Family

In Paris, the eclectic family apartment of the founder and artistic director of The Socialite Family

Constance Gennari chez elle et en famille à Paris

At

Constance Gennari, Laurent Geneslay, Achille 14, Brune 12, Léonard 4 and Uno, 1 year old

The original idea was a bit of light-hearted sociological observation. Through her online magazine, Constance Gennari hoped to introduce a new generation of parents to the world through the prism of their homes. It has been a success for the last ten years. Meanwhile, observation has been translated into action. The terminology may come as a surprise, but it's the guiding principle behind The Socialite Family decorating brand, developed in 2017: "making family". Think functional furniture that doesn't detract from its aesthetic appeal. Creating new classics, go-anywhere pieces that will span generations and interiors. Regardless of where you stand, the family is the very essence of what we're talking about and what we're exploring here. So what could be more natural than to enter the intimate world of someone who scrutinises the stories and the tastes of others? Constance Gennari is Parisian, Milanese, a mother, a wife, an entrepreneur and unstoppable. Generating ideas at the rate of 25 in as many minutes, the energetic founder and artistic director of The Socialite Family is hard to keep up with. Her curiosity is always on the lookout for an aesthetic surprise, even if it's locked away in details as precise as the dimmer switch on an '80s light. Carrying on her career, her busy social life, her family - three children and a husband who is also an entrepreneur - and, just to add a little challenge to the mix, her young Golden Retriever, Uno, she recently decided to take some of the time she doesn't have to change everything about her home. Coincidence? A decade has gone by. The first ten years of The Socialite Family's existence, ten years of living and growing in this family apartment tucked away at the top of a 1930s industrial building. A cycle that is coming to an end... but don't they say that everything begins again? Here's how things stand.

Location

Paris

Author

Elsa Cau

Photos and videos

Clothilde Redon, Elsa David

Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris

Régnant en pièce maîtresse du salon,

ajoute une touche ludique et élégante pour toute la famille.

Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris

Régnant en pièce maîtresse du salon,

ajoute une touche ludique et élégante pour toute la famille.

Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Constance Gennari chez elle à Paris

TSF

What is your background?

Constance

I grew up between Paris and Milan. After Lübeck and Janson de Sailly, I studied art history and then law at the Sorbonne in the hope of passing the auctioneer's exam. But as chance would have it, I joined Milk magazine, which had just been created, before working at the Ouvriers du Paradis agency, which was enjoying a golden age in the 1990s and was really the origin of this spirit of the Rive Gauche woman for Le Bon Marché! After that, I became an art buyer in advertising. I had to find the right photographer for the right project and suggest a signature style to the client. But, I had trouble fitting into the advertising agency mould. Personally, I like accidents...

TSF

Tell us how The Socialite Family came about.

Constance

I sent out my first The Socialite Family newsletter - I usually say Socialite, to save time - on a Friday the 13th, in 2013, at a time in my life when I was ready to set up my own business. At the time, blogs were all the rage. They were an easy way to show off your tastes, and they had the advantage of revealing a lot of hidden talent to the world! I used this format to show the interiors of my friends' homes and what I considered to be a new generation of family life. I took advantage of the time I was on unemployment benefit to set up the site.

TSF

What identity did you want to bring to the online magazine?

Constance

I wanted to focus on today's families: those who have children later in life - and who generally have more money, too. I started with my friends, who had a very urban lifestyle. With parents who work, who travel with their children, and who often live more closely with them than previous generations. They're people who have developed their taste over time and have very strong personalities that are reflected in their interiors. Unfortunately, decorating is always a compromise. You can't choose everything you have in your home on your own (laughs). Nor is the idea to wrap the apartment or house in cotton wool because the children are too young or energetic. On the contrary, we need to teach them! At home, we were always brought up with beautiful things around us. And anyway, objects and furniture live on, so it doesn't matter. That was also what The Socialite Family was all about in the early days: showing real life, with a bit of clutter and mixtures of everyday furniture and more precious items, not perfect interiors, although yes, there is an attempt.

TSF

So, in fact, the early days of The Socialite Family online magazine were also all about thinking on your feet and winging it!

Constance

At first, I had a friend translate the site for me. I asked a young designer Jeff Paff to create a mock-up for me. I went to see a local developer who looked at me quizzically as if to say that it was never going to work! I was pregnant with Brune, and we worked from his cellar. I needed to see everything and supervise everything down to the last detail. I always had my idea firmly in my mind. I used to send out newsletters every three weeks, which corresponded to many families photographed by photographers who, at first, agreed to work on a quid pro quo basis... Often, it was fashion photographers, and I offered to invest a little in their decor because I was interested in their eye for the subject.

Dans le bureau de Constance Gennari

entourent la table de poker signée Joe Colombo, transformée en bureau pour la directrice artistique de The Socialite Family.

Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris

Jeux de textures et de motifs avec

Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris

Jeux de textures et de motifs avec

Uno, le golden retriever de Constance Gennari
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Les lectures de Constance Gennari chez elle

Constance Gennari

I sent out my first The Socialite Family newsletter on Friday the 13th in 2013, at a time in my life when I was ready to start my own business.

Constance Gennari chez elle à Paris

TSF

When did you decide to launch the decoration brand?

