Project Name: Kennedy Residence

Location: Paris

Date Completed: 2018

Interior Designer: Guillaume Alan

Perched in a magnificent 19th century edifice, with views of the Seine and the Eiffel tower, this residence was the perfect setting for Guillaume Alan to achieve a home with a striking interior and a masterclass in aesthetic restraint. In the harmony with finest tradition of ‘decorateurs ensembliers’, by apprehending projects as a whole, architecture, interior design and furniture have been thought and drawn out by the same hand.

‘This project expresses a minimalist poetry of space, an elaborate and highly precise process, giving birth to a universe of serenity, calmness and emotion’ says Alan. The project is designed to be pure, flawless and harmonious. With elegance and refinement, the way how the designer defines and treats the space is very clean, characterized by pure and strong lines, breath taking precision and impeccable proportions. This project echoes with the words of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncusi who stated that ‘simplicity is complexity resolved’.

Combining minimalism with classicism and with historical references, as the Orangery in Versailles, Alan created a series of high-ceiling arches in a natural beautiful stone colour with recessed mirrors in the entrance hall. The shape of the large window in the living was inspired by an old door Alan saw in Oxford, England and the lighting are inspired by Georgian design. Obsessed with precision, in this spacious home, all the rooms are linked by materials and palette.

Guillaume Alan’s schemes are tactile and luxurious using fine woods, such as oak or ash, natural marble, brass, raw linen, soft leather, wool, silk, bronze and always focused on a bespoke palette. All is about degraded shades in this private Residence, in a very light grey palette, ‘craie’ (chalk) colour. The way each material and texture capture the light, create a coherent whole. The love of light is key to Alan’s aesthetic and design ethos and is a vital feature of the project. As he likes to say; ‘The architecture is discovered while walking. Light makes architecture, it’s thanks to light that walls, space and shadows can exist’.