LIGHT WORK
French interior designer and art curator Emilie Bonaventure took a potentially ordinary 9th arrondissement apartment and created a space that is serene, elegant, and impeccably Parisian.
French interior designer and art curator Emilie Bonaventure’s serene, elegant and impeccably Parisian apartment
Judging by the serene lines and neutral hues of the 800-square-metre space Emilie Bonaventure now calls home, it’s hard to imagine it could ever have been boring. Yet the Parisian interior designer and art curator — celebrated for the way she mixes contemporary art, Mid-century and industrial detailing, and age-old craftsmanship techniques — is emphatic it was “not very interesting, in fact very ordinary. But,” she says, “I could see its potential for lumière traversant, to be very light.” The 19th-century Haussman apartment in Pigalle in Paris’s 9th arrondissement was structurally sound when Bonaventure found it, with only some original cornices left worth restoring. In transforming the place, Bonaventure made the most of the way light flflows through from front to back, creating an environment that allows her to restore some peace back into her demanding schedule. “I have a very busy mind but also, my eyes need to rest,” she says. A trained art historian, Bonaventure has limited the works on display to a few pieces, including Pierre Soulages prints and Eric Michel’s neon La Lumière Parle (Light Speaks). The walls and woodwork are white, warmed by layers of texture — from hide rugs, lacquered cabinetry reflflecting light, worn original parquetry flfloors, and a cosy 1970s shag pile rug anchoring the living room flfloor. “I wanted it to feel very quiet,” she says. “In this age of major information overload, this space gives me a moment to slow down.” Bonaventure is obsessed with flflea markets, regularly trawling Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen in the north of Paris for pieces that have good proportions. “I love symmetry,” she says. “It brings me peace.” Her eye is routinely drawn to Mid-century Modern pieces, from the Geoffffrey Harcourt swivel lounge chair designed for Artifort in the late ’60s in the living room to the ’50s woven wicker chairs in her dining room. “I’m not trying to buy pieces with special brands or designer names,” she says. “What’s more important to me is the story behind each piece — the memory of what I was doing the day I found it, who I was with — they each connect difffferent parts of my life so I’d never sell any of them, they are only for myself.” The designer has added unconventional touches in the apartment, too — such as carpet in the kitchen (“I love breakfast and starting the day with something soft under my feet gives me a great reaction every single time”). In turn, the carpet pattern echoes the monochrome Pol Chambost ceramics she collects. The patterned wallpaper in the bathroom reminds her of knitwear “but doesn’t feel too girlie, and it doesn’t make me feel like I have to rush in the morning”. ››
‹‹ A 19th- century plate warmer original to the building inspired the David Hicks Hexagon wallpaper in the living room. “I’m not really a brown person,” she says with a laugh, “but I decided I’d keep that old thing and create a room from it.” Bonaventure has dreamt of living in the 9th arrondissement since she was nine years old. “I came to stay with a family friend and it was so Parisian, and a little bit crazy but charming,” she says. “It’s alive day and night with a vibrant young food scene — everything I want is on the doorstep.” For this reason, she was the perfect person for the redesign of the Rose Bakery’s restaurant, deli, bakery and grocery sites on the Rue des Martyrs (Bonaventure had originally designed the Rose Bakery Tea Room at Le Bon Marché in 2013) and over the road, Belle Maison, a new seafood restaurant by chef Franck Baranger. She established her Be-Attitude practice in 2005 and there’s no doubt her multidisciplinary approach to designing interiors has built her profifile. Combining her passions for set design, fashion, art and gastronomy, she has also created much-lauded interiors for the French chef (and Jamie Oliver Fifteen alumni) Greg Marchand’s growing chain of Frenchie establishments in Paris and London. Working with young artists and French specialists is essential, too — the Whatever You Want street-style artwork Bonaventure sourced for the fifirst Frenchie on Rue du Nil has come to defifine Marchand’s business mantra, and an existing plain-tiled wall in Belle Maison was painstakingly hand-painted with an abstract marine pattern by a member of her talented team. “I’m a chameleon,” she says. “My work isn’t about designing for myself — collaborating with chefs, artists and artisans allows me to go deeper into a project. Drawing on their experience makes what I want to do even better.”