There are people who appear in your life by accident. And there are those meeting which forms your life. During one wonderful moment, Olga appeared in my life and changed it. And she changed it in such a way that I would never even dream of. And my dream was to live in the center of Moscow, but it was to be a real British home, a provincial Victorian apartment filled with the British spirit, old-fashioned comfort and unhurried life of several generations. And, what a miracle, Olga bravely grasped this crazy idea in spite of the fact that we had nothing but a standard new Moscow development at our disposal. The only thing that could be called British in it were huge windows looking out into the park and free layout offering room for creation.

I recall my cooperation with Olga in that project as the most happy and inspiring period of my life. With fascination we looked through my belongings accumulated during my travels all over the world: old carpets from Afghanistan, vintage silver doodads from London, sandalwood figurines from India, vintage porcelain. And the photographs of my grand-grannies and grand-granddads on yellowed paper. Olga examined everything carefully, asked questions, listened to my answers and took notes. On the next day, she brought piles of magazines and books on design. We leafed through them, argued, dreamed, selected every detail… And then, just in a few days, Olga created a project, and I immediately fell in love with it. Olga did an impossible thing: she was able to see and recreate my dreams in intricate details. And it wasn’t just the general outline of it or a sketch, it was complex architectural and engineering solutions. Olga proved to be both a wonderful designer and a skillful architect. And a brilliant companion and friend. And now, thanks to Olga Kudrina, I’ve got a place of power where I’m always happy to return and which I always leave with regret. My home is not just my shelter or my fortress. It is a part of my personality, my way of life, the embodiment of the philosophy of my life. I have no idea how Olga was able to achieve it, even now. So, when I decided to furnish my countryside home, I had no alternative – my project went to Olga again…

K. A. Dybsky,
Seven Days Publishers, CEO

There is always a place where we want to come back. To our Home. It is waiting for us every day, hugging us cozily. It is not really big, but every inch of it is carefully planned, with every wish for the apartment come true, and with the correct place for every little thing we cherish.

When you create a picture of the repairs you dream of, you usually imagine the color of curtains and the shape of your sofa. And only having lived in the apartment for almost a year, you realize how important could an absolutely brilliant (especially for our modest size) planning, functional zoning, well-equipped spaces for storage (of everything), carefully installed lighting, individual placement of bathroom equipment and electricity, correctly selected in-built furniture be.

We were happy to have Olga around during our repairs as she, besides impeccable taste and well-earned professionalism, has tremendous knowledge and experience covering the ergonomics of space. Before we saw her first drafts, we never suspected what could be done with our tiny place and within our small modest budget, and in such short time, and how comfortable it would be after that! And she was able to take into consideration all our wishes, our way of life, our needs and dreams.

You come in, your right hand drops the keys on the drawer unit, while your left hand taps the switch placed right on the level of your hand. You hang your trench coat in the wardrobe, check your hair in front of the mirror and enter the room admiring at the same time the panorama of the spring sunset opening from your sofa.

It is so simple and it is so complicated. This could only be learned by comparison when, during vacation, you move into some interior selected on Pinterest. It looks so stylish, but you have to stretch your hand to reach the switch, there are too few sockets to charge both the batteries, and the phone, and in the bathroom your legs hit the drawer unit when you stand in front of the mirror. And then you miss your own Home.

It is worthwhile to spend your time looking for a professional who will fall in love with your flat during the repairs, just as you love it. To achieve the materialization of your ideas in real life with their help, and then feel happy to return to this ‘your own’ place is a priceless experience.

With love,

Varvara Kupriyanova, Clothes Designer, and Ivan Kupriyanov, IT Expert

There is no secret that I knew Olga when we started to work with her, but we hadn’t been close and drafted the house from scratch. I was amazed by her approach: initially, we didn’t even mention design as such and our tastes preferences. We started with the algorithm of our life and the habits of our family, who does what at home, how much time we spend together and how we do it, what is really important for each of us in our living space. As a result, we saw that the architecture is both inside, and outside tailored according to our needs. We couldn’t afford the author’s supervision of construction, so Olga gave us advice when we asked for it and answered our calls during the building process. As for the interior design proposed in the project, we haven’t done everything yet as our budget is limited, but the house is alive, it is very comfortable, there is a lot of light and air in it, and there is room for every member of our family and our guests. And with the minimum of furniture, we have sufficient storerooms and storage space Olga insisted on to arrange the belongings of the family with children of quite different ages and a huge load of creative lumber, sports and hiking equipment, vinyl records, and lots of other things. If we had to build our house again, we wouldn’t change anything as each of us loves the house, and the living space was arranged just the way we wanted it.

Alexandra Chirikova, Art Expert

My meeting with Olga was a miracle and a gift of fate. I am sure that I would not have been able to create an apartment of my dream with anybody else.

It was pure co-creation. Olga can listen and hear you. It is very important for her to know what the future resident really needs. And if I said, for instance, that I wanted a ‘light’ kitchen, Olga very carefully asked about every detail of what I meant by that ‘lightness’. Yes, sometimes our views differed, but each time my needs always remained at the top. And I was offered really many magnificent architectural and technological solutions which had Olga’s tremendous experience and knowledge behind them.

