Merveilleux Apartment Filled With Vintage Furniture and Artwork
The residential architecture and interior design project “Merveilleux” is located in Enghien-les-Bains, France, and has been designed in 2023 by Lucie Socrate Studio. It showcases a blend of nostalgic and contemporary aesthetics, with inspiration drawn from Rio’s vibrant colors and textures.
Colorful Inspirations from Rio
Designer Lucie Socrate described the city of Rio as a major inspiration for Merveilleux. “Colors are a defining trait of my work,” she stated.
She explained her approach to creating “unconventional” iterations for the color palette of Merveilleux.
“I found in Rio a great example of this mix between warm, joyful nuances and cooler, more neutral ones,” she added.
The kitchen and bathroom tiles, made from leftover ceramics from a previous project, introduce hues of blue and green to the space.
Plants inject additional green into the design, including a mini succulent garden in the living space.
Retro-Fun Juxtaposes Masculine Elements
The geometric form of the dining table evoked “something almost raw”, Socrate says, a contradiction to the interior’s lightheartedness. “It’s mostly a masculine feel,” she stated.
Evenly distributed throughout the apartment, the lighting contributes to the design’s funky makeover aesthetic.
A horizontal statement fixture in the living area creates cut shadows, while the kitchen’s glowing integrated lighting streamlines a sharp bank of furniture.
Thoughtful Sustainably Green Interior
The bathroom’s textile decor is made from unwanted clothing, with France-sourced ceramics.
Several vintage pieces include the mahogany sideboard, leather armchairs, and a roll-up bed, which adds maximum or placement to its multiple features.
As Socrate narrowed the brief to “green” sources, she became acquainted with durable Italian flooring and made elegant hexagonal tiles for Merveilleux.
“There are small bumps on the tiles that made me think of the design of Copacabana’s famous promenade,” Socrate remarks.
The tile medley remains put and durable enough to weather trends and wear. They optimize natural cohesion, connecting to other organic elements, including leftover greenery from previous projects in the kitchen sink.
Socrate’s Delight Sets a Serious Tone
“I love having fun with many of my projects, which I take very seriously,” Sociate explains of the approach to a design characterized by “sort of meeting halfway”, seeking an equilibrium of resolutions she describes as various kinds of juxtaposition.
She continues, “I get a lot of pleasure from mixing things you wouldn’t expect to see together,” as the collection of items in Mervellieux intends for “not everybody or every client” explains.
Creating a style that the clients experience dialectically through Socrate’s custom-built furniture systems, it becomes an energetic character that produces a compelling conversation on what belongs and what may not.
“I’m obsessed with what’s essential,” Sociate adds.
The design delves into pragmatism, creating generous storage for exceptional pieces that suspended different points of view.
Counterintuitive details offer a compelling conversation of sorts, fostering a kind of conversation between what belongs firmly by its place in a single bedroom or enclosed shelving and thematically through joyful and sophisticated responses.
The Merveilleux is a studio project, as Socrate reflects on the choice of language to describe the space: “We try to have visual cues”, reaches toward art pieces, patterning, and other delicate design decisions that establish connections to the broader curation.
Other projects employ intentional color palettes to structure the interior that Socrate describes as the elevated palette connecting rooms through yellow, proportional shapes, and organic, quirky texted accessibility.
Photography by Hervé Goluza
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