Ask any interior designer or architect and they will you that their most difficult project was their own house; but as this restful Paris apartment with surprising pops of colour proves, it can also be fun.
The French interior designer Marion Stora draws inspiration from diverse sources. She developed a love of sailing when she was a child, and, as she grew older, a passion for art and architecture, in particular the ideas of the Bauhaus and functionalism movements, and a deep admiration for modernist furniture designers such as Pierre Chapo, who blended contemporary design with traditional skills, and was himself influenced by the work of shipwright.
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After studying interior architecture at the prestigious Penninghen Art School in Paris, Stora worked for a yacht design firm in London for four years – an experience that stood her in good stead when she launched her own studio in Paris in 2011. Her work is characterised by an innate attention to detail combined with artistic flair, which produces interiors that are both precisely conceived and infused with personality and warmth.
When it came to the design of her own home, which she shares with her husband, Didier, and their young son, her intention was to create an interior that combined her passions for both history and nature. “I develop lived-in interiors that tell the stories of their owners; it's the encounter between their story and the soul of the place that serves as the starting point for my creation, and this same approach inspired the creation of our flat,” she says. “My taste for natural materials – handwoven fabrics, raw hides and wood – and my love for soft, harmonious lines, combined with warm and colourful atmosphere, is always what gives life to the objects and spaces I create.”
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The apartment is situated in a Haussmann-style building on Paris’s Left Bank, near the Champs-de-Mars, and the serene, leafy environs outside its windows have been reflected inside in a scheme that references nature through materials, texture and palette. The elegant proportions and arched doorways of the interior are highlighted through Stora’s use of colour: neutral walls in the living room and dining room, accented by a single wall of green-black panelling; a wall of carmine in the main bedroom, set off by tonal ombré curtains; and touches of ochre, aubergine and sea green throughout the space.
Pieces from her own furniture line, designed by her and made by specialist craftspeople, sit comfortably within the space. In the hallway, the rich tones of her Wo Wo Wo walnut sideboard add gravitas against the off-white panelled walls and herringbone parquet; in the dining room, her La Mona table, with a sculptural wooden base and a shimmering top made from mineral and metallic powders makes a subtle statement; and in the music room, her Soulful armchair and Tina piano stool bring characterful curves.
Throughout the apartment, vintage design pieces, such as a Balinese daybed, and a set of Paavo Tynell wall lights in the hall, combine with her own to create a sense of timelessness and a refined layering of different eras and styles.
Stora worked with the landscape designer Arnaud Casaus on the design of the balconies, which are planted with grasses and climbing plants – creating lush, leafy spaces, the aesthetic of which she has brought inside, notably through accents of green decor and in the large ficus plant that strikes a sculptural note in the dining room; the apartment is, she says, “as if suspended in nature”.
As one might expect of a designer schooled in the art of highly customised yacht interiors, each piece of furniture and accessory is crafted perfectly for its specific space within this dynamic yet restful Paris apartment which acts as both a calming retreat for Stora and her family, and a lively gathering place to entertain family and friends. Her favourite space, however, is the bookroom, lined with books and pictures, where she practises yoga: “To be surrounded by the souls of these poets and writers, photographs and books… it’s a very soulful place.”
