I.T. Small Apartment丨美国丨October Design Studio

I.T. Small Apartment is a minimal apartment located in Vilnius, Lithuania, designed by Ingrida Bieliauskė of October Design Studio. The interior operates on a principle of controlled contrast. Light grey dominates the public spaces—hallway, kitchen, living room—establishing a neutral canvas that allows textural variations in walls and floors to emerge as subtle protagonists rather than competing elements. This restrained backdrop serves a purpose beyond aesthetics; it creates a framework for future artistic interventions, acknowledging that designed spaces are never truly complete but evolve through habitation and curation.

Moving into the private zones reveals a strategic shift. The bedroom and bathroom pivot to a predominantly white palette punctuated by careful color moments. Most striking are the bathroom tiles created by FormaFantasma, coated in volcanic ash glaze. These surfaces transform the everyday ritual of bathing into something more profound—a tactile engagement with materiality that operates simultaneously as visual art and sensory experience, precisely the kind of thoughtful boundary-crossing that has defined FormaFantasma’s practice.

The bedroom demonstrates a different kind of material intelligence through integration. By conceiving the bed and wardrobe as a unified piece, the design acknowledges the practical constraints of compact urban living while elevating necessity into visual poetry. The headboard’s color creates a chromatic dialogue with the bathroom tiles, establishing a subtle rhythmic continuity between discrete spaces.

Throughout the apartment, stainless steel elements recur in furniture, shelving, and accessories, providing the visual equivalent of a leitmotif. These reflective moments introduce a contemporary industrial note that prevents the space from drifting toward austerity or preciousness. The material’s inherent qualities—durability, reflectivity, precision—become metaphors for the values embedded in the design itself.