All because of a table

THE TALE OF AN APARTMENT IN PARIS WHERE DESIGN TAKES THE LEAD BEGINS WITH A RARE SIGNATURE PIECE.

Exceptional objects can live on, performing their rightful function, rather than getting atrophied in a museum or a book. For 33 years, Elisabeth Delacarte – at Avant-Scène, her gallery in Paris on the Rive Gauche – has selected art-design objects that tell remarkable stories. Like the ones ment building Trocadéro. ter space chosen in from the was The to city dated, the furnish 240-square-me- center, late with 1800s this an inside apart- over- near a sized rooms. suited wardrobe This the owners, arrangement and relatively professionals no longer small with After a failing passion to win for art the and bidding design. on a Marguerite table by Hubert le Gall at an auction, they came to visit Delacarte, who is also an interior designer. «They told me they wanted to completely transform their home, which was furnished with antiques», says the gallerist. After seeing Delacarte’s own home, the couple hired her for a total restyling. The walls are now in tones of gray and white. «In my flat, they admired the wall finishings by Cécile Gauneau, a decorator who created reflections in tones of bronze, mother-of-pearl and gold, achieving an effect of warmth». The result is a precious, elegant setting, ideal to enhance the design furnishings selected in the gallery. There are creations by big names of French contemporary design, Hubert le Gall, Franck Evennou, Elisabeth Garouste, as well as Italian masters like Andrea Salvetti and Ettore Sottsass. The furnishings are mostly from the period 2000-17, but the effect is that of a lively home full of surprises, avoiding the sensation of being in a design gallery.