Samena is the story of how to reinstate a ruin. When I bought this place, it was full of family history. The last of the poor families who were lucky enough to enjoy this property came together here. There was a counter with a huge mirror, like a bar, in fact. It was a bit of a mess, to say the least! Nothing made sense, so much so that the shack itself was a work of art. I stayed a long time drinking it in, cogitating about it, not really knowing what to do with it. Then one day, the verdict was in: the flat roof was in bad shape. It had to be totally removed, so I decided to do the same with all the excess stuff that had been piled up there for years. So, a sort of clean slate when it came to things, but not taking away any history, the layers of which I tried very carefully to preserve. People say – and this is the best part – that the place is emotionally charged. For two years, however, it was a roofless ruin that caught the wind and the spray from the sea a few metres away. It was already a bit like its former owner, who had lived there all his life until he died. That was the first thing that came to my mind. “This wouldn’t be a bad place to end up.” At that time, I was poor, and this place was as poverty-stricken as I was. The early days of Jogging were years of hardship; we lived on very little. This may shock people, but I have only been paying myself a salary for four months. With the bad weather I mentioned earlier, this place has, so to speak, been “washed clean of its past”. That’s when I had the idea of restoring the ruin, but not just any old way. I researched the site and its background, and I wanted to respect the heritage of those who had lived there. Of all these generations of people from Marseille. It is also a completely new adventure for me. Cabanons, little shacks like this, were not part of my culture. As a child in social housing, I never had access to these buildings, and we had no friends who had them. To tell you the truth, we didn’t go to the sea much. I had to learn to swim very late. So I was going into something I didn’t know about.

It was very sudden. I saw it and, I said OK without even knowing how I could do it. It was a time in my life when I was less well and full of questions. Not many people know this, but Samena came in 2015. The same year as Jogging, yes, but it took me five years of reflection and observation. I didn’t want to get it wrong.

It’s a mixture of rustic and modern, contemporary and antique. I haven’t lost sight of the fact that the development of a shack like this is above all about bringing back what you find and what is no longer of use to the city. So I followed the same approach – except that it’s also an artist’s residence! So you have a twisted metal floor lamp by Thomas Mailaender, but also a contemporary creation by Marina Bautier for the oak wardrobe in the bedroom. Apart from that, we find Enzo Mari, Vico Magistretti, lamps by Atelier Gras, a desk chair by Jean-René Caillette, a Tolix desk table and the mystical signature piece – a Virgin Mary with no hands, found in Avignon, a witness to everything that happens down here.

It’s the range of possibilities. It was never my intention to have a hotel room or, worse, an Airbnb! But artists are able to give things a dimension, and if the material is there and can give them an impetus, an inspiration, then that’s wonderful.

We are already doing quite a lot with Jogging, and we intend to give our projects even more depth! But we’ll keep it to ourselves if you don’t mind (Laughs). We were one of the first residences set up in this territory since 2015; we want to maintain a bit of mystery.

We are satisfied with what we have, but there is still much to do and create! Other approaches will be needed, other territories, other stories to tell.