Family
The Captivating Inner World of Two Individuals on a Quest for Beauty
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At
Emane de Malleray and Vincent Viard, Otto 7, Hyacinthe 4, Paul 3 years old
Emane de Malleray and Vincent Viard share their unconditional love of words and beautiful objects with the Socialite Family! Unique individuals, the couple gave us the immense pleasure of welcoming us to their fourth creation… in five years! Three apartments and a country house that demonstrate the extent to which the couple share “a fascination with everything related to the home”. It’s a world that surrounds them every day, each time they look up, and when they look down, whether at their phone as they search through thousands of images taken during their travels, or simply at the pages of a book. There’s no doubt: listing everything that inspires them would take far too much time (and space). In Vincent’s mind, focus should be placed on “knowing where to look”. Inside the travertine-covered walls of their apartment located in the heart of the Marx Dormoy neighbourhood, there’s certainly “room” to find what you’re looking for. Room to dream; as you soak up the incredible wallpaper designs by Emane, a one-of-a-kind, self-taught woman. Room to find yourself (and your family): thanks to the meticulous design of every space in the apartment. Room to create: more than ever thanks to life-saving, minimalism that soothes your eyes – and your soul – as the day draws to a close. This order is surprising, knowing the couple is “on a quest for beauty”. Their passionate responses suggest it would endlessly burgeon; the pair themselves having previously confessed to being guided by the hunt for beautiful objects. These beautiful objects are hidden, waiting to be uncovered before being married together by the couple to reveal them. In the same vein as Josef Franck – a key source of artistic influence for Emane – who used colours to guide his “philosophy of happy accidents”. With the exception that their own “interior” motto obeys the sacred rule of “+1 -1”. Namely: when an object is added, an object is taken away. While this rule may be considered restrictive for some, we’re sure that for these fanatical antique hunters it makes the interior design and decor game even more exciting!
Discover Emane de Malleray and Vincent Viard's unique world in our self-published book,
. An anthology of the most impressive interior glimpses throughout the history of our medium, available in our shop and on our e-shop.
Location
Paris
Author
Caroline Balvay
Photographer
Constance Gennari
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TSF
Emane, Vincent: could you introduce yourselves, please?
Emane
Vincent works in the home sector, and I’m a wallpaper design. We have three boys, and we have always lived in Paris. We both love everything related to the home. We love designing interiors. From renovation to decoration, we find the exercise fascinating. In five years, we have already changed flats three times and renovated a house in the country!
TSF
What is your background?
Emane
I am entirely self-taught. I started at a theatre school, and then I set up my own business with one of my sisters. It was a pyjamas and children’s underwear brand that we called Adri. I really enjoyed the experience, and it taught me a lot, especially how to draw! We didn’t know much about it, so we improvised everything. It was great because you had to be really creative, and I could be involved in everything! I ended up leaving after six years. I then worked for a few fashion brands, but I missed the pure, creative approach I’d known at Adri. So I went over to textile design, and after training at a school of applied arts, I set up my own business. Today, I design and market my creations under my name, Emane de Malleray!
Vincent
I started with a classic course in one of the top colleges, but I quickly moved on to communication for luxury brands. Not for “luxury” as such, but to work on beautiful things. I’ve always loved everything to do with architecture, objects and furniture. And this is the world in which I am developing myself now!
TSF
Tell us about your education in “beauty”. How did your tastes develop?
Emane
I was immersed in an aesthetic environment linked to beautiful houses and beautiful exteriors, but I can’t say that my parents had a real desire to pass this on to us. So my approach to beauty came about rather spontaneously and was, above all, linked to fashion. The search for that delicate balance between material, colour and form. That’s really how I started to express my aesthetic sensibility. Meeting Vincent, who had a very different approach from mine and who had benefited from a comprehensive education in good taste since he was a child, helped me to evolve and widen my horizons. My playground is now much bigger!
Vincent
It clearly comes from my family! We are hungry for beauty. We search for it everywhere, all the time. In books, landscapes, objects, houses… And I’ve always worked closely with art directors who have allowed me to complete my education in fashion, graphic design, design and architecture. I travel a lot too. Each time, I come back with hundreds of photos that nourish me and help to feed my imagination.
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TSF
When did you realise you wanted to dedicate your life to it?
Emane
I don’t think I realised it consciously. I’m a hypersensitive person, everything has a strong effect on me. I need to surround myself with order and beauty for my own well-being. It calms me down, soothes me. But it took me a long time to allow myself to change my “status”; to go from being a consumer to being a creator of beautiful things. It feels completely natural to me now!
Vincent
My rather classical university experience was almost an obstacle. There, beautiful things were for leisure, they didn’t really count as “serious work”! It’s only been in the past few years that I have really managed to make the two coincide.
TSF
What nourishes and stimulates your inspiration on an everyday basis?
Emane
That’s a question I’m often asked. I’m very much captivated by the spontaneity in art and aesthetics in general. The raw, lively aspect and the contrasts bowl me over. For example, I was obsessed with the idea of giving our sons a mixed-up first name. The idea of a boy with an ambiguous first name totally delighted me. I only got my own way for Hyacinthe! So I have many inspirations. In the main, I would cite the naïve painters for the contrast created by the mastery they bring to the service of innocence, contemporary dance (the pieces by William Forsythe and Pina Baush being my favourites), and illustrations for children’s books as well. Some of them are stunning! I have a vivid memory of the day when, at nursery school, I first opened the book, The Three Robbers. That was an aesthetic shock to the system. The big black or blue backgrounds on which the simple silhouette of their hats stood out – it was so evocative of mystery and darkness! Materials also inspire me. There is something very instinctive in the way you appreciate them because they appeal to several senses There’s nothing reasoned or intellectualised about it, I think that’s what I like! In short, I draw inspiration from both large and small things.
