For French interior designer Anne-Sophie Pailleret, the notion of chic is very personal. “Everyone has their own perception,” she says. “Mine is that it should be joyful and not too conventional.”
She certainly took an audacious, free-spirited approach to her recent revamp of a 2,475-square-foot Paris apartment owned by an entrepreneur in the luxury goods industry. “The client is very decisive and likes to take risks,” says Pailleret. “She supported us in making bold choices.”
Outfitted with wicker furnishings and vases by CFOC, the rooftop terrace is enlivened by cushions and pillows in an array of Dedar fabrics. Photo: Stephan Julliard
A Jeppe Hein balloon sculpture helps set a spirited tone in the living area of a Paris apartment by designer Anne-Sophie Pailleret, who installed Liaigre armchairs clad in a vibrant Métaphores fabric facing a custom cocktail table with a glass top in a candy pink. An Arte paper accents one wall as well as the folding doors, which open to the family room, where photographs by Marilyn Minter are mounted atop a Phillip Jeffries wall covering. Photo: Stephan Julliard
The reimagined rooms burst with rollicking high style, animated by creative combinations of sumptuous materials, eye-catching patterns and pops of color, and sculptural furnishings. Exuberant artworks from the client’s collection add pizzazz throughout.
Before Pailleret could let loose, however, serious structural work was required. Located on the top floor of a 1980s building, the apartment had its distinct appeals, not least a private roof terrace with a striking view of the Eiffel Tower. At the same time, numerous issues needed to be addressed. The unit had low ceilings and a host of small rooms. “It was quite dark,” says Pailleret, who trained with designer Jean-Louis Deniot before starting her own firm in 2010. “My aim was to open everything up to let light flow in from both sides.”
Textured plasterwork animates the ceiling and fireplace surround in the living area, which is anchored by a Liaigre sofa covered in a Métaphores fabric. Pailleret designed the gold floor lamps and the organic-shaped rug made by Codimat Collection. Photo: Stephan Julliard
To that end, she knocked together four different rooms to create an expansive living and dining space. She also managed to raise the ceilings some ten inches and applied decorative elements to them. Above the main sitting area, for example, she installed a large plaster disk detailed with the same motif resembling thousands of tiny feathers that embellishes the room’s fireplace surround. “When ceilings are low, the last thing you should do is leave them plain,” she says. “If you liven them up, it gives them more grandeur.”
The starting point for the overall decoration was the art collection. The first step was to decide which works would be placed where, and that in turn informed the color palette. In the living area, Pailleret installed a Jeppe Hein sculpture, a trio of mirrored balloons in bright green, magenta, and mauve that float along one wall. “It’s amusing and almost childlike,” notes Pailleret, who played off the work’s hues, largely adopting the pink and purple tones for the space’s upholstery fabrics while inserting sunny splashes of yellow.
Eloy also created the kitchen's oxidized-copper cabinet fronts, which play off the Breccia Vaticana marble backsplash and countertops. The Sancal stools are upholstered in a leafy Dedar fabric. Photo: Stephan Julliard
A Thea Djordjadze metal wall sculpture that hangs in the dining area helped to inspire the distinctive mottled-copper cabinet fronts in the nearby kitchen. The panels were created by one of Pailleret’s most steadfast collaborators, French decorative artist Solène Eloy, who also applied the coppery confetti-like splatters to the sliding glass partition between the kitchen and dining area. A Damien Hirst “Spot” painting in muted hues, meanwhile, gave rise to the bedroom’s soft blush tones and the adjacent bath’s pale greens.
Pailleret also took cues from the client and her trove of “amazing clothes, jewelry, shoes, and bags,” she explains, prompting luxurious, feminine touches. She points to the bespoke cabinet in
the primary bedroom, whose Japanese ash doors are woven with golden thread.
In the dining area, Pailleret installed a whimsical light fixture by Luke Lamp Co. above the client's vintage chairs and table, accented with Loewe candleholders. A flea market plaster lamp perches on a cabinet by Pailleret beneath a Thea Djordjadze metal wall sculpture, whose tones are echoed by copper-leaf sliding glass panels custom painted by Solène Eloy. Photo: Stephan Julliard
The two women had particular fun selecting fabrics. “I really like creating connections between what you might wear and what you put on your couch,” recounts Pailleret. “When I’d present a textile to her, she’d wrap it around herself and note how it would make a great skirt.” In the designer’s mind, the upholsteries on the sofa and armchairs in the living room are reminiscent of Chanel tweeds, while the Dedar jacquard on the stool in the primary bath is perfect for a kimono.
Pailleret custom made much of the primary suite, including the bed, which is upholstered in a Métaphores chenille, and the floor-to-ceiling headboard, covered in Cuir au Carré leather. The bench clad in a Rubelli fabric is alos her design, as are the brass wall sconce and the cabinet beneath a Damien Hirst "Spot" painting. The wall covering is by Élitis. Photo: Stephan Julliard
“As in all my work, every detail tells a story”
Anne-Sophie Pailleret
More than anything, Pailleret wanted to inject a spirit of fun. She compares the legs of the living room’s custom glass-and-colored-ceramic cocktail table to marshmallows, a frosted-glass lamp in the primary bedroom to “an iced candy,” and the Pierre Gonalons pendants in the bath to lollipops. She also went to town with a combination of riotous, geometrically patterned wallpapers in the family room; installed a ropy, lasso-like chandelier in the dining area; and hung a life preserver on one of the kitchen walls.
In the primary bath, which features a floor of Sicis mosaic tiles, Pierre Gonalons pendants hang above an emerald quartzite tub and vanity. Photo: Stephan Julliard
About the only thing that didn’t make the cut was painting the kitchen ceiling in yellow and white stripes à la artist Daniel Buren. “I wanted to bring a touch of Miami Beach to Paris, and it would have been like a parasol,” explains Pailleret, with slight regret.
Still, the apartment is hardly wanting for personality. “As in all my work, every detail tells a story,” the designer says. “There’s never anything left to chance.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2025 Spring Issue under the headline “Parisian Panache.” Subscribe to the magazine.
