Words by Allegra Salvadori | Photographs Vitalii Grishkov | Styling — Mariana Sorokina
In Dubai, two apartments by Elamo Studio were imagined as parallel love letters — spaces where light, warmth, and memory become architecture.
When a young family in Dubai decided to surprise their parents with new homes, they entrusted Elamo Studio with a project that would become less about architecture and more about love. “Two apartments became two parallel love letters, written in the same language of warmth and belonging,” recall co-founders Irina and Mikhail Ivchenko. “We imagined them as sister stories — similar in tenderness, yet with their own voices under one roof.”
The brief was as intimate as it was ambitious: create spaces that would instantly feel like home for parents leaving behind their familiar world. “Every decision — from softened layouts to familiar textures — was guided by the idea that the first step inside should feel like recognition, not foreignness,” they explain.
Light was given a starring role, treated “almost like an actor on stage.” Spaces were opened so daylight could flow unbroken, while warm woods, muted walls, and fabrics with gentle sheen reflected it softly. For Elamo Studio, the palette is deliberately bright yet calm, allowing Dubai’s sun to become part of the interiors’ identity.
Materiality created a subtle kinship between the two homes. Every project at Elamo Studio begins in silence. “We first listen — to the family’s story, to the walls, to the light,” they explain. Only after this quiet observation do sketches appear. For the designers, listening before drawing is essential to ensure that architecture grows out of narrative rather than trend.
Light oak and soft textiles act as a shared vocabulary, yet each apartment reveals its own personality — one serene and minimal, the other bolder in detail. “It’s like a family resemblance: you see the kinship, but you can also sense individuality,” say the designers.
For Elamo Studio, details carry the narrative forward. In the studio apartment, the angular kitchen island becomes sculptural anchor, while in the two-bedroom flat a “floating” dining table and a glass-partitioned wall lend lightness and poetry. Art, too, was woven gently into the atmosphere. “Small, meaningful pieces — ceramics, textiles — became punctuation marks. Later, the parents’ own paintings completed the story, making the interiors even more personal and alive.”
Asked what a visitor should feel first when stepping inside, the answer comes without hesitation: “An embrace. A whisper that says: you are safe, you are home.”
For Elamo Studio, design begins not with drawing but with listening — to the family’s story, to the walls, to the light. If the apartments were songs, one would be a tender piano piece, the other a generous melody that gathers people around the table. Both, in the end, resonate with hospitality, memory, and care.
Looking ahead, the designers see these Dubai apartments as a turning point in their language — what they call ‘minimalism with a heart.’ It is a philosophy that balances clarity with tactility, modernity with memory. In these homes, they believe, lies the blueprint for where Elamo Studio is heading: spaces that welcome like family, while resonating with timeless simplicity.
Design & Realisation — Elamo Studio | Instagram
Continue reading about minimalistic design with our feature The Inspiring Lightness of Minimalism
