François Champsaur, Boutique villa Noailles

The oak, the giant reed, the agaves, the chestnut tree, are part of the timeless Mediterranean landscape. Its shape, its diversity, its natural poetry, are my primary source of inspiration. To celebrate the villa Noailles’ centenary a bit earlier, I wanted to revitalise the shop by fully reshaping its architecture, consisting of pieces of different sizes and heights. I envisioned a first central axis with a large plaster vault, a form and a material conveying a certain serenity. Perpendicular to this vault, I created a visual axis: structured around a large mirror, it allows to reflect both the gardens of the villa and the entrance to the shop fully dressed in giant reeds. I designed long oak pieces of furniture recalling the shape of wooden tiles. They are overlooked by plaster shelves of the same dimension, made by the Turco Staff studio, their stretched form underlines the design of the vault. Placed at the centre of this vault, a great bamboo lamp by the designer Samy Rio illuminates the whole set while two agave - leaf - shaped bronze w all lights made by the Maison Delisle Paris enliven the entrance to the shop. In the part below the glass ceiling, I envisioned a pergola through which the sunbeams create a play of
light and shadow on the furniture made of chestnut logs by the Chastersèn studio. To link the vaulted room with this summer garden, a great graduated sky painted by the Meriguet - Carrère studios conveys a sense of infinity to the whole set. Protean artist Thomas Mailaender has created for the occasion an artwork m ade of six blocks of enamelled lava forming a table, that takes place in the main room. As for the gallery owner Nicolas Veidig (DoubleV Gallery), he entrusts us with L’Hippocampe, a sumptuous work in volume by artist Maximilien Pellet.