Gaya SOFOIAN
photographed by grisha petrosyan
First of all, how are you?
I am fine, thanks, ha-ha.
How long have you been living here?
We have been living in this house for about 8 years, and I have been living in Yerevan for the same amount of time. I was born in Tbilisi, lived in Moscow all my life, when we had the children, we came to Armenia for the second time and I realized that I was very comfortable here. That’s when we got this apartment and decided to try to move here.
How do you find this district?
Well, I don’t perceive the district at all, Bangladesh (Malatia-Sebastia) is quite gloomy. There was a period when deliveries were not working very well here and it was necessary to go to the shops with strollers. Crossing these roads, it was already a lot of stress. Therefore, at some point I realized that I could do everything online and simply not go beyond the boundaries of the yard. Our yard is very cool, they take care of it, children play in the yard all the time. Even when taxi drivers or someone comes to visit, everyone is surprised because it’s as if our area has been torn out of Bangladesh, it’s like from some other place.
We were also surprised, such a cool place, we didn’t expect it.
Ha-ha, yes, it’s such an unexpected oasis. And the district itself is gloomy.
We know that you are an architect, tell us a bit about your work.
Yes, I am an architect, but most of the time I do interiors because I work for myself. Architecture still requires a large team, but I work alone and design apartments, various public spaces, cafes, and so on.
Have you designed the interior here?
We didn’t really do anything here, the shoemaker’s children go barefoot, ha-ha. It’s like when we need something, we just go without thinking, and buy it, only then we think, so, is this even suitable for us here or not? But I designed the children’s bed myself, and the wardrobe too. We didn’t really have any approach, in our house, something spontaneously appears and changes, there was no project from the beginning, not like the architects have, ha-ha. As a perfectionist and designer, at first it was very difficult for me in this apartment. Due to the fact that everything was done very quickly, some things are done not really carefully and you can't really see , but there are two sockets there, one straight, the other at an angle. Or the faucet in the bathroom is not installed in the center. And this is how everything is done, and I try not to notice it, but I’m already used to it.
How do you guys manage to work, live and raise kids together?
Melo mainly works on Vajrapar and Berq studio, I work more as an assistant, sometimes I draw prints. I am more involved in what concerns children, transporting them to classes and so on. Last year, Melik’s mother came to us from Moscow, so now it’s much easier for me. As for my work, I can mostly work from home, sometimes I need to meet with clients and go to construction sites. I used to take my children with me everywhere, they already know all the construction stores, they are used to everything. It was interesting to look at how they saw the making process of the Jermots Cafe. At the beginning there was complete devastation, dust, dirt. They were saying: “Mom, let’s get out of here quickly.” And then, when the construction was finished, the cafe opened, we came together and had a delicious meal.
It’s very cool that they saw the whole process from start to finish, and now they go there to eat. What is your favorite spot in the apartment if you have one? Where do you usually spend most of the time?
I love the children's room most of all, sometimes I kick the children out of there into another room to watch cartoons. It’s somehow calm and quiet there, I spend most of my time on the bed with my laptop or phone. Another place is the toilet, ha-ha, but okay, let's not talk about that.
Ha-ha, Sophia, our previous hero also talked about this.
Well, it’s true, especially in the second toilet, it’s big and there’s also a rug there, sometimes you sit there so well.
Oh, look how cute he is! (The cat)
Living his best life.
Basking in the sun. By the way, we used to spend a lot of time on the balcony, especially during Covid, we didn’t leave the balcony. Here, before the construction site appeared, sheep were running in the field, you could hear them and the smell of manure could be heard too, ha-ha.
What do you do when everyone is at home?
Mostly everyone gets together in the evenings, when everyone is already at home, it’s quiet during the day. When I don’t have work, which is rare, I usually have work and I sit with my laptop, but when I’m free we often play the console. Leo loves to play football and needs to involve everyone.
What was the last thing you bought for the apartment?
We bought a table with chairs for the children’s room, because usually the children did their homework wherever they could, they also like to combine cartoons and homework, but now they can’t do this. In my works, when I always design, everything has its own place, its own socket, its own light. But in real life, I understand that I could not live in a space in which everything is always the same. Our furniture is actually rearranged here all the time. That's why these chandeliers hang so low, there should have been a dining table here. But now there is often a free corner and we shoot some of Berq’s clothing here because the light in this room is the best.
We love this vibe here, it’s so calm. If we stay a bit longer here we will start drawing on the walls ha-ha.
It’s Manes’ birthday on the 24th, her friends will come and she asked for white walls, but I’m not sure that we will make it on time.
It's good that we managed to take pictures. Tell us about your pets.
There are a lot of us at home, but we didn’t think it was enough. Or Melik wants another child, but I’m not really ready yet, ha-ha. We decided to get a cat, in fact, Mane has been asking for a cat for a long time and I had a lot of animals as a child, I remembered that this is also a responsibility, feeding, cleaning. But last year we gave up and almost at the same time we got both a cat and a dog.
Are you planning to have more pets?
No, we don't plan to, but you never know, ha-ha. Maybe a mini pig will come to us, Leo really loves pigs, ha-ha. But no, I think it's too much. No matter who we bring in, natural selection will begin. The cat will eat any bird or fish.
But if there will be a mini pig, no one will eat anyone, it seems to me. How mini are they?
There are very mini ones, and there are little larger ones.
There are stories on the Internet of people who thought they bought mini ones, but then they grew into real big pigs.
Ha-ha, yes-yes I’ve also seen them.
If you ever get one don't forget to invite us one more time.
