--- title: "GRS Space" description: "A blogger whose audience follows her lifestyle online opens a studio — not as a business in the conventional sense, but as her content made physical." url: "https://mashaxpasha.com/work/grs-space" --- # GRS Space > A blogger whose audience follows her lifestyle online opens a studio — not as a business in the conventional sense, but as her content made physical. - Type: Interior - Size: 55 m² - Year: 2022 - Status: Completed - Client: GRS Space - Location: Moscow, Russia ## The Blog as Brief Valeria Simakova runs a blog about makeup, healthy eating, and conscious consumption. Japanese matcha, recycling, makeup as a way to enhance rather than transform — all of this existed in her online presence before the studio did. By the time she decided to open GRS Space, the meaning of the space already existed. What remained was to translate it into an architectural brief. This is a rare starting point for a commercial interior. Beauty studios are usually built around an image: softness, pink, mirrors, neon signs. Here the image already existed — and it was about something else entirely. From this came a concrete brief: a studio without a gendered division, where nail care is for everyone. A minimum of new materials. Recycled and restored wherever possible. ## Open Space Without Unnecessary Boundaries All working zones of the studio — reception, manicure, styling, café — exist in a single space without partitions. Storage is tucked above the bathroom block, the only enclosed volume. The finish palette is minimal: no decorative panels or suspended structures that would produce a sense of completion through added bulk. The open plan serves the stated neutrality. When someone enters, they see the whole studio at once and are not choosing between their zone and someone else's. Private cabinets would create exactly the division the project set out to refuse. The same logic governs the finishes. The textured concrete ceiling with exposed services is left as found — it contrasts with the smooth light floor and holds the height of the room without additional volume. The uneven surface is not a defect but part of the material honesty of the space. ## 200 kg of Bottle Caps The reception panels were produced by 99Recycle from recycled plastic. The shade was selected manually through several tests, finding the precise ratio of green to white. The panels for the reception area alone required approximately 200 kg of old bottle caps. The bar stools and bench in the café zone were made by Eburet, with a custom turquoise shade developed specifically for this project. The material of both brands is uneven in texture: granules of different origins produce a mottled surface that cannot be replicated from virgin stock. ## Chairs With a History The styling chairs and the chair with an integrated shampoo basin were purchased from a closed salon. They were restored and reupholstered in **vegan leather** to match the interior palette. The logic is the same as with the plastic: do not produce new where good existing material already exists. The reupholstery integrated the chairs into the studio's palette without erasing their origin. ## Details That Solve Specific Problems The bathroom doors are fitted with **elbow handles** of Italian manufacture. Designed for users with limited mobility, they open with the forearm and require no grip. In a studio where clients leave with freshly done nails, this is a direct functional decision rather than an accessibility measure. The white handles are placed against a bright background so they read without searching. Next to the toilet cubicle, a **green indicator light** signals occupancy. It functions as a navigation sign: a visitor reads the status from a distance; the administrator does not escort each person individually. Paper towels are replaced by hand dryers. Single-use sheet towels for public spaces are produced predominantly from virgin pulp and generate a significant waste stream. The dryers eliminate it entirely. The space includes several objects with a distinct authorial character: a **mirror with wave-form lighting**, a coat rack, and a shelving unit with the same wave profile. In an interior where most surfaces are neutral, these pieces establish scale without competing with the working equipment. ## From Online to Offline GRS Space is a case where a media identity precedes the space and sets its terms. Lera Simakova's blog existed before the studio, and the studio was built not as a separate object but as its continuation in a different medium. Recycling, matcha, nail care for everyone — all of this was part of an online identity before it became part of an interior. This order of things shifts the criterion for evaluating the space. The question is not whether it looks good, but whether a regular reader of the blog recognizes their space when they walk in. ## Images ![Salon bar with white shelving under the staircase, espresso machine and a green speckled reception block](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV68YZGE1YNRSPYSJJ6NW8.webp) ![Open salon floor with paper pendant lamps, wavy illuminated mirror bar and grey chairs by the street window](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6AGBN785J5RXA8MXABP9.webp) ![Slim pale steel rack of hair products beside a green speckled counter and perforated metal stair](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6BV0NK0S32RBZFP1TF7F.webp) ![Staff kitchenette with sage cabinets, chrome tap and open metal shelves holding glass jars](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6D60BHACPQEFC69BMG4T.webp) ![Grey salon robe embroidered with a green squiggle on speckled hangers and a wavy white rail](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6E79WJHTRN4YMSJ7T8RN.webp) ![Dark brick residential tower with tall shopfront windows glowing with the white salon interior](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6FCW2X6R2Z9MEX9XQ8XD.webp) ![View from the mesh staircase over a teal armchair, paper lanterns and a wavy clothes rail](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6GRCT97HTM3A8M8AVWGT.webp) ![Reception with green speckled counter, product rack and white stair up to a mesh-clad mezzanine](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6HPR3BVJZT2DN0R1WW7D.webp) ![Two styling stations with tall mirrors, grey salon chairs and a clear acrylic trolley against a grey wall](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6JHZY8YC7AW8Z5RXY0VK.webp) ![Colouring station with acrylic shelves of hair dye boxes in front of an iridescent dichroic backsplash](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6K91QKNSR79SYN22SF4E.webp) ![Washroom with mint square tiles, white floating basin and sculptural white hook and taps](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6M1QJ6VV0X3DRZZK290Y.webp) ![Magenta freestanding oval mirror reflecting the white stair, with the iridescent colour bar behind](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6MSPGBR57H2CR54TZSQ9.webp) ![White gooseneck tap over a steel sink below iridescent glass shelves of dyes and conditioner bottles](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6NQJPVWFWJXEG1V1GVGG.webp) ![Perforated white metal mezzanine box under exposed ducts and round paper pendant lamps](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6PKZ3T7G5KHJWJZMK6V7.webp) ## Process ![Furnished floor plan of the salon with styling chairs, manicure tables, bar and washroom](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6QEGQYNF66GD17NJTGTK.webp) ![Floor plan of the empty salon shell with the staircase, washrooms and staff kitchen core](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6R62ZKT6A872777D6ZYC.webp) ![Axonometric drawing of the green speckled reception, bar counter and cosmetics shelving](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6S0SH0BXY9EAKXW9GN33.webp) ![Axonometric of the hair washing area with dichroic wall panels and the colouring station](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6SRRFFTPNQ5J9ZMYB0CB.webp) ![Axonometric of the make-up zone with three cantilever chairs and a wave-shaped lit mirror](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6TH177XVFCYKAXW7EYGV.webp) ![Axonometric of the stylist zone with swivel chairs and tall floor-standing mirrors](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6VN47W9AE7D07S5A4F5F.webp) ![Axonometric of the bent steel stair, storage partition, staff kitchen and manicure tables](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6WPEJ9NZT86RABW6WEX4.webp) ![Green glass bulb on a white porcelain wall lamp beside a mint-tinted frosted glass wall](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6XXGFGRESG7KARGVSEQB.webp) ![Detail of white stair treads meeting a green speckled panel and a terrazzo floor](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV6ZD9A9H12MRDY04MEDD3.webp) ![Rectangular mirror set into mint tiles with dark grout that wrap up onto the ceiling](https://cdn.mashaxpasha.com/01M4RV70SXNH2B22QFKM4T4J3N.webp)