February 27, 2020

Text: Jesse Dorris

Golden Heads Plays with Irregular Geometry to Customize a Moscow Apartment

A coffered ceiling defines the living area, which is floored with a parquet pattern Kasparyan first assembled in a full-size floor model at her workshop. Photography by Sergey Ananiev.

In Patriarch Ponds, a fashionably verdant neighborhood in central Moscow, two roads meet at a strange angle. There, at the corner of Spiridonovka Street and Vspolny Lane, stands an apartment building that embraces what Anastasia Kasparyan, founder of Russian design firm Golden Heads, calls “the broken geometry of the walls.”

A custom chest of drawers sits in the hallway, with black-and-white mosaic floors by Artstone. Photography by Sergey Ananiev.

A married couple enlisted Kasparyan to reckon with this geometry for their 1,300-square-foot apartment. She did them one better, turning the irregular layout into its strength. “We placed the regular-shaped rooms on the left side,” she says, “bringing the sharp corners to the column in the center of the apartment, where the living room is located. This turned the space into a semicircle. The living room then becomes the center and heart of the house.”

A stained-glass shelving system, custom made by Kasparyan in a tribute to the Eiffel Tower, not only houses the client’s prized porcelain collection but also divides the kitchen and hallway. Photography by Sergey Ananiev.

Custom furniture and finishes, including a stained-glass shelf with Eiffel Tower-esque lattices and stucco moldings referencing the old facades of Moscow, add character. In the kitchen and hallway, the team added marble to the custom parquet, transforming the floors into a black and white mosaic. And while that hallway might not be shaped in crisp right angles, its shape allowed for what Kasparayan calls “deep niches” for lighting and furniture. “The complex location of the walls, in addition to the difficulties,” she says, “brought us good luck.”

In the master bathroom, Kasparyan painted the ceiling and walls in a deep jungle motif, with a stark white marble console integrating dual sinks. Photography by Sergey Ananiev.
Custom storage and Cole & Son’s Geometric collection wallpaper line a dressing area. Photography by Sergey Ananiev.
A bas-relief inspired by Henri Rousseau’s paintings cover the bedroom walls; each individual twig and feather were sculpted by hand over the course of four months. Photography by Sergey Ananiev.

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