When Liubov Seredkina walked into the studio to shoot the cover story for this issue, it was clear we had the right woman for the job. Her striking beauty was undeniable, from her bright hazel-green eyes and alabaster skin to her bee-stung lips and Jessica Rabbit-esque curves—Seredkina is without a doubt a head turner. But it was her flaming red locks that initially sparked the inspiration for our all-red shoot—the colour of the season. And it was a concept she leaned into with bravado. When she stepped onto the set—drenched, floor to ceiling, in every register of red we could find—she took the whole thing in and immediately went to work. Using her dance background to strike dramatic poses that matched the fiery energy of the chosen hue. Instantly adding another layer of dynamism to the shoot.

It quickly became clear that this is a woman who knows how to read a room. Which makes sense when you consider that she has spent her life reading spaces and the people who move through them. It is this natural ability that is also at the centre of Seredkina budding interior design business in Dubai.

Born in Omsk in 1998, Seredkina was raised in a military family where discipline and drive were encouraged. Her formative years were filled with learning to figure skate and training to be a ballerina while simultaneously studying to play the piano and violin. Four demanding practices at once, in a childhood that appears to have contained very little idling. She is clear-eyed about what that upbringing gave her, and it is not what you might expect—not perfectionism, not stamina (although it certainly did that) but also something more practical.

“I think those disciplines taught me two things that are incredibly valuable in my work today: multitasking and the ability to learn by doing,” she shares. “I was used to balancing several disciplines at once while constantly learning and immediately applying what I had learned in practice.” That perseverance mindset has also served her well in business as she prepares to open her design studio, ORDO, in Jumeirah. “In my opinion, these disciplines complement each other, just like interior design elements. Without good athletic posture, it’s impossible to play the violin beautifully. Just as no decor is possible without the right walls around it.”

“WITHOUT GOOD ATHLETIC POSTURE, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAY THE VIOLIN BEAUTIFULLY. JUST AS NO DECOR IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE RIGHT WALLS AROUND IT”

When a spine injury ended her nascent career as a ballet dancer, Seredkina naturally pivoted to modeling, becoming something of a muse for the renowned Russian fashion designer Yudashkin, opening his show in the Kremlin. And over the years she shot for magazines like Vogue, Glamour, and Grazia. But the interior designer had bigger dreams. She found herself wanting to create spaces where people felt welcome, surroundings that—through the way they were designed—organically encouraged conversations and a sense of wellbeing. “I think it’s a certain type of person, like me, for whom it’s important to see that others find something beautiful to look at. It’s important to me to see that it captivates, engages a person, and perhaps makes them think. That’s all art,” reflects Seredkina about her choice to start an interior design business.

“NOW LIFE IS TEACHING ME TO SHARE. TO SHARE LOVE, TO SHARE EXPERIENCE, TO SHARE EVERYTHING”

And what better place than Dubai, arguably the building capital of the world, when it comes to the art of turning houses into homes. Here she has found a place where she feels comfortable and safe enough to follow her calling and launch ORDO. Even the name of her design studio is couched in meaning. Besides the visual balance of the letters and the attractive sound it makes as it rolls off the tongue, ORDO has other hidden depths. “Family names are embedded in the letters,” shares Seredkina. And in Roman law, ordo denotes “a structured and orderly reality—the cosmic and natural order, the social structure, and the hierarchy of beings,” she goes on to explain. She notes that “all order begins with order in the home.”

For her the entrance point into the world of design came through the exploration of textiles. Their impact might not be as instantly apparent as the choice of furniture or art, but they have just as powerful a role to play in how a space can make someone feel. “It is the framing of your window that will determine your state inside the room,” explains Seredkina. “Velvet will help you ground yourself and feel ‘at home.’ Touching a silk pillowcase on a hot summer day will give you a sense of relaxed coolness. It is the delicate web of tulle that will disperse the sunset beam in such a way as to beautifully diffuse all the light throughout the dining room.”

Seredkina’s goal is to create environments for her clients that feel like they have always existed. That the space instantly feels lived in, in all the right ways. In fact, when she is working with a client, she rarely focuses on the architecture of a venue. For her success comes from being able to hone in on who the client is at their core and what they need around them to be the best version of themselves. Seredkina pays attention to “their temperament, their manner of speaking, their way of dressing,” she says. “I want to know everything about a person that can be gleaned from looking at them. I don’t need a long questionnaire, I just need to feel the person in the space.”

The importance of home has taken on an even deeper meaning for Seredkina since the birth of her first child, Alexandra, in January of this year. Alexandra accompanied her mother to the cover shoot, her bright smile charming the entire crew, while her mother watched over her with an unmistakable look of pride on her face. “Motherhood has strengthened me mentally,” she says. “For me, my work was that centre. I sincerely consider it my calling. And now life is teaching me to share. To share love, to share experience, to share everything. I think that with the arrival of my little girl, life has taught me to give and not expect anything in return. Now I feel invulnerable.”

Not exhausted, not stretched—invulnerable. Though she is realistic about the demands of motherhood, she knows that creating a real home for her daughter is such an important part of her future sense of wellbeing. “Of course, it’s impossible to ‘hold all the horses’ at once,” affirms Seredkina. “But right now, for me, the interior is a place of life. A place for peace and celebration, a place for joyful events, and a place for solitude.”

Motherhood has also made Seredkina more laser-focused on what matters to her and what no longer adds value to her life. She is just as driven and disciplined as she ever was, moving between shooting a cover to taking care of her daughter, to dealing with interior design clients and overseeing the final touches of her new ORDO design studio location. “Fortunately, I have the opportunity to bring all my creative ideas to life, thanks to the support and encouragement of my family,” she says. “It is within the family that I learned to cope with any days, both good and bad. It’s very important when you’re going home to know that no matter what happened today, your home is there, and you are loved there.”

Senior Editor: Jessica Michault

Photographer: Amer Mohamad

Fashion Stylist: Vasil Bozhilov

Hair and Makeup: Ekaterina Karakulova

Videographer: John Melencion

Stylist Assistant: Nashwa Mohammed

Editorial Assistant: Riya Kumar