Vincent
Everything, all the time! It is more a question of knowing how to look, I think. I walk a lot, wherever I am, because walking pace gives me time to look. And then, of course, books, magazines, travels, films, people, exhibitions and so on.
TSF
What period of history would you have liked to live in?
Emane
The 30s and 40s. Whether you think in terms of fashion, architecture or design, these two decades were extremely rich and continue to influence me – us – today!
Vincent
Oh my goodness, there are so many! From ancient Greece for its simple beauty to the 18th-century, for which I have a particular affection both from a formal point of view and for the Enlightenment, to the Roaring 20s, where we freed ourselves stylistically from so many things and where the atmosphere must have been formidable. And then there’s the 70s and 80s which, seen from today’s perspective, seemed so carefree, with so much freshness and excess. But I’m delighted to be alive today because we have inherited all of that at once. And I loathe nostalgia.
TSF
Designers, artists: who are those whose work has influenced you and your work?
Emane
Without hesitation, I would say Josef Franck. As an architect and designer in the 1930s/1940s, he created some totally stunning interior design motifs. You can even find pieces of furniture decorated with some of his fabrics, exceptional! His favourite subject is mainly the world of plants, and the way he draws the natural world, the way he captures it in his illustrations, is so simple and spontaneous. As for his use of colours… It’s magnificent. Judging by his work in textile design, we can see how daring that period was in terms of decoration when you see the wealth of motifs he created. It’s quite different today. We take a more restrained, more controlled decorative approach. At school, I was frequently told that my designs were too rich, that I would have to pare them back if I was to be profitable. I agree entirely, but I can’t work like that! It has to be rich and lush, the eye must get lost, otherwise what is the point of wallpaper at all?
Vincent
For me, it will be more like a place: the Villa Necchi in Milan. For Piero Portaluppi’s brilliant architecture, which I feel is enriched by the mixture of furniture periods and the art of good living that it implies. Every detail, from the door handle to the garden furniture, is perfect. I keep everything!
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TSF
Here we are in your apartment. What was your thinking here?
Emane & Vincent
For our third apartment in Paris, we wanted a more radically material-oriented approach. So we worked on combinations of materials and on the resonance between texture and colour. We were looking for a balance between raw materials on the one hand and the way they could be worked on the other: from travertine laid in a relatively sophisticated panelled design on the dining room walls, and tons of unpolished marble in the bathrooms and kitchen but with integrated shelving and planter systems, to rough hessian for covering doors and cupboards, but with brass handles and so on. Our previous flats were very lightly partitioned with large living areas. Here, we wanted each room to have a specific function, in short, fairly classical and bourgeois. This is very important because after all, allowing oneself to have a dinner party with three friends on the coffee table in the living room seems much more intimate than a formal meal in the dining room. It’s quite non-conformist!
TSF
You have used a lot of stone everywhere, even on the wall! Why?
Emane
As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s about the love of the material again. Stone never fails to be worth touching and looking at. It’s soft, it reacts to the light in a very different way from that of a painted wall. It is almost like a landscape if you think about it, it gives the room a unique atmosphere, in nature, you find stone outside. Inviting it indoors creates a contrast (another one!) that I like. It’s also a good alternative to wallpaper or fabric for making a wall come to life. You have to remember that I work from home, I draw strong, rich motifs all day long. In the evening, I need to rest my eyes, and I don’t want my interior to interfere too obviously with my work!
Vincent
Personally, I spend a lot of time in Italy. I think the façades of Milanese buildings have become a bit of an obsession!
TSF
How did you furnish it?
Emane & Vincent
We are inveterate bargain hunters! eBay, Le Bon Coin, flea markets, second-hand shops, auction rooms, antique dealers, in France and abroad: everything comes from there. The hunt for beautiful objects is a powerful driver for us, and we mainly furnish in this way. I think a good part of the satisfaction in owning this or that piece of furniture lies in the fact that we have discovered it hidden somewhere, and that we reveal it by associating it with other pieces: this is how we make it our own. However, we don’t want to be overwhelmed either. We have to respect the “+1-1” rule: one item in, one item out, so as not to over-furnish or over-decorate. A house that is too full is exhausting, and the object must have a function, that’s its primary reason for being. We have very few purely decorative elements.
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TSF
How does it reflect your personality and that of your family?
Emane & Vincent
Its a search for the right balance in everything: old and modern, simple and sophisticated, comfortable spaces for entertaining friends but also space for family life. And the possibility of combining both, with reception rooms far away from the bedrooms!
TSF
Where are we likely to find you in the coming months?
Emane & Vincent
Probably in a new flat because we like the exercise too much and we want to play again!
TSF
You live in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. What are your favourite places there?
Emane
We are in a very popular area of the 18th, and we really appreciate its variety. If you want to see architecture, there is the former Customs House building in Rue Pajol. Its art deco concrete façade is remarkable. It is very rigorous and yet full of details. It has been restored very well; I love the metal shutters and the orange blinds! We also really like all the Indian grocery shops at the top of Rue du Faubourg St-Denis The fruit and vegetable stalls are amazing, and we make fantastic discoveries there. We feel really privileged to have this variety at our fingertips. There is also the 104, there is a real open-mindedness about this place. Few places in Paris are so free of the judgement that we frequently pass upon each other. We love to go there on Sundays with the children, the exterior of the building is magnificent. There is space, and above all, there is an Emmaüs shop where there is always something to be found!
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