Artist Nathalie Lété’s magical home, southeast of Paris, is decorated in her whimsical style, inspired by folk art
The first lockdown prompted artist Nathalie Lété to use her country abode as a canvas for her enchanting whimsical style
the pandemic saw Instagram awash with images posted by creatives who had turned their hands to their own homes, but few feeds have been as magical or as joyous as that of Nathalie Lété. The French artist – renowned for her naïve works inspired by folk art that have graced everything from ceramics for Anthropologie to tiles for Emery & Cie as well as fashion for Gucci – saw the first lockdown as the chance to decorate her country home. ‘I posted images of what I was doing and the response was incredible,’ she says. ‘I realised that what was keeping me happy was making other people happy and I began to receive images of what others were doing.’
Mixed in with her paintings, which see birds hopping around door frames, leafy fronds climbing walls and butterflies flitting across cabinetry, are ceramics created in collaboration with Nathalie’s ceramicist daughter, Angele, who has worked with her mother ever since she left art school three years ago. ‘I was struggling to devote time to the ceramics side of my business so I asked Angele to join me; it was a gamble but we have a good working relationship,’ says Nathalie.
Around the same time her daughter joined the business, Nathalie, who shares her principal home in Paris with her artist husband Thomas Fougeirol, bought this early-19th-century house, naming it Maison Atelier Suzanne after the previous owner. Located an hour outside the capital, it sits by the Loing river close to the forest of Fontainebleau. ‘I bought the house as my own project, as Thomas was dividing his time between Paris and New York and he wasn’t interested in my country dream,’ says Nathalie, who employed an architect to bring more light into the building, knocking down walls and enlarging openings. ‘I had all the walls painted white and then I began to spend time here. After a while, Thomas realised he wanted to join me,’ she adds.
Perhaps the greatest endorsement of her project was when Thomas – whose abstract works differ wildly from Nathalie’s aesthetic – was invited to select the tiles for the living room’s fireplace. ‘I expected him to choose something sober so I was astonished when he went for pink,’ says Nathalie. ‘At first I was afraid of imposing my world on him but it was Thomas who pushed me to add my art to the house.’
As well as the wall art, the house is dressed with an array of textiles: vibrant tufted rugs, a wall hanging depicting a glorious seascape and colourful cushions. Most of the furniture is vintage: ‘I have picked up pieces in the street or at flea markets and vintage sales; I wanted to show that you can make a house using next to nothing,’ says Nathalie, who also commissioned pieces from a carpenter, including two coffee tables. She has since decorated one of these with pyrography.
There are countless projects that, like the coffee tables, are waiting to be realised, which is no doubt why Nathalie refers to the house as her laboratory. ‘I will always be adding to it or changing it,’ she says.
‘It is very rare that I will sit in a chair and read a book because I need to create. If I make something every day, then I am happy.’