Interiors: Analysis of a New Home Out of Africa

Emily Olivier may be married to the South African ambassador, but referring to her by the title "wife of" seems utterly inadequate. At home in Pretoria, she worked full-time as a professor of child psychology, served as a consultant to children's television programming and spent eight years writing the Children's Catechism for the Dutch Reformed Church.


Here in Moscow, she runs the official residence like clockwork, and with the busy social schedule she has kept since South Africa's first nonracial elections this spring, it has been a demanding job.


"It has been brilliantly successful," she said of the change in government. "We are all delighted."


She and the ambassador, Gerrit Olivier, hope to remain here for another two years, on their first overseas posting. Soon after arriving to open the new embassy she oversaw the completion of the residence, located in an apartment block near Oktyabrskaya Ploshchad.


With the help of an architect and South African furniture and fabrics, she turned a compartmentalized apartment into an open, airy space perfectly divided for entertaining and private living. Mouldings are used to give the low ceilings an illusion of height, and walls were knocked out to give a feeling of space.


"These are the colors of South Africa," she says, pointing toward two vivid landscapes: "Gold and sepia, burnt orange, you see?"


Everything in the apartment is shaded in white, coral or turquoise, and all the furnishings are new except for the art on the walls, which Olivier brought from her home in Pretoria.


"I had to bring my art," she says, "so that the home would not have the feel of a showroom. Some people love their books, I love my paintings."


Being a psychologist by profession, Olivier looks at Russia and her life here with an analytical eye. The profound changes shaping her own country are affecting people in much the same way as the changes in Russia, she says.


"Can you imagine? You spend your entire life living under one set of assumptions, and then suddenly everything changes?"Always has in carry-on bag: Some type of handicraft like needlepoint, cross stitch or lace making. "Because I love to travel, and you never know when you are going to have to sit and wait in some airport. I like to keep my hands busy."


A typical dinner party menu: Includes elements of French and Malaysian cooking, both strong influences in South African cuisine.


Keeps the pantry stocked with: Wines, dried fruits and chutneys from South Africa; she is drying flowers for use in future table arrangements.


Favorite place to visit in the former Soviet Union: Samarkand. "I would just love to go back."


Secretly wishes she were: A test pilot. "I absolutely love take-offs -- that feeling of power as the engines engage. It is my favorite part of the flight."