In the hills above Nice, a family home filled with art and memories

My sons, Ollivier and Adrien Chenel, are gallery owners, and Lucillia, my daughter, is an art director. I'm an antique dealer's wife. I'm an artist and a jack-of-all-trades. Recently, I have been designing jewellery that I make to order via Instagram. And I'm from the Var and Nice!

I'm from Nice too, but I spent nine years in Paris and came back to live here three years ago. I love living here. In 2019, I co-founded an events company centred around the theme of astrology. I'm an art director, and at the same time, I still create a little content for the networks.

I've lived in Nice for 49 years. The only other Niçoise in the family is Lucillia, and she's been claiming Nice as her home since she was a little girl! Ollivier and Adrien, my two sons, were born in the Var, in Saint-Raphaël, in the clinic where I was born - I was the first baby to be registered there!

I was twenty when I decided to live with my husband, and I joined him in Nice, where he had already been an antique dealer for several years. But we met in Saint-Raphaël...

In an antique shop!

Yes, at an antique dealer's. He was a mutual friend of my parents and Alain Chenel! I was eighteen. A friend dragged me to François Biancarelli's to see his new arrivals, but I couldn't have cared less (laughs). Well, after that, I became very interested. Alain arrived from Corsica, where he'd been antique bargain-hunting, with his big estate car loaded with furniture. Ever since then, François has been Lucillia's godfather.

When I met Alain, I was supposed to go as an au pair for my cousin. But I immediately felt that there was something strong between us. I told him, "You go, I'll stay here." I had a feeling I was going to miss the boat if I didn't. He was 26 years old. He was very cautious: at the time, I was underage... but it just sort of happened that way. We started dating very soon after I came of age since Giscard had suddenly set it at 18 (laughs). So there we are; it's my husband's fault I don't speak English! He was already settled in. He started out in the Village Ségurane (editor's note: an antiques district in Nice) with François (editor's note: Biancarelli) and the Frémontiers, the whole gang, who then left for Paris. I was the only one who put up a fight! But even though he bugged me about it for years, I never wanted to go to Paris, unlike the children! We had a fabulous quality of life here... it's not for nothing that everyone comes back, by the way. He was a bit cross with me at the time, but then he admitted that I was right!

I arrived here when I was twenty and didn't understand a thing about the trade. All I did was follow my husband to the flea markets, and I used to wait around for hours in the shop... so I took up knitting. The whole neighbourhood was knitting; in fact, all the girls had the bug (laughs). I started knitting! I knew that in Paris, people opened three days a week. We did it: it was great. After that, we had an extraordinary life because we were always on the road. That's why having a fresh, young eye in this business is so important! And of course, in those days, you didn't need much money to fill an estate car with goods... things didn't come at today's prices! We didn't have a shop until 1984. We spent our lives hunting for bargains in Italy! In 1984, La promenade des antiquaires a gallery that no longer exists opened. At the time, in Nice, a system was created that was similar to the Louvre des Antiquaires in Paris. After that, there were a few little crises, and business wasn't going so well.  That's why we stopped working in shops in 1992. We were a bit fed up. Alain and Romain Ginac joined forces. After that, I was mainly responsible for the staging and decorating for the shows we took part in. My husband pushed me a lot because I was always drawing, and it runs in the family: my great-grandfather was a painter. I had a lot of fun: for example, we went to Hong Kong with the Ginacs and all our ceramics. Picasso's ceramics weren't so well known then, and they certainly didn't command the same prices. Alain and Romain bought a lot of them to resell. Romain had found a spiritual brother in Alain, even a father. And yet, there wasn't much of an age difference between them. The fact remains that we lived very close; our children grew up together, and we lived on the same floor.

We didn't even want to get married, but as I was pregnant... I was 21, and the following year, I had my first son, Ollivier. That's why I was a very young grandmother (laughs). In fact, when I found out I was pregnant, I was happy but also a little sad, I must admit because we were living on the road, and that was going to come to an end!

We never really tied ourselves down, but at that time, Alain was more into Art Nouveau, the period for which he was recognised as an expert at auctions, and Art Deco, for which I pushed hard when I discovered a passion for the style. But I didn't know anything, it was very spontaneous... he taught me everything.

