Julie Pailhas, Telling the Story of the Object

I am a woman of my time. I’m free, I’m looking for what is beautiful, and I enjoy sharing my vision.

After attending the Beaux-Arts de Marseille, I met Olivier Saillard, then Curator of the Musée de la Mode de Marseille, and became his assistant. When I arrived in Paris, I very soon joined the team of ELLE magazine, where I started my career as a Fashion Editor. This was followed by many years at Condénast for Glamour, where I travelled a lot for the fashion shoots I produced, and then other editorial departments including, Grazia, Marie-Claire, Les Echos Week-end and Milk Décoration.

I was lucky enough to be born into a family with a passion for art. But also surrounded by architecture and collectable furniture. My father, Roger Pailhas, was quite a visionary gallery owner, renowned for his radical choices, initiated and supported by my mother, Marie-Christine Pailhas. She herself comes from a family of artists, including my grandfather François Bret, Director and founder of the Luminy School of Fine Arts and Architecture in Marseille. In fact, everything predisposed me to be interested in it. This is the environment I grew up in with my parents, seeing all the exhibitions, private views and dinners. I was able to rub shoulders with great international artists such as Daniel Buren and Dan Graham, with whom my father collaborated, and the greatest dealers, including Leo Castelli, discoverer of the Pop Art movement.

I work instinctively. I am a faithful person who loves the artists with whom I collaborate, and I choose them each in a very particular way. I collaborate with about fifteen of them on a regular basis (ceramists, designers, painters, textile artists, and photographers). I select the pieces according to my vision and artistic direction, and I occasionally collaborate in their creation. I like the fact that we are growing together and gain huge satisfaction from the explosive success of some, which confirms I have an eye for talent in the making. The selection of Mid Century Design objects and furniture pieces is made on a whim, according to the balance of space and materials, just like my work as a fashion designer. It’s a logical progression for me. The palette in my space is intentionally neutral so that each piece can be in dialogue with another without overpowering it, and so that they can enhance each other. However, more colourful pieces are offered through the OBJETS INANIMÉS website.

My eye has been caught most recently by a work by Dune Varela: The Temple of Hera, a photographic print of ruins that she has enhanced with a box cutter. The artist plays with the interweaving of epochs, working on the image as a kind of remains on which she acts, or invests materials such as marble and ceramics to realise the photograph in the form of fragments. Simply magnificent.

There are a number of project in the pipeline, with new collaborations shortly to be discovered via our website objets-inanimes.com, which evolves daily, on Instagram and by appointment, as well as temporary events taking place outside our walls, of course. Plenty of tempting things, but I prefer to take my time to find a strong venue or a formula that suits my hybrid gallery project. I’m also developing my interior design and decoration consultancy business, working with private individuals on unique projects commissioned via my artists, as well as buying art and sourcing for professionals.

Of course, I have my own furniture in the space, furniture that makes me feel at home, above all. Pieces chosen along the way and through chance encounters, including this sublime sofa by Pierre Augustin Rose, for whom I shot a series for Milk Décoration, my Noguchi ball that sets the tone, and a Gae Aulenti coffee table my parents gave me for my 20th birthday.