Beginning this issue, our newspaper will have a new monthly feature – Living. We will be peeping in the apartments of interesting people and see how the tenants live.

This week we checked out Producer and Director of the Golden Mask Theater Festival Eduard Boyakov. His life is reminiscent of a beautifully laid mosaic and this is probably why he became a theater producer – a person who can make a whole out of fragments. "The more details you take into account and the more pieces of mosaic you manage to collect and put together, the better the final result will be," Boyakov said.

How does it feel to combine traditions and modern styles?

"I chose to live in this outwardly inconspicuous building," Boyakov said, "because I was captivated by its obvious advantages: It was built in 1904, it is located just two minutes from Pushkin Square, many of my friends live nearby and there is a nice view from the windows. I moved to this apartment about a year ago, though I bought it long ago."

Boyakov’s apartment has a floor space of 180 sq. meters and comprises three bedrooms, a library, a dining room and a small "secret" room, which is forbidden to enter by everybody, except the owner.

"When I bought this apartment," Boyakov went on to say, "I had already known how I would furnish it. I was born in Dagestan. Hence, I wanted to create a neutral, eastern atmosphere. I don’t mean decor or furniture, I mean perceptions. There are 15 windows in my apartment. I can see how the sun rises in the morning and how it sets in the evening. The feeling of the East for me is a feeling of freedom and self-composure."

It surprised me that the apartment doesn’t have any right angles: All the window frames and the ceiling and wall joints are carefully rounded. Having noticed my surprise, the host went on to brag: "I invented this design myself, and I implemented it together with a team of builders from Moldova. When I see a right angle I always think I’ll hit it."

The apartment does not have just one color gamut – each room features its own color, including both "cold" and "warm" colors.

"My daughter’s room is colored in the tinges of red and Bordeaux, while the prevalent color in my room is green. It all depends on mood!"

As far as the interior design is concerned, Boyakov did not stick to a certain style, but combined seemingly incompatible things.

"I never use furniture. I don’t have a dinner table and I don’t have chairs, except the one I sit in when I work."

The nearly complete absence of furniture is compensated by a British music center, which grooves perfectly well with the apartment’s style and does not strike the eye.

There are lots of things imported from America, Asia and Africa. As you enter the apartment you immediately understand that its tenant likes to travel. Boyakov’s special pride is his collection of old eastern carpets – Iranian, Tibetan and Turkmen.

"It was my friend Rustam Khamdamov who introduced me to the world of carpets. He helped me understand that a carpet is not just something to cover your floor, but a serious mystery and riddle. I rarely buy carpets from stores. I prefer to contact carpet dealers directly." •