Not particularly, because my husband was into everything. Of course, he was already buying Roman antiquities, but among other things, from other eras! Come to think of it, our children have rather adopted the Ginac's taste.

Ollivier, the eldest, wanted to be an antique dealer from the age of seven. Adrien wasn't sure, although it was also a possibility in his mind. But he's such an artist. He's the one who is most like his mother (laughs). Ollivier and you, Lucillia, don't talk much; you're quieter, like your father...

I've got a bit of a temper.

Yes. Rather... Very grumpy and hypersensitive! But very family-oriented, like your father. Alain was all about family, first and foremost. He had been abandoned. We, and his work, were the great passions of his life. He was still placing auction bids the day before he died. It's like being an actor: it's a job for life. In 1999, things took a turn for the better: Ollivier was 22, and he and his wife Gladys moved to Paris and opened a shop on rue du Bac. I used to come in just to arrange things when I had to do a little staging at the gallery. In the meantime, Alain, Lucillia and I left for England, and we stayed there for two years. We did some very successful antique hunting in England. We enrolled Lucillia at the French lycée, and my husband and I set off on the road again...

Yes. And my husband continued to work with Ollivier before passing on the torch.

I inherited my mother's passion for decorating.

She was always behind me (laughs).

My mother used to change the decoration in my bedroom every year at the start of the new school year. We share a passion for themes and interior design. In fact, I always start a design with a theme. It must come from my childhood (laughs): I remember coming home one day and finding my mother had redecorated my bedroom with a garden theme. It was crazy.

I'd spent hours tying bows with bouquets of flowers hanging on the walls...

I'd say... a constantly changing environment.

I threw her off balance with all my decorative schemes (laughs).

Now I have to redecorate all the time or move house because I can't stand being in the same environment for long. I need to change all the time.

I used to do that at home, too. When we were working on apartments, for example.

As a child, however, I didn't have the same passion for antiques. On the contrary, I didn't like the idea that a piece had belonged to someone else. In fact, I didn't even sit on our sofas! I almost felt a kind of disgust. All my friends lived surrounded by new things, and I dreamed of doing so... I didn't like the old, dusty side of things at all. I'm the complete opposite today: I love hunting for antiques, and my mother and I go bargain hunting together a lot. Every Monday, in fact!

I often work with contemporary architects, artists and craftspeople, especially in the region. I like to bring talent together, as I did for the Mimosa Brasserie in Nice, which is due to open soon. I also like to mix the contemporary with the old, it's true, and that's something my mother and I share. We like to recapture the soul of the place.

Bringing places back to life, you might say, trying to get as close as possible to what it might have been like at a particular time. But with a contemporary interpretation.

I've tried to get away from all that, so I've followed a few different career paths. I had a gallery for a short time, which focused on 1970s and 1980s design, but it didn't last. Was I trying to please my father, to be an antique dealer...maybe. But when it comes down to it, my thing is more the scenography and the settings, and the choice of objects, too. But selling has never been my strong point! I stayed in Nice until I was 22. After that, I went to the United States for a while, where I worked in fashion. I studied psychology, and in that, I'm probably different from the rest of the family (laughs).

It's true that Lucillia always wanted to study.

Psychology and philosophy have always fascinated me. Much more so than art! Then I arrived in Paris, but I didn't intend to: it was because I didn't have a visa to stay in the United States. The fashion world in Paris didn't suit me at all. Originally, I wanted to do fashion design. But I soon realised that it wasn't for me. I've tried lots of things, but I still have this problem of wanting to change all the time. That's my Scorpio side, always wanting to be reborn. It was there that I co-founded a gallery, then stopped and co-founded ESO. I felt like I'd found my calling.

Taurus.

We complement each other very well. Taurus and Scorpio work well together! It's funny because I realised that Venus is dominant in each family member's astral chart. To sum up very quickly, Venus often motivates creative professions, such as decoration and the pursuit of beauty. For example, we're all very sensitive to certain details: my brothers to light, my mother and I to a reassuring environment made up of objects we love... It's funny that we all have this common denominator in the family. It's almost like the genetics of shared planets. Even on the day of my baccalaureate, I brought things in to put on my table because I was afraid of being in a classroom I didn't like (laughs). Objects reassure me.

