Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, WoodWabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Living Room, BeamWabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Bedroom, WindowsWabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Sofa, Windows, BeamWabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - More Images+ 12

  • Architects: Makhno Studio
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  200
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2019
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Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Wood
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

Task. To design a separate apartment for a young couple in a big family nest. To settle here emptiness and comfort, nature and technologies, passion and zen. Only wabi-sabi can do that.

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Living Room, Beam
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

Realization. We will start with not a classic description of the interior, but with things that make people live wabi-sabi. To live wabi-sabi means to live a simple, conscious life, in harmony with oneself, with all other harmonies coming in gradually. By the way, not a single Japanese can accurately explain the essence of this concept — it’s in their blood. Another version — they wouldn't want to as every family has its own understanding, which is kept secret far from the other families.

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Sofa
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

Planning is as simple as possible. A living room with a hidden kitchen, a bedroom with a hidden wardrobe, and a bathroom behind the glass. And two “hidden” words in a previous sentence were used on purpose. If you are about wabi-sabi, you need to forget about all the shelves with dozens of statuettes, even if one of them is a gift from your granny or your first love. Only closed storage areas. And if you really like that granny’s ceramic cat — it should be honored to be placed in the center of the room, not among dozens of statuettes alike. Because wabi-sabi is about the things that really matter to you.

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Chair
Courtesy of Makhno Studio
Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

Living room. The walls are in clay, the ceiling is in clay and wood, one of the four walls is a window. Japanese wabi-sabi way of life is a peaceful joy to accept the full life circle. From birth to death, from the point of greatest glory to complete decline. Therefore, the main décor element here is a 6-meter window with a view of the landscape that no matter what will come into the world and die. Again, and again.

The main composite element here is an ample sofa and a dining table. The blue-steel-legged table is a wart slab, whose bruises are healed with a polymer resin. Above the table, there are designer ceramic storm lamps KHMARA by MAKHNO products, when the rain has not yet begun and has not passed.

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Living Room, Windows, Bedroom, Bed
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

The ceramic vase designed by Serhii Makhno and Slavko Odarchenko was inspired by the work of the famous Japanese artist Shiro Tsujimura. Tinted oak on the wall — yes, this is where our hidden kitchen is. And the coffee tables are old willow stumps.

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Windows
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

Bedroom. When you accept things as they are and do not try to improve them, there is more time left to just enjoy these things. Imperfection is not something to be endured. It is an integral part of life we must learn to accept and celebrate.  A soft bed in the arms of designer lamps by MAKHNO Products, behind which is the same tinted oak that hides the wardrobe. All that is enough.

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Bedroom, Bed
Courtesy of Makhno Studio
Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Sofa, Windows, Beam
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

Bathroom. A glass wall, on the contrary, doesn’t hide the bathroom but gives it some air. It gives it a chance to be a full-fledged part of the space, not a soggy corner without windows. Here, there’s also clay on the walls — the whole space is like a canvas for the most talented artist — life.

Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio - Interior Photography, Bathroom, Windows, Wood, Sink, Countertop
Courtesy of Makhno Studio

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Project location

Address:Kyiv, Ukraine

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Wabi Sabi Apartment / Makhno Studio" 24 May 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1016981/wabi-sabi-apartment-makhno-studio> ISSN 0719-8884

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