{"id":2291,"date":"2025-01-02T07:51:20","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T23:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2025\/01\/02\/kitchen-of-the-week-in-kazakhstan-emerging-designer-fariz-mamedovs-ode-to-blue-and-white\/"},"modified":"2025-01-02T07:51:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T23:51:20","slug":"kitchen-of-the-week-in-kazakhstan-emerging-designer-fariz-mamedovs-ode-to-blue-and-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/it\/kitchen-of-the-week-in-kazakhstan-emerging-designer-fariz-mamedovs-ode-to-blue-and-white\/","title":{"rendered":"La cucina della settimana in Kazakistan: L'ode al blu e al bianco del designer emergente Fariz Mamedov"},"content":{"rendered":"

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How does a 28-year-old from a small town in Kazakhstan become an in-demand interior designer with projects featured in The New York Time<\/em>s and AD?<\/em> \u201cAm I really a designer? Is this real?\u201d asks Fariz Mamedov. \u201cIt feels like a fairytale.\u201d<\/p>\n

An understandable response: not so long ago, Fariz explains, he was singing in a boy band, playing piano and bayan (Russian accordion), and teaching voice lessons to children while shoehorning in journalism studies at university. Things went well enough that he was able to buy an apartment for his parents and younger sister so they could join him in Almaty, Kazakhstan\u2019s largest city, majestically situated in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains\u2014a 13-hour drive south of where he grew up.<\/p>\n

Fariz took on pulling together his family\u2019s new apartment himself. Always drawn to design, he had decorated a room in his grandmother\u2019s place as a kid and was feeling ready for a new creative outlet. Thoroughly engaged by the process, Fariz started posting his work. Before he knew it, he not only had a following but his first clients. That led to his own small firm, FM Interiors, a portfolio, representation by an American publicist (he cold-called Karine Moni\u00e9 after another designer thanked her on social media), and the aforementioned articles. \u201cInterior design,\u201d Fariz tells us, \u201chas become not just a profession but my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Remodelista, without knowing any of this, we took note of  Fariz\u2019s website (courtesy of Karine) and were intrigued by a pied-\u00e0-terre in Almaty that he designed for empty nesters. In particular, we liked the apartment\u2019s blue-trimmed kitchen with ventilated cupboards, a caf\u00e9 table, and a hard-to-pinpoint mashup of references. Currently at work on a house for these same clients, Fariz was happy to fill us in on the project.<\/p>\n

Photographs by Damir Otegen, courtesy of Fariz Mamedov\/FM Interiors (@farizmamedov_interiors), styled by Aigerim Mamyraliyeva and Fariz Mamedov.<\/p>\n


Above: Located in a new building, the apartment was raw space with no walls when Fariz was called in. He used folding glass doors to link the living room and kitchen, and says he wanted the latter to feel \u201cboth light and characterful: I initially planned to paint it blue to match the doors and cornices, but as the design evolved, we decided to go with softer tones to keep the view from the living room airy.\u201d 
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Above: \u201cI wanted to create an interior on the verge of Parisian chic, Scandinavian restraint, and Kazakh hospitality,\u201d Fariz continues. Toward that end, the cabinets, cupboards, and island were all custom built to his design and the oak floor is herringbone parquet.
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Above: The sink counter, backsplash, and island are topped with quartz stone\u2014\u201dit\u2019s highly durable and wear-resistant, two key requests from my client,\u201d says Fariz. He used paint from Danish brand Fl\u00fcgger on the walls: Offwhite and Museum Blue. Note the stove hood \u201cintegrated into a plaster enclosure.\u201d<\/span>,<\/p>\n


Above: The island\u2019s Blue Pendant Lamps are a Morten & Jonas design from Northern of Oslo and the felt-upholstered Pipi Stools by Robert Paoli are from MIDJ.<\/p>\n


Above: The fridge is concealed behind tall cabinets.
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Above: The cabinets also hide useful built-in storage. They\u2019re composed of MDF, \u201cchosen for its versatility and smooth finish, which allows for a flawless coat of paint.\u201d
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Above: The pantry doors as well as the fridge and stove baseboard have old-fashioned ventilation holes. The glass-fronted cabinet was custom made by a local craftsman to hold tableware and \u201chide the service hatch for gas maintenance.\u201d For something similar see Remodelista Reconnaissance: Fluted Glass Cabinets, High\/Low Edition.
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Above: Thonet hairpin bentwood chairs surround the table. The hanging light is Gubi\u2019s Satellite Pendant, a 1953 design by Mathieu Mat\u00e9got.
Above: Around the corner, Fariz created a pocket laundry room with built-in cabinets and Spanish encaustic tiles from Cerlat. Of his career pivot, Fariz writes on his website: \u201cMusic and design go hand in hand for me: in each project I create a unique melody in which hundreds of semitones merge to tell a new, unique story.\u201d <\/p>\n

More kitchens with blue accents and ventilation holes:<\/p>\n