- Interior
With Studio Breivo, the Russian designer Ksenia Breivo designs interiors that always radiate a laid-back elegance. She creates spaces where you can't help but feel good, and that is certainly the case in this Moscow flat. A certain playfulness in the design should allow the residents, even though they are adults, to relax completely and make them feel like kids again, without a worry in the world.
Studio Breivo's projects range from an office in London or an apartment in the centre of Moscow to a remote villa in the mountains. However, these cannot always be described by the same and well-defined style. Breivo finds it difficult to define specific styles because their boundaries have vanished over the years. That is why she prefers to be guided by the concept of casual or laid-back elegance, adding elements of tranquillity to every architectural space she tackles. ‘It's not a style, it's a feeling that you get,’ she explains. 
The Moscow flat we are highlighting here has been nicknamed 'the dreamers'. Designer Ksenia Breivo explains the idea behind the project - an attic flat or mansard - as follows: ‘I thought of my childhood when I went up to my granny’s mansard and spent my time there daydreaming. I smoothed out all the sharp angles that dictated the architecture and made the whole space softer, added a lot of the streamlined shapes that kill the aggressiveness of angles and give a sense of infinity and dimensionless of the space.’
Relax completely and feel like a kid again.
In this way, Breivo wants to give residents the chance to feel like children again, to be able to relax completely and not have to worry about the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The customer also wanted to create a lounge area, a place for informal get-togethers or just to stay for short periods. The interior design and the furniture and decorative items respond to this perfectly. ‘It’s a game, a childhood dream, so the objects are childish, infantile, playful. It’s actually a trend that shows how early the young designers started to study and that they haven’t played enough. And also how adults wish to come home and take off their office attire and get to feel like kids again,’ says the founder of Studio Breivo.
We see, among others, a lamp by The Invisible Collection that looks a bit like balloons, an armchair and sofa by Christophe Delcourt, a rug designed by Damine Langlois-Meurinne, tables by Arteplus, a painting by Oleg Doe and a floor lamp by Eric Schmitt. These also fit in perfectly with the palette of colours and materials, about which the designer says: ‘It is the colour palette of air, the clouds floating over the sky of Moscow. I played with white-on-white, almost without any other colour pops. Working with shapes and volumes, I found out what gives that beautiful sense of dimensionlessness: the absence of visible boundaries between the floor and the ceiling.’ 
Breivo does admit that making the space functional was a small challenge. The mansard is in a historic building that had already been renovated, so a contemporary design concept did fit in. It was also the designer's task to make sure that all the shapes came into their own here. In our opinion, she succeeded very well in doing so!
Curious about more projects by Studio Breivo? Keep an eye on the summer edition of Imagicasa magazine, because in this issue we will publish an extensive interview with Ksenia Breivo about her studio and another inspiring project.
Images courtesy of Studio Breivo
3D visuals and co-desiger: Daniil Arseev