Ukrainian industrial and interior designer Daria Zinovatnaya has never been one to be afraid of experimenting with color and geometry. Her products, hotels, restaurants, and apartment interiors are often dynamic compositions that bring to mind the paintings of Piet Mondrian or Wassily Kandinsky, with a good of measure of Memphis-style quirkiness.

Naturally, the 807-square-foot apartment she recently designed for a client in Oslo, Norway, is no exception. Due to the home's compact size and unusual layout, Zinovatnaya decided to split the space into three zones.

Now, the living, dining, and kitchen areas are located in the first zone, a master bedroom and bathroom occupy the second zone, and a guest bedroom and bathroom are contained within the third.

The aesthetics for the apartment were inspired by French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier, and the home has been dubbed CORB as a tribute.

“The inspiration came to me when I studied the work of Le Corbusier," Zinovatnaya explains, as she had studied works of the acclaimed designer during the year she worked on the apartment. "Playing with colors and shapes resulted in a very unique and graphic space,” she adds.

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She used Benjamin Moore paint for the color-blocked surfaces, terra-cotta colored tiles for the kitchen backsplash, and a wine-colored “tile-carpet” under the dining table.

The apartment’s original windows were restored and painted during the redesign, and self-leveling concrete was integrated for the floors. Many of the large furniture items—such as the dining table, which was fashioned after the clean shapes and lines seen in Le Corbusier’s Villa La Roche in Paris—were also custom-designed.

“My clients, in one way or another, are connected with creativity. They are ready for experiments. Before I begin designing, I play with colors and shapes to find balance. The goal of CORB was to use color and a variety of shapes to create interesting compositional decisions,” notes Zinovatnaya.

Project Credits:

Interior and lighting design: Zinovatnaya / @zinovatnaya

Architects: Nadezhda Babenko and Mikhail Kopytko

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