At the end of 2022, Kassym Baimukhametov was living in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, when he encountered a problem experienced by many: The rent was too damn high.
“I decided to buy my own place because prices for rent went up,” said Mr. Baimukhametov, 38, who works as a project manager in business and technology. “The universe was giving me signs.”
Rather than paying rent, he decided he’d be better off investing in real estate. Not needing much space, he began searching for studio apartments and found a 388-square-foot, new-construction unit for 31.5 million Kazakhstani tenge ($60,000). He closed in February 2023.
“If felt small,” he admitted. “But it was a good price, in a good location in the center of the city.”
The box of a space 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 according to my wishes, and this way, we wouldn’t have to do any demolition work.”
For help turning it into a personalized home, he tapped Fariz Mamedov, 27, the founder of FM Interiors and an acquaintance he had followed on Instagram. Mr. Baimukhametov had seen the young designer enthusiastically renovate his own apartment, and he wanted to work with someone who would bring a similar energy to his home.
After visiting the empty apartment, Mr. Mamedov returned with drawings for no fewer than six distinct options for arranging the space. “I chose the very first one,” Mr. Baimukhametov said. “We were in sync. I needed four areas — for a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and some sleeping space — and that was in the very first drawing.”
Of course, it wasn’t merely a matter of carving up the space into separate functions. Both Mr. Baimukhametov and Mr. Mamedov wanted to give the apartment some serious style.
“My heart gravitates to 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 a focus on clean-lined sculptural forms. “That’s where we matched,” 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 subdued neutrals in mind, while Mr. Mamedov wanted to blast the home with eye-catching hues.
In the end, Mr. Mamedov won out. As the project progressed, “basically every idea he proposed, I approved,” Mr. Baimukhametov said.
To create separate zones, Mr. Mamedov erected walls around a corner sleeping space that is entered through an arched doorway from the living room, which can be covered by curtains for privacy. One of the walls is thick enough to hold a closet in the sleeping space and a coat closet by the front door on the opposite side.
In the bathroom, Mr. Mamedov added another arched opening between the vanity and the bathtub. In both the entrance hall and kitchen, he installed mirrored doors to help reflect sunlight and give the spaces more visual depth.
But it was the use of color that became Mr. Mamedov’s most powerful visual trick. By choosing sculptural furniture in bold hues, he aimed to create an environment where Mr. Baimukhametov’s guests would be so taken with the objects that they’d almost forget about the space’s Lilliputian measurements.
“I used iconic furniture from Scandinavia to draw attention to those pieces,” Mr. Mamedov said. “So guests will not be focusing on the size of the apartment itself, but on individual items.”
Those pieces include a bright yellow Ekstrem lounge chair in the living room by the Norwegian designer Terje Ekstrøm, which looks like it’s formed from fabric tubes.
In between the kitchen and living room, a compact circular dining table with a top made from recycled plastic bottle caps is illuminated by a Hive pendant lamp by Verner Panton and equipped with mismatched chairs from Fritz Hansen and Hay in yellow, red and pale blue. There is also a Troupe rug by Jaime Hayon for Nanimarquina, which depicts otherworldly characters in a riot of color.
After starting construction in May 2023, the messy work was finished that September, and furniture continued to trickle in through January 2024. The total cost, including the furniture, was about 27 million Kazakhstani tenge ($51,500).
Compared to his old rental, Mr. Baimukhametov’s compact new home is a major lifestyle upgrade. “I love it,” he said. “Sometimes I’m just standing there and I’m like ‘Is this my apartment?’ I cannot believe it, because it’s everything I wanted.”
