An Interior as Cultural Composition: Inside Alexander Tischler’s Artistic Apartment in Yekaterinburg

Some interiors are designed to be lived in. Others are composed to be experienced. This two-bedroom apartment in Yekaterinburg, realised between 2023 and 2025 by the Alexander Tischler design company under the creative direction of Karen Karapetian, belongs firmly to the latter category.

Created for a successful businesswoman with a passion for contemporary design, the 113 m² residence reads less like a conventional home and more like a carefully orchestrated narrative. Every spatial decision, material choice, and object placement contributes to a broader dialogue between art, functionality, and emotional presence. The brief was clear from the outset: to create a statement interior capable of hosting, gathering, and inspiring.

The story begins, fittingly, with an object. A dining table whose legs appear dressed in fine stockings became the catalyst for the entire interior language. Discovered in a showroom, it immediately established a tone of playful sophistication. Paired with chairs by Marcel Wanders, the dining area sets the emotional register of the apartment: theatrical, expressive, and unapologetically artistic. A dark crimson chest of drawers nearby continues the visual conversation, its illuminated circular compartment and patterned interior revealing the designers’ fascination with hidden detail and layered discovery.

Rather than allowing the space to fragment, Alexander Tischler expanded the kitchen-living area, creating a fluid central zone anchored by colour, curvature, and tactility. Fabric wallpapers from Arte transform the walls into a pictorial backdrop, opening the room onto a Tuscan landscape that feels both illusory and intimate. In the midst of this openness, a single load-bearing column remains, not concealed but celebrated. Wrapped with a sculptural wooden shelving system from Mogg, it becomes both structural and symbolic, a reminder that constraints often sharpen design intelligence.

Furniture selection throughout the apartment leans toward pieces that encourage human interaction. A rounded sofa by Bonaldo curves inward, subtly guiding occupants toward conversation rather than isolation. Opposite it, a Glas Italia coffee table refracts light in shifting colours, its prismatic surface echoed elsewhere in the home as a recurring visual motif. These elements function less as isolated statements and more as recurring themes within a broader composition.

The kitchen continues this logic of cohesion and contrast. Ash veneer cabinetry grounds the space, while mustard-yellow handle profiles echo the sofa’s hue and a raspberry-toned wall cabinet references the adjacent wallpaper. Importantly, colour here is never decorative alone; it is structural. Even the reduced-height cabinet, functioning discreetly as a range hood, reinforces the sense that playfulness and technical precision are not opposing forces.

Lighting becomes another narrative layer. A Tiffany-hued glass chandelier by Karman, named Ceraunavolta, introduces a note of retro poetry. Its presence bridges past and present, reinforcing the apartment’s broader interest in memory, reinterpretation, and cultural continuity.

Movement through the home is carefully choreographed. The entryway flows seamlessly into the living area through consistent material choices, while mirrors, consoles, and colour accents extend the visual language without repetition. In the guest bathroom, holographic porcelain tiles from 41zero42 introduce a subtle echo of the living room’s reflective surfaces, while ribbed glass doors recur as a unifying architectural gesture.

The private areas shift in tone but not intention. The guest bedroom is calmer, restrained, yet still punctuated by bold colour. The primary suite, however, becomes a study in intimacy and spatial intelligence. By reconfiguring circulation, the designers created a secluded zone comprising bedroom, walk-in closet, and bathroom. A relief panel with abstract figures, created with the involvement of a guest artist, anchors the bedroom emotionally, its monochrome texture counterbalancing the terracotta headboard.

Transparency plays a critical role here. Ribbed glass partitions allow light to travel freely while maintaining privacy, culminating in one of the project’s most quietly radical gestures: a television mounted directly onto a glass partition without brackets. Technically precise and visually seamless, the solution exemplifies the studio’s willingness to rethink convention when it interferes with spatial clarity.

The master bathroom continues the language of fluidity and colour. Green-blue porcelain stoneware in varying finishes responds dynamically to daylight, while gradients, curves, and reflective surfaces dissolve the boundaries between architecture and object. Accessories from Kartell and jewel-like furnishings reinforce the sense that even functional spaces deserve emotional resonance.

Ultimately, this apartment is not defined by any single object or room, but by its consistency of vision. Alexander Tischler’s approach, led by Karen Karapetian, demonstrates how interior design can operate as cultural authorship rather than decoration. It is an interior that trusts the viewer, invites interpretation, and rewards attention. A home that does not shout, but confidently speaks in layers.