Maison Mise En Place

For their Lyon-based studio and boutique Maison Hand, interior designers Pierre Emmanuel Martin and Stéphane Garotin outfitted a bare loft as if it were a private home. Walking from the living room to the kitchen to the dining area, clients encounter the cleanest lines in contemporary furniture design, including some of Maison Hand’s own bespoke pieces. But for their nearby home on Rue Bizolon, the pair was tasked with furnishing a space already steeped in tradition: high ceilings met by moulded cornices, wooden parquetry laid out in herringbone, floor-length windows letting in generous strips of daylight. Occupying the third floor of an 1852 building, it epitomizes the urban French apartment. And to “emphasize its spirit” of being at once dated and timeless, the designers carefully peppered the space with icons of modern furniture and industrial design.

A Platner Arm Chair in Maison Hand's apartment on Rue Bizolon. Photography by Felix Forest.

In the balance of old and new, proportions are crucial. “Decorating is like cooking; everything is in the mixing and dosing,” Martin and Garotin explain. “The vintage Knoll pieces are part of this exercise.” The pieces they chose don’t simply play with the predictable textures of the lyonnaise living quarters, but are positioned amidst an eclectic assortment of art and object—markers of the designers’ travels abroad as well as their inclusive appreciation of material and craft.

A Platner Arm Chair in Maison Hand's apartment on Rue Bizolon. Photography by Felix Forest.

In the bedroom, the dense wiring of a Platner Arm Chair charges the subtle finish of the paneled doors behind it. Another Platner Arm Chair faces a pair of Moroccan tribal masks, insinuating the fluid line that separates furniture from sculpture. In the living room, the curved bases of the Platner Coffee Table and Saarinen Side Table offset the rectilinearity of the surrounding wainscoting. Inside a nineteenth-century skin, instances of classic Knoll design enter a non-linear narrative of art and decoration—as Martin and Garotin contend, “their timelessness is always elegant and chic wherever you put them.”

A Platner Coffee Table in Maison Hand's apartment on Rue Bizolon. Photography by Felix Forest.

 

Project Credits:

Design: Maison Hand
Photography: Felix Forest