An urbane and intimate Paris pied-à-terre, this sophisticated apartment is filled with a collector’s choice of the finest mid-century modern furniture as well as contemporary design and art.
It’s a small area – just 70m2 in total – but feels spacious and expansive. This is the result of the building’s elegant ‘bones’, which include high ceilings that make for light-filled rooms and interconnecting doors with original glazed panels that open up the space and again allow light to move through.
Homeowner Emmanuel de Bayser designed the built-in bookshelf in the living room. The rare vintage Visiteur wood and metal chair is by French mid-century designer Jean Prouvé, and the cream upholstered lounge suite is by Pierre Jeanneret. The black standing lamp is by French lighting designer Serge Mouille (sergemouille.com), the small wooden shelving unit is also by Jeanneret, and the coffee table with the reflective surface in the centre of the room is by Israeli industrial designer Ron Arad (ronarad.co.uk).
‘French mid-century design is timeless, and also mixes so well with the architecture from periods before it was created.’
The chair in the hallway outside the bedroom is by Pierre Jeanneret, and the mirror on the wall above it is by Georges Jouve. In the bedroom, the building’s classical period mouldings and elegant floor-length curtains pair remarkably well with mid-century modern pieces that include a rare armchair by French mid-century designer Pierre Guariche and sunburst mirrors by French mid-century jeweller Line Vautrin.
In the bedroom, boldly patterned bedlinen by French contemporary designer India Mahdavi (india-mahdavi.com) combines beautifully with the room’s original neoclassical details, a wall-mounted lampshade by French lighting designer Serge Mouille (sergemouille.com) and Mahdavi’s wooden Starr table. The table lamp and colourful ceramics are all by Georges Jouve, and the vintage Standard chair is by French modernist designer Jean Prouvé (find re-editions of Prouvé’s work at Vitra vitra.com). The striking artwork above the bed is by Peruvian contemporary sculptor Aldo Chaparro.
Emmanuel tends to need new points of focus now and then; his large collection of ceramics by French mid-century ceramicist Georges Jouve was begun in part, he says, because he “had no space any more for furniture”.
Emmanuel de Bayser’s Paris apartment is situated in a grand neoclassical building that is typical of the structures created under the guidance of Paris city planner Georges-Eugène Haussmann, whose famous ‘renovation’ of the city took place in the middle of the 19th century.
The building’s original lift is clad in ornate cast-iron detailing.
Text—Noreen Johnson
Photography—Greg Cox
Emmanuel’s apartment is situated in an elegant neoclassical building and looks out over a Parisian park that is filled with trees and other greenery.
