It’s no secret that we’re fans of interiors with esthetic and pleasant atmospheres; where the colors, textures, furniture and objects create something that’s hard to replicate and can instantly influence the mood of the moment. However, when it comes to interiors, the focus is often on the project itself—here, we’d like to reverse this. We’ve rounded up some of the top-talented designers from the region who follow unique visions and are worth keeping on your radar for more than just a successful project.
The fifth episode features an eclectic Hungarian designer, a Czech and a Slovak studio.
Kilo/Honc | Slovakia
“We were childhood friends and neighbors, and we started skateboarding together. Then we both studied architecture, Kilo at an art school and Honč at a technical university. As friends, we tried out a few projects together, and after several internships in studios, we opened our own in 2016. We focus primarily on space, its relations, proportions, and the way of living. We think that we should stop chasing pleasure and stop raising our comfort level. We need to start living a more ordinary life, with fewer objects in our lives. We also need to reconsider traditional space arrangements and focus on the social aspect. Spending 95% of our time socializing means our projects are more open and transparent than usual. In our opinion, it’s okay to separate ourselves with just a curtain or a movable partition when we spend time alone,” shared Richard Kilo and Matej Honč.
The Svatlopuka project reinterpreted the typical layout of a 1950s apartment, emphasizing the importance of social interaction. The center of the apartment is the living room, which flows through to the kitchen, where, in a rather unconventional way, a fully open, curtained-off bathroom has been added.
Named 1903, the interior of a nearly 120-year-old house is all about simplicity, geometry and spatial experience. The dwelling is defined by transparent partitions with curtains that allow the full depth of the space to be perceived while also providing sufficient intimacy.
Next to the blue church is a weekend loft close to Bratislava’s historic center, overlooking a famous Art Nouveau monument, the Blue Church. The essence of the interior design concept was to capture the panorama and the atmosphere created by the interplay of light and shadow. The addition of the mezzanine floor transforms the studio into a full-fledged apartment, and the translucent glass block wall also allows sunlight into the kitchen area to make the space appear visually larger.
Anna Csupor | Hungary
Anna Csupor started out as an autodidact; originally, she studied psychology at university and then spent years working in fashion and organizing fashion shows. In the meantime, she started working on smaller interior design projects and that’s where she finally found what she really enjoys. She has also lived abroad with her children for a few years and for instance, she designed her first official Mosskito interior, the A10 apartment, entirely from abroad. Then in 2018, she won the Media Architecture Award for the Container House she designed for her parents, and a few weeks ago, she was awarded Interior Designer of the Year by Glamour.
“I don’t have a specific style that I follow; my interiors are pretty eclectic. But for me, it’s all about incorporating old furniture and objects into the interiors because I believe that an utterly modern apartment can never be really cozy. We also often start the process with the clients by going through their old belongings and family heirlooms. I am also passionate about scavenging and I’ve been collecting second-hand furniture from the street for thirty years now. When I’m thinking about a particular project, it happens that I fall in love with an old piece of furniture and then that becomes my starting point, but there are times when I’m looking for the perfect antique accessories specifically for the home,” Anna explained.
The starting point of the BS17 apartment is a bold color composition painted on the kitchen wall by Barbara Tóth. Instead of the traditional wallpaper solution, the painting steps out into the space, creating a rustic effect. Its colors are echoed throughout the interior, both in the figural mural in the living room and in the colors of the accessories and doors. Anna’s trademarks, the broken textures and the mixture of modern and vintage furniture are clearly visible.
The dominant feature of the A50 interior is the American kitchen, with its freestanding mezzanine and its original brick wall, where they have left traces of the old wiring. We can also find an old coffee grinder collection of 47 items in the kitchen; Anna hunted these for 15 years. Unique iron window frames in the mezzanine and the bathroom add to the rustic effect, which is balanced by selected design elements.
K53 in the city center is a real low-budget project, where the principle of simplicity prevails. The white-painted parquet floor and walls make the overall picture bright and clean, which, together with a mix of antique objects, or old and new paintings, creates an art-house atmosphere.
NO Architects | Czech Republic
Daniela and Jakub met at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague, where Jakub studied architecture and Daniela studied contemporary art. Jakub eventually specialized in architecture and also works as a publicist, while Daniela is still active in the art world, where she is mainly known for her installations, paintings and video art. “The core of No Architects studio is the cooperation between the architect and the visual artist. We are interested in sensitive and detail-oriented solutions that reflect the unique story of each client and potential project,” they claim.
The soft colors of The Black Portal are emphasized by the monumental black portal and black stove. The black frame resembles a stage because, according to NO Architects’ understanding, every home is a stage composition where life plays out.
Apartment Sixty-nine is designed for an art-loving family. The number sixty-nine is more than just a sexual reference: it reflects a painting by Vladimír Houdek, which is echoed, for example, on the kitchen cupboard doors, the specifically designed heating covers and other furniture. The shade of the wall covering behind the bookshelves is reminiscent of a painting by Josef Bolf, while the teardrop-shaped lamps reflect the elegant melancholy of the space. This is visually linked to Patrik Hábl’s Waterfall mural, which he painted on the opposite apartment block, visible from the living room window.
On the former shore of the Karlin Harbour is the On the Built-on Gallery with Lantern interior. The architects kept the Viennese ceiling, the sleek windows and the built-in gallery, while they were using interior design modifications to increase the usable floor space by almost a quarter. They were freely inspired by one of the architectural discourses of the first half of the 20th century, which was about possible combinations of pragmatic modernism and Czech national ornamentation. They put this issue in a contemporary context. They have been freely inspired by one of the architectural discourses of the first half of the 20th century, which was about possible combinations of pragmatic modernism and Czech national ornamentation. They put this issue in a contemporary context.
Kilo/Honc | Web | Facebook | Instagram
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