divided into many very small rooms. All the walls were covered with plastic clapboard, and the ceilings were one meter lower than they are now. It looked all frankly bad, but when we started to demolish the partitions and peel the walls, we saw what was hidden. Bricks, concrete walls, strange passages, cracks and unrealistically high ceiling. We ourselves did not expect.
Our chairman of the HOA, who rents out the room, is very worried about everything. When we did the repairs - a little longer than planned - she was also nervous, not understanding why we pay for the rent and do not drive. At some point, she decided to see how the construction goes. She called me and said anxiously: "Natasha, you probably have not seen - they are deceiving you, they are not doing any repairs here!" In our understanding, it was such a repair: remove all unnecessary and point to add a couple of white walls.
About furniture
It was very important for us to feel that we can spend a lot of time here and not feel discomfort. This influenced the choice of furniture. When we moved here five of us, we had a stove bench, which is more than three times the current one: many people used to work with a laptop on their knees, and it was a full-fledged workplace. Unfortunately, due to the fact that there are more of us and we no longer fit, we had to almost completely remove this place. We cannot completely abandon this kind of work and, honestly, we periodically rest on it.
Our large antique table allows us to be more united: we put it in the center to sit together. He got to us from the same place, from where the wooden antique chairs: from the teahouse of our friends who had moved. Soft colored chairs brought our friend from St. Petersburg. He has his own company, Electric Сhair, which sells vintage furniture by famous Scandinavian designers. Often the items come in small sets: we started from one and cannot stop. They are all different, and we like it. Now finding an unusual chair not for cosmic money is a rarity.
Almost all the lamps we made a friend, artist Masha Fedorova. She loves working with metal and makes a lot of beautiful things out of it. With her, for example, we designed interior items for the Iskra cafe. Their accessories from coarse metal — lamps, hooks, accessories, cans — are her handiwork. This is an important moment of settling the place. When there are hand-made things in a cafe or bar, it makes the space warmer around.
About little things
The main set of all the little things all the time follows me on the heels - they used to be at home, then in the workshop; now everything has moved here. I tend to overgrow with "garbage." We periodically make a revision, remove some layer of things, but again it is recruited and turns into a small mess. We must gradually clear it. On the other hand, at the expense of these trifles, we again manage to maintain comfort.
We work a lot with texture, color and are very meticulous about the decorative part. We select many samples of materials and compare them right in the office. In the near future we plan to make an exhibition space in the basement, because here they began to put some pressure on us - gradually all the samples will move there.
The library is also very important to us. At first she was my home, and then she became office, which we all replenish together. On the one hand, we collect books on related work, on the other, simply beautifully made object books, printing products. We collect both. Everywhere we bring them and order on Amazon.
