This building was formerly a milk factory, and the leaded-glass kitchen doors opened onto [what was once] the executive office. There was a door in the apartment that literally had a plaque that said “office” on it. I drew inspiration from that, alongside my travels to Paris, Milan and Vienna. I kept seeing beautiful, artful, leaded-glass detailing, most often done in some sort of geometric grid. So it was a fusion of drawing inspiration from this home in its original form and from my travels. Also in the gallery, there’s a very subtle mural on the upper portion of the walls that was hand-painted in homage to Thierry Despont. He had a mural in that room, but his was very masculine and geometric. Mine has some geometry and triangular shapes, but it’s done in these tonal colours and made to look like shagreen.
We’ve all been talking, too, about those huge file-cabinet doors…
That was done by the original owner of this place, Thierry Despont, who is one of the most prolific French designers. It felt like such a beautiful way to honour his legacy. I knew that I absolutely had to keep them. So much of designing this home was studying and understanding the craft and artistry that was prevalent in 20th-century design: things like parchment, silver or gold leaf, and eggshell finish. There was such a level of artisanship in that period of design. Our lives now are so fast-moving, that’s been lost. I dove down this rabbit hole to discover, for example, the science of high-gloss lacquer, the amount of time and layers involved. I literally watched an artisan apply silver leaf – using a brush to apply this paper-thin piece of silver to the wall. It’s done with such intricacy and care.
