‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak

The ‘Tuning Fork’ brass staircase we manufactured for Ksenia Sobchak to the design of Maria Matrosova looks absolutely enchanting in the photos appended to the project delivery report. It is indeed another milestone project for Metalworkshop, and not just because the customer, Ksenia Sobchak, is a celebrated public figure, TV anchor, radio host, film and TV producer in Russia. The brass staircase in Ksenia’s new home is really special in itself: fine, delicate, and stunningly beautiful. 

Architect
Maria Matrosova
PLACE
Moscow, Gorki 10
YEAR
2022

The ‘Tuning Fork’ brass staircase we manufactured for Ksenia Sobchak to the design of Maria Matrosova looks absolutely enchanting in the photos appended to the project delivery report. It is indeed another milestone project for Metalworkshop, and not just because the customer, Ksenia Sobchak, is a celebrated public figure, TV anchor, radio host, film and TV producer in Russia. The brass staircase in Ksenia’s new home is really special in itself: fine, delicate, and stunningly beautiful. 

‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak
‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak
‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak
‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak

The staircase in a house is so much more than a set of stairs and balusters with railings. It palpitates with torrents of life-vibes, which it routes and reroutes around the house like a conduit. Both the convenient use of the staircase in moving between the different levels, and the wellness of the energy flows it conducts around the house have a lot to do with the design and craftsmanship of the staircase, as well as who it was built by and how that person felt about their work.

Metalworkshop is proud to present this distinguished project, which was our special commission and one that demanded consummate professional excellence. The brass staircase we built in the new home of Ksenia Sobchak ended up being impressive in size and unbelievably chic in appearance. Measured flush with the first and second level floors, the staircase is 4,840 mm high, weighing around 3.5 tons. Its designed dimensions are 5,920 х 4,170 mm.

‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak
‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak

What matters even more than the formidable dimensions of this staircase is its workmanship, for it makes this staircase a worthy neighbor to the great artworks from Ksenia Sobchak’s collection. This staircase was conceived as a trendsetting piece of art, and every work of art has a story or theme to it, which the master – the painter, sculptor, composer or artisan – pitches as the keynote, a recognizable core motif. The motif then gets some harmonious orchestration and a composition is born. Metalworkshop craftsmen found a singularly unique design solution for the luxurious brass balustrade of the staircase in the home of Ksenia Sobchak, combining  round baluster posts of polished, patina-finished brass (learn more about Metalworkshop surface finish textures on our website) with ornamental posts of sheet brass, which are the balusters proper. As the project design evolved, the brass balusters took a shape closely resembling a tuning fork.

And this became the name of the project itself: ‘Tuning Fork’ Staircase. It’s a good name, fully in tune with the decorative keynote. In many aspects, it reflects the vibe-tuning role of this art object.

A tuning fork is a U-shaped steel device used by musicians, which vibrates when struck to give a note of specific pitch. Tuning forks are traditional sources of standard pitch for tuning musical instruments and voices of choristers.

‘Tuning Fork’ is a three-flight, U-shaped, steel-frame staircase with two intermediate landings and classic wooden handrails. It has wooden, oak-finished steps illuminated by LED lights built into the risers. The enamel-painted stringboards and bottom surfaces of the staircase have fancy geometric shapes with some curved sections.

 

‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak
‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak

The steel frame was manufactured from 10 mm sheet steel, cut into patterns on CNC equipment. The staircase was modeled in perfect alignment with installation site measurements. The frame was prefabricated with all the embedded parts necessary to attach the brass balustrade, pinpointing the exact location of each baluster.

The entire brass staircase and every individual part of it are an epitome of elegance, superb workmanship, and refined, aristocratic taste. It defines the whole space, from the tiniest to the most salient detail. If this staircase were a set of piano keys, it would make an unparalleled, one-of-a-kind keyboard where the keys are pressed by the positive vibes to conjure up a magical indoor atmosphere.

The tuning fork was invented at the British royal court in the early 18th century. Now, three centuries on, a Russian company named Metalworkshop creates works of art that serve as the tuning forks of sophisticated taste. The amazing ‘Tuning Fork’ staircase is one of such art objects.  

Click here to watch a short video illuminating the manufacturing process of the brass staircase for the Sobchak home.

‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak
‘Tuning Fork’ Brass Staircase for Ksenia Sobchak