I’m writing this recommendation seven years after living in that apartment, and during all those years there was no time when I said something like, “Jesus, couldn’t we do it in a different way?” I am still lost in my love for my apartment, it is so cozy to be there, and every visitor feels it. And I can tell who will create a new apartment for me: Olga, of course.

Polina Polinovskaya, Psychologist

Some people say they see their future homes in their dreams or when sleeping. When I faced the issue of building a house for myself, I had fuzzy ideas about its appearance. I wanted something roomy, laconic, built of natural materials and, surely, affordable, within my modest budget. And to make the cosmic beauty of our view (the hillside and the forest in the Serpukhov District) the main character of the project. That was what Olga started her work on. We determined the number of floors and rooms. You see, the initial data lacked concrete demands. During the draft stage, I clearly saw that the professional level of my architect is far beyond my own competence. So, I trusted Olga with all the details and nuances, and practice proved that I was right.

The house she invented was just that thing, the thing from dreams. All our small family immediately settled it like our own planet where everyone has a world of his or her own and everybody meets on the common orbit – the spacious drawing room filled with light and the sky, no matter what weather is outside. I cannot understand, even now, how she managed to guess everything, every our latent wish. And it wasn’t just a coincidence. Later, when I looked at her other projects, I realized that Olga was one of those rare architects who take up projects not just for the sake of self-assertion, but for the sake of the customer, retaining at the same time an incredible integrity and firmness in the implementation of her ideas.

Unfortunately, our house was not a boon for the architect. Getting our project, we passed it to other hands, a builder we knew, an ordinary craftsman who believed that the good thing is the one well built. The author made compromises and alliances, trying to achieve the desired result. Yet, when it was suggested that the height of the windows and the balcony door is to be lower (as the planned height was not practical from the point of view of the builder), the architect firmly said ‘no’. And she controlled the process making the builder add a new bar to the already finished doorway. This transparent height had an amazing effect filling the house with space. I kept discussing this category for many years delivering lectures on the history of art and architecture. And now I could feel it in my own countryside home where the balance between man and the world, the perception of the surrounding landscape, and even the wish to live forms the main component of the true, though simple, architecture.

I believe that this, the ability to solve important, central architectural goals within the framework of any project, is the strength of Olga Kudrina. Every time when guests come from every corner of the world to our Bolshaya Gorodnya, complaining about rutty roads, they are struck spellbound going out to the spacious balcony of our second floor, repeating, “Yeah, it was worth getting here!” And it is not just about the vastness of Central Russia, it is about the presentation of it.

Olga Kholmogorova,

Art Critic

I’m grateful to Olga for her caring approach to the difficult process of repairing a house.

It was a difficult case as we needed to plan quite a new outlay, turning a small apartment with a walk-through room into the one with three separate rooms and a common drawing room. Olga was great, she proposed many different variants, carefully listened to our doubts and fears, insisted that we were fully open to her, and didn’t hesitate to state every wish we had. Moreover, she helped a lot accompanying us to stores and providing advice when we had to choose the colors for our kitchen, tiles, and many other things.

Olga has wonderful taste and profound knowledge.

I’m happy to recommend her as a designer and an architect.

P.S. Later, Olga Kudrina and I worked at the HihusFest festival. Olga was not only one of the four founders of this festival but also the curator and designer of the exhibition. It wasn’t a simple task. The show was to present the creative life of Hihus, the artist who, besides producing paintings, made comic books, animation films, etc. Olga examined and analyzed the archive of the artist’s works, made plans to display them in harmony in the exhibition space. The result was brilliant and clear in its structure exhibition which represented both the creative life and the biography of the artist.

I would like to emphasize that Olga knows how to successfully combine different kinds of art in one space by integrating painting, photography, animation, video.

We had little time to prepare the exhibition, and Olga knows how to keep her deadlines in a difficult situations.

Anastasia Galashina,

Psychologist

I bought an apartment this year. It was not an easy affair to find an apartment of my dream. Real estate agencies offer many different apartments. Some of them are already renovated, others require huge investment, while others need simple refurbishment. I was at a loss. Olga came to help me. Looking at the photographs, Olga can say which apartments are not worth to look at, which need expensive repairs, and where the repairs have already been done, but it was not done well, with the use of low-quality materials, or with replanning which is impossible to get approved. When the apartment was bought, Olga told me what could be done to make it cozy and comfortable. What was especially priceless, Olga did not only tell me where I could purchase something, but also where the prices are lower, but the place is hard to reach using public transport; where the prices are higher, but the quality is higher and the sale persons are trustworthy. I’m grateful to Olga for the time she spent speaking to me on the phone and online. The help of a great expert and a genial person is the best cure for stress and senseless expenditures concerning the selection of an apartment and repairs.

Masha Dorman,

Infant School Teacher

My experience of cooperation with Olga Kudrina as an architect and designer of exhibition projects reveals that she is a gifted and committed person. She starts with a detailed and thorough discussion of all nuances and potential problems of the project and keeps communication open during the design process. I felt good and comfortable working with her because, taking up a project, she is sure to complete it, motivating and prodding people involved in the project, and often doing their work herself when these people shirk their responsibilities.

She can not only formulate, but also implement any, even quite raw, idea, making it bright and readable. Due to Olga’s involvement, our projects were attractive for the visitors, easy for the users, and understandable for investors.

Olga Kaminka,

Photographer