When a young collector decided to build his house in Paris, he called on Franco-Israeli interior architect and designer Emmanuelle Simon. He had discovered her work while flipping through a magazine and was drawn to her discreet and meticulous take on contemporary luxury.
The brief was simple: create a place where he could entertain easily, but nothing too big, so it would also work if he was alone. He also wanted to allow natural light to enter on all floors and make the most of the large, luxurious garden that wraps around the desirable property in the 16th arrondissement. ‘This was a first-time client and I was more or less free to do what I thought best,’ Emmanuelle says.
The four-storey structure dates back to the 19th century, and everything was completely rethought, except for the façade, which was renovated but not modified. Emanuelle’s first order of business was to design a monumental staircase that connects all floors in a delicate sweeping fashion. The ribbon-like centrepiece is a sculptural masterpiece and serves as the home’s connective tissue, defining and articulating each floor. (Previously, the staircase was hidden in the back.)
The main entrance is on the ground floor and opens onto a cosy salon that features a pair of Emanuelle’s own ‘Nativ’ sofas situated on opposite sides of a Dan Pollock ebonised slab table. A handcrafted oak bookshelf by Cédric Breisacher adorns a corner station near the three glass-panelled doors that open out onto the adjoining garden. To keep the home open and soft, the rooms are not divided by walls but rather are ‘separated’ by a succession of rectangular stone arches, the same stone as the floors.
One floor up is the main suite, with a bathroom, dressing room and a charming, entirely secluded terrace. It feels like a treehouse, completely surrounded by green. In the basement, there is a cinema replete with a built-in minibar. The garage attaches to the house on the garden level.
The biggest challenge for Emanuelle was to create opportunities for natural light to enter all the floors. ‘It was a long space with not such high ceilings,’ she notes. She varied the ceiling heights through the home, which she says gives ‘the impression of a larger space’. This variety, Emanuelle says, ‘is the star of the project’.
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This home is really the perfect encapsulation of Emanuelle’s style. Everything she designs is made in France and emphasises her appreciation and knowledge of savoir-faire and craft. One of her unexpected, but now signature materials is raku, an ancient Japanese ceramic technique, which few designers use and is usually employed to create small items like teacups. Emanuelle, however, incorporates raku in larger ways – in this project, she used raku appliques to form a kitchen splashback, almost in the vein of broken piano keys that fit together perfectly.
Emanuelle worked closely with the client on all of the art placement and acquisitions, such as the abstract works by Michel Graff and Mirko Baricchi. The overall project exemplifies her love of materials, the softness of textures and a muted palette, down to the window coverings that filter the natural light.
‘This place is really my vision for living. Living with art,’ Emanuelle says. ‘The vocabulary is truly mine.’
Peek inside this Parisian sanctuary