I've never really liked Paris, and I always knew I was going to go back one day. In general, the people of Nice always end up going home! It's hard not to come back when you've grown up here.  For my part, things got a bit hectic, and the lockdowns speeded up the return. But it happened gradually. I'm much better here, I love nature, and I really need to be in a world that includes the sea and the mountains. It's vital. Besides, beauty is also a landscape, isn't it? Not just a setting, not just objects.

On Leboncoin, in 2018.

Yes, 2018, during Dad's illness.

Initially, my parents were looking for a country house.

And then, when we learned that Alain was ill, the plans changed, but we kept on looking. Besides, it gave him hope. Because sometimes cancer can be overcome. In any case, when we found this house, we liked it, and it was serene, even though the garden was in an appalling state! They were an American family. She couldn't stand France, but he had tears in his eyes when he signed.

First and foremost, it's a family home full of people all the time. That's important for understanding the house. And not just family and friends: this is where I bring together artists from Nice and invite people to private sales. Eventually, we're thinking we could hold bigger events here. We're thinking about it. In any case, the idea is to make it a place that's constantly full of life.

I miss the trade...I rather miss decorating, you see.

We love hunting for antiques and bargains and decorating together. We complement each other very well: my mother has more expertise, particularly in drawing, sketching and sometimes even making models. She's very good at envisaging spaces. I'm not particularly hands-on.

To always preserve the original soul and theme of a place. For example, give it a seaside feel if it's near the sea. It always surprises me when I see people doing Mexican interiors, even though they're in the south of France. And I think the second piece of advice would probably be not to follow fashion.

Yes, things go out of fashion. And then we get bored.

And a final word of advice... put your personality into it!

Eclectic. And we're not afraid to be original! All this fashion around the Mediterranean, for example, the coloured ceramics in every restaurant that opens in Paris and elsewhere, doesn't mean anything anymore; I've seen too much of it. When I returned to Nice, I realised that there were a lot of creative people who didn't know each other. I consider my role as an art director also involves seeking out talent and bringing it together. For example, on the artistic direction of the Mimosa Brasserie, I called on the architectural firm Studio Lelaz, whom I met at one of my events.

This house dates from the late 19th century. Its architecture dates back to the early days of the Belle Epoque: we wanted to recapture this idea in the bathroom but, of course, reinterpret it in our own way! First of all, we researched the decor of the period. It just so happens that my daughter and I love hotel bathrooms, especially old ones, and we've drawn a lot of inspiration from them. I also thought of my husband, who was so fond of one of the black and white bathrooms we designed a long time ago. It took us over six months to build this bathroom, and all the furniture is made to measure. The tiles on the floor are new, but they have that old-fashioned effect, which also depends a lot on how they're laid. They're not quite straight because neither Lucillia nor I like straight.

I think I hate things when they're really too neat. Besides, I'm uneasy about how perfect new, polished decorations are.

We love life!

My husband found this wooden sculpture by Janine Janet in a local auction room in the late 1990s. It's Daphne: her counterpart Apollo has disappeared. It was exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Tuileries. It was the centrepiece of a setting I created for the occasion. I'd bought some screens, which I'd painted burgundy red, and attached large roses in red fabric. I'd also designed some sort of large petal draperies. I can't tell you how many flowers and petals I used! (laughs) One year I won first prize for a decorative design, which was actually a drape. Ollivier has always loved draperies in the gallery. Me too. In fact, I like to drape myself. Shawls are among my favourite garments. I love the gesture.

The artistic direction and visual identity of Les Mimosas in Nice, for which I chose to work with designers from the South of France: studio Lelaz, Umami, Léa Ginac... I also go shopping for the venue. It's a very French brasserie: it's a kind of restaurant that we haven't really had in Nice yet. But as always, the idea was to respect the soul of the place, which is an old beach hut. I was able to express a lot of my inspirations and choose everything from the logo to the teaspoons.

We really love the white Anna candlestick, which quickly found a place in the kitchen!

My favourite shops are Baobab in Old Nice and Trésor Public. And the must-visit restaurant Davia, known for its Niçoise specialities.

The newly opened brasserie Les Mimosas and the restaurant Les Œillets.