What do you usually do at this time of the week?
“I’m working! Either I’m in a site meeting or I’m in the office (even if my office is at home at the moment).”
The Divine Bar on rue d’Hauteville, Amelie Maison d’art, the mini Hôtel Montparnasse…. The Batiik studio, founded by Rebecca Benichou, is on all fronts but always with a very personal style: colorful and joyful, refined and harmonious.
Through a permanent dialogue between disciplines, the studio adopts a singular approach seeking a balance between aesthetics and rationality. The “Ambroise Collection”, the new project of gallery owner Amélie du Chalard – two collectors’ houses for rent in Paris where everything is for sale – is the latest demonstration. An exercise in style.
What day & time is it?
“Friday, 10:19 a.m.”
What is the genesis of your latest project “Ambroise Collection”?
“For these flats / galleries, it was necessary to imagine singular spaces that could reveal the works of art and let them live. We composed with white walls, natural elements: walnut, concrete and terracotta. Nothing artificial but raw materials to get to the essential. We freed up the walls to make room for the works and instead designed the floor and the objects.”
The color palette chosen for “Ambroise”?
“Impossible to use dark or garish colors, the shades are soft to fade in front of the creations.”
“What elements have you designed to furnish the space?”
Which project are you currently working on?
“Feeling good at home.”
Your wishes for the next few months?
“We want to make people dream, to take them out of normalcy, out of déjà vu, to take a little more risk. Here, we have just finished a project for an apart-hotel “Numeros Paris” with more colors, unexpected mixes of materials. We are experimenting with things.”
What kind of projects are you particularly enthusiastic about?
“All of them! I like the idea of being able to juggle between projects, not being stuck in one place, going from a private flat to a restaurant. Afterwards, hotel or restaurant projects give us more freedom, we can take more risks.”
A material you have recently used?
“Concrete is our new obsession.”
What do you think influenced and shaped your taste?
“Meetings and travels. I went to Mexico last year and Luis Barragán’s architecture made a particular impression on me.”
The color that has always followed you?
“Pink, pink again, pink always.”
Your next design purchase?
“The Togo Sofa designed by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Roset, I know it’s ordinary, but it’s so comfortable!”
2 iconic design pieces ?
“The Ultrafragola Mirror by Ettore Sottsass for Poltronova and the Snoopy lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni Flos.”
The 3 interior designers who influence you?
“I would say Muller Van Severen, Sabine Marcelis and Dimore Studio.”
INSTAGRAM CRUSH
The last address you would like to discover?
“La Grenouillère in Montreuil-sur-Mer, it’s not recent but it’s really tempting!”
The cultural place you could return to every week?
“The Brancusi workshop, next to the Centre Pompidou, that I recently discovered.”
A fetish artistic movement?
“I would say the Viennese Secession and its Art Nouveau influences, for the poetic, offbeat and fantastical side of this movement. I particularly like Klimt’s work.”
A film set that made an impression on you?
“Wes Anderson’s films, including ‘Aquatic Life’ and ‘Darjeeling Limited’.”
