September 13, 2026 | DESIGN & INTERIORS
LIGHT in MOTION
words Elena Grabar
photos Sergey Ananyev
In her own Moscow apartment, interior designer Sofia Voznenko uses natural light, open perspectives and a carefully chosen mix of art and vintage design to create a home that shifts easily between family life and work.
OPENING THE PLAN
Interior designer Sofia Voznenko, founder of CASESTUDY, designed the apartment for herself, her husband and their two children. The existing architecture offered an unusual starting point: a bay window, ten windows facing three directions and three balconies overlooking a church, a square and historic Moscow buildings. Preserving this abundance of natural light became central to the project.
Once the existing partitions were removed, the living room’s bay window came into view directly from the entrance. Rather than interrupting this perspective with a conventional doorway, Voznenko designed an arched portal that separates the entrance hall from the living room while allowing light to travel further into the apartment.
The living room also became a passage between the children’s room and the home office, eliminating corridors and creating a generous shared area illuminated from three sides. Double doors connect the office with the primary bedroom, introducing another route through the apartment and allowing the two rooms to function together when needed.
In the entrance hall, mirrored storage reflects the bedroom and kitchen windows, visually expanding the narrow space and correcting its irregular geometry. Deep blue-green walls and ceiling form a backdrop for a still life by Maria Sapego and Sori Yanagi’s Butterfly stool for Vitra.
MIXING PERIODS
“When working on layouts, I always begin with the architecture,” says Voznenko. With furniture and lighting, however, she allows herself greater freedom, mixing periods, styles and countries. “Each project suggests its own language.”
A classical foundation of plaster ceiling mouldings, neutral walls and Finex chevron parquet runs throughout the apartment. New timber windows with marble sills replace historical originals that had been lost, while bespoke doors and the arched portal were designed specifically for the space, their proportions helping to emphasise the ceiling height.
The colour palette began with the family’s small art collection. Paintings by Renat Semyonov and Natalia Zanchevskaya and a photograph by Maria Sapego set its direction. The shared rooms remain light and restrained, while shades of green and aquamarine give the bedroom and home office a more intimate character.
VINTAGE AND BESPOKE
The bay window in the living room is centred around a Naan table by Cassina and vintage Cab chairs by Mario Bellini. Finding the right sofa proved more difficult: it needed to maintain the sightlines of the apartment’s enfilade without feeling too heavy against its classical architecture. Voznenko eventually chose the curved DS-470 transforming sofa by Thomas Althaus for De Sede and paired it with a rare light-coloured Marylin armchair by Draga & Aurel for Baxter.
In the home office, vintage MIM Italia armchairs by Ico Parisi sit alongside furniture designed by Voznenko and made by Vysotka Home. “Vintage pieces carry the energy of their creators and the traces of time,” Voznenko says. “This adds depth to an interior and allows its owners to express themselves through their choices.”
LIVING WITH ART
Through the double doors leading to the primary bedroom, Renat Semyonov’s Evening Herbs becomes part of the perspective, helping to create the intimate, sensual atmosphere Voznenko wanted for the room.
Textiles throughout the apartment were entrusted to Voznenko’s close friend, decorator Vasilina Gorodinskaya.
Designed for family dinners, work, reading and time together, the apartment also reflects Voznenko’s broader idea of sustainability: an interior whose architecture can remain relevant for years without significant alteration. Its openness allows the rooms to evolve over time, accommodating new art and vintage finds as well as changing ways of living.
