Fabien Louvier, Letting Materials Speak for Themselves

There are too many to name them all! I was a blank page waiting to be written. And curiosity grows through research, and with it the desire to know everything! So, of course, I’m going to mention the big names, the great “masters” of design. Andrée Putmann, Christian Liaigre, for balance and rigour. Joseph Dirand, Pierre Yovanovitch, but Dimore Studio and India Mahdavi, too, for their sense of colour, and a touch of frivolity! There are also designers I work with and admire, including Christophe Delcourt, Studio Pepe and Patricia Urquiola. I can’t talk about artists without mentioning Pierre Soulages, for his work on black and matter, Jean Cocteau and his multidisciplinary genius! There are also younger ones, like the talented and daring Mathias Kiss and Antonin Hako; I bought a drawing of his. It’s an important and symbolic work for me. The first piece I bought in a gallery! And then there are those I’d classify as both artists and designers. Piero Fornasetti, for the fantasy and audacity of his time, or Christian Astuguevieille, who is often featured in the work of Gilles and Boissier.

The starting point for the mood and atmosphere I wanted for this apartment was a real love affair with one of Apparatus Studio’s latest designs for the launch of their “Interlude” collection. It was love at first sight. I had to have it! The combination of colours, the refinement of the materials: all their work spoke to me. There is always a starting point in a global reflection on design and decoration. It can be a work of art, an advertisement, a piece of scenography. Obviously, my own choices, my own desires and my own identity were then combined with all this to make it what it is today. I didn’t want a copy and paste job either! Other worlds have also inspired me, notably the work of Joseph Dirand at Monsieur Bleu or Girafe, two favourite restaurants in Paris that I never tire of. Romeo Moretti’s Villa Carminati on the shores of Lake Maggiore also influenced me a lot for the work in the bedroom, in the choice of materials and colours. Working with high-quality, beautifully crafted products every day, it’s hard to get away from these inspired and inspiring worlds.

I would never have imagined buying a new apartment off-plan, which, it must be said, has no character. I was dreaming more of mouldings, old fireplaces, or an untouched loft. A place with a strong identity! And then an opportunity came up. This place came back onto the market the day before I joined the agency; it was a sign! And how could I resist the idea of a duplex: two floors with a terrace, all in the middle of the city in a street – admittedly at the end – but which was the one I was aiming for! Thinking about it, this apartment was going to be rather like me at first. A blank canvas that would have to be given a soul to give it its own identity, and become a reflection of me! The challenge then was to be patient. The work hadn’t even started yet! It took two years. Two years to wait, to think. Even though I’m used to working on plans, it was quite difficult to imagine myself there, what view I was going to have, etc. During the first visit, I had a very nice surprise – for a Lyonnais (laughs) -: the view over the Fourvière basilica!

Two years of reflection! It’s a long time. Especially without seeing anything because the building hadn’t been erected yet! You have to do everything in your head, in sketches, on plans. Especially since working for yourself is always more difficult than for clients. There are too many conflicting ideas and desires. The approach to a new purchase was quite different from those we regularly have at the agency: a base to work from. Either there was nothing, or there were things that were more or less imposed on me. And then, one thing leading to another, the whole thing started to come together, the elements fitted together like a puzzle. The most important room for me, and I think for many people, is the living room which had to be completely redesigned. In fact, before I bought the apartment, I had already modified it and the kitchen by enlarging them and reducing one of the two bathrooms. It was imperative to give this space more volume. You enter through it, and it opens onto the terrace. Another strong point I had to work on was the stairs. I’ve always loved stairs; I think they’re an object in their own right – a feature that you can play with, both in terms of shape and materials. What a surprise – not a very good one – when I discovered it in the apartment! A wooden construction with, of course, an openwork railing and a handrail on the wall. So I covered the bannisters to hide them, then painted it with smooth lime and highlighted it with shiny black wood. I stained the steps with a burnt oak colour that gives them a patina like old wood. And then I removed the handrail. For the more “decorative” elements, I think the choice that took the longest was the finishes for the kitchen, which I had designed and made to measure. I had to dig through almost all the wood and stone samples from suppliers to find the right ones! Always with the idea of bringing depth, I worked mainly with smoothed limes from Ressources, which give substance to the walls and change according to the light. I also used Orac Decor panels which reproduce a moulded plaster effect on some of the walls. To really go the extra mile, I replaced all the handles in the apartment with patinated brass ones from Turnstyle Design, which has a great collection. The only room I’ve had very little opportunity to change is the bathroom. The manufacturer’s range of tiles was very limited. Even though I could still go and choose from others, I couldn’t do exactly what I wanted. So I transformed it into a kind of greenhouse full of plants to give it life! In fact, I realise with hindsight that from the beginning I have always wanted to bring different materials into this flat. Whether it’s velvet on the wall, wood veneer, wallpaper or paint effects. All used with subtlety but with a definite desire to get away from these smooth and ultimately boring walls.