At the end of 2022, Kassym Baimukhametov was living in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, when he encountered a problem that many people are familiar with: the rent was damn high.
“I decided to buy my own apartment because rental prices have increased,” said Mr. Baimukhametov, 38, who works as a project manager in business and technology. “The universe gave me signs.”
Instead of paying rent, he decided to invest in real estate. Since he didn't need much space, he started looking for studio apartments and found a 388 square meter new apartment for 31.5 million Kazakh tenge (US$60,000). It closed in February 2023.
“I felt small,” he admitted. “But it was a good price and a good location in the center of the city.”
The box-shaped room had a low ceiling, small windows and was essentially featureless, but that didn't bother Mr. Baimukhametov. “It was completely empty, which made it perfect for me,” he said. “I wanted to have a design the way I wanted it so we wouldn’t have to do any demolition work.”
For help transforming it into a personalized home, he turned to Fariz Mamedov, 27, the founder of FM Interiors and an acquaintance he followed on Instagram. Mr. Baimukhametov had seen the young designer enthusiastically renovating his own apartment, and he wanted to work with someone who would bring a similar energy to his home.
After touring the empty apartment, Mr. Mamedov returned with drawings for no fewer than six different interior design options. “I chose the very first one,” Mr. Baimukhametov said. “We were in sync. I needed four areas – a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and some bedroom space – and that was included in the very first drawing.”
Of course, it wasn't just about dividing the space into separate functions. Both Mr. Baimukhametov and Mr. Mamedov wanted to give the apartment some serious style.
“My heart beats for Scandinavian design,” Mr. Mamedov said in Russian, with Mr. Baimukhametov translating on his behalf.
Mr. Baimukhametov is a fan of Japanese design, which has many parallels with Scandinavian design, including an emphasis on clean sculptural forms. “We fit together,” he said.
Where they differed, Mr. Mamedov said, was in their thoughts on color. Specifically, Mr. Baimukhametov began the design process with a relaxed color palette of muted neutrals in mind, while Mr. Mamedov wanted to jazz up the home with bold hues.
In the end, Mr. Mamedov won. As the project progressed, “I basically approved every idea he suggested,” Mr. Baimukhametov said.
To create separate zones, Mr. Mamedov built walls around a corner sleeping area, which is accessed through an arched doorway from the living room and can be covered with curtains for privacy. One of the walls is thick enough to accommodate a closet in the sleeping area and a closet by the front door on the opposite side.
In the bathroom, Mr. Mamedov added another arched opening between the vanity and the tub. He installed mirrored doors in both the entrance hall and kitchen to reflect sunlight and give the rooms more visual depth.
But it was the use of color that became Mr. Mamedov's most effective visual trick. By selecting sculptural furniture in bold hues, he wanted to create an environment in which Mr. Baimukhametov's guests would be so taken with the objects that they would almost forget the room's Lilliputian dimensions.
“I used iconic furniture from Scandinavia to draw attention to these pieces,” Mr. Mamedov said. “The guests’ focus is not on the size of the apartment itself, but on individual objects.”
These pieces include a bright yellow Ekstrem lounge chair in Norwegian designer Terje Ekstrøm's living room that looks like it was formed from fabric tubes.
Between the kitchen and living room there is a compact round dining table with a tabletop made of recycled plastic bottle caps, illuminated by a Hive pendant lamp by Verner Panton and furnished with different chairs by Fritz Hansen and Hay in yellow, red and light blue. There's also a troupe rug by Jaime Hayon for Nanimarquina, depicting otherworldly characters in a riot of color.
After construction began in May 2023, the dirty work was completed in September and furniture continued to arrive until January 2024. The total cost, including furniture, was approximately 27 million Kazakh tenge (US$51,500).
Compared to his old rental apartment, Mr. Baimukhametov's compact new home is a significant improvement in lifestyle. “I love it,” he said. “Sometimes I just stand there and ask myself, 'Is this my apartment?' I can’t believe it because it’s everything I wanted.”