Constance

Initially, I didn't have a business model (laughs). Especially as I refused to "sell the family silver" as someone suggested I should. This independence of taste and outlook was important to me. I met my partner, Marianne Gosset, through a mutual friend two years after I launched my blog. She'd just returned from New York, where she was working on mergers and acquisitions at Barclays. She'd already said yes to a job here in Paris. But we spent a morning together and... she decided to go for it with me. One day, La Redoute suggested we do something in collaboration: that was The Socialite Family bedroom capsule collection for La Redoute, which worked out really well. I worked with their designers in their factories in northern France. Marianne asked me if I had any other ideas, and of course, I had plenty. We'd had a glimpse of another, more hybrid model... So, we decided to go for it. We presented our first range of furniture and other items at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2017.  We now have three in-house designers and craftspeople we have carefully sourced in Europe.

TSF

In ten years, The Socialite Family has come a long way, both as a brand and as an online magazine.

Constance

Yes, but for me, the desire is the same, and I feel the same: I still want to be involved in photographing families, to be inspired by the people's stories and their homes, and of course, I still have so many ideas for collections! It's true that we've expanded considerably. But I'm still at the beginning of the story. Our core principles have been the same from the outset: for the brand, the art of the materials we use - with meticulous sourcing from European craftspeople - the art of the colours, which are of fundamental importance to me, and the art of composition and contrast. I'd add a pronounced Franco-Italian identity, which comes from my history, although I don't confine myself to it, and nothing stops me from being inspired by everything around me. We now produce 4 collections a year. 

TSF

So, what inspires you on a day-to-day basis?

Constance

My inspirations are very diverse, but often start with encounters: with fascinating and creative people, with a film, a book - it's not on social networks that you learn, in my opinion - it's an exhibition, or a flea market find. Then there's Italy, where I grew up in part and the history of the Italian design that we experienced every day in Milan. But it could also be a trip, or watching my children and the way they see the world, the way they dress, their own discoveries. One constant for me is curiosity and eclecticism. But what I don't have nowadays is time - time to be inspired!

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris

en velours côtelé blanc calment le jeu des rideaux à larges rayures et des coussins

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris

Dans une pièce qui fait la part belle aux tissus,

apporte un peu de minéral.

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris

parfait support pour mélomane.

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris

en velours côtelé blanc calment le jeu des rideaux à larges rayures et des coussins

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris

Dans une pièce qui fait la part belle aux tissus,

apporte un peu de minéral.

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris

parfait support pour mélomane.

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris

Constance Gennari

I made the Rotondo modular sofa from our brand a central feature of the living room. It’s versatile, welcoming, and fun for everyone. I turn the matching ottoman into a coffee table or a seat as needed. It’s this spirit that I like: dynamic yet elegant.

Dans la salle à manger de Constance Gennari
Dans la salle à manger de Constance Gennari
Dans la salle à manger de Constance Gennari

Sur la table de la salle à manger,

et

Constance Gennari chez elle à Paris

TSF

You grew up in a very special family environment: a very Parisian mother, an Italian father...

Constance

My mother is quite a character. Quite strict in the way the four of us were brought up, but somehow a bit folkloric, very cheeky and, above all, very elegant, with a crazy culture. She took me everywhere with her. We grew up with two Italian greyhounds amongst all her finds - she used to go bargain-hunting a lot and still goes to the Drouot auction house every day, and to the Puces de Saint-Ouen very frequently. She is very curious and has always been incredibly resourceful, even if she is a big spender. Our home was like a doll's house, all decorated and upholstered and stuffed with artworks and other objects on two floors in the 16ᵉ arrondissement. My mother drank only from crystal glasses and only ever had silver on the table. While she was listening to the Doors.

TSF

As we get to know you, we recognise your heritage and a certain taste for detail and classicism, but there's also a much more relaxed aspect.

Constance

Maybe that's the Italian side of things... My father was just the opposite: a minimal interior where not too much money was spent - that didn't interest him. Instead, it was my Italian friends who opened the doors to some fine family properties for me.

TSF

How would you describe your taste?

Constance

It is constantly evolving. Through my upbringing, I inherited a love for the 18th century (hence the love of tapestries!) and more broadly for a classic, bourgeois style. But also a passion for colours, as well as a more radical and modern tendency, likely stemming from my Italian roots. I love the clash of cultures, the blend of eras and styles. It's like with clothing: I almost exclusively love vintage pieces, pairing thrift shop finds—of which I’m obsessive—with some beautiful classic vintage items from major fashion houses, or occasionally, a pair of modern shoes or an accessory. I recently travelled to the United States where, for example, I became fixated on both old and contemporary cowboy boots!

TSF

This year, you've changed everything in your family apartment. What were you sick of seeing?

Constance

The grey polished concrete floor! I've just kept it in the kitchen. I wanted to use white tiles, but in the end, I thought it would be too clinical.

TSF

Given that we're in a historic building, you have to be sensitive to the harmony between the architecture and its decoration.

Constance

This is an industrial building dating from the 1930s, a former textile factory. Laurent Buttazzoni had already designed the interior of the apartment for the previous owners. We haven't touched the layout of the space. We simply regained a room when Leonardo was born. The rest is just decoration.

TSF

So, what changes have you made to your home decor?

Constance

I really wanted something much softer. Carpets throughout and a very 1970s/80s atmosphere where you feel like lounging on the floor, creating several nooks and crannies in the rooms, particularly in the living room, which is very large. There are more colours than before, but I also wanted to streamline: fewer pieces, just beautiful things, nothing lying around. I love the fact that I have nothing on my coffee tables any more. It's so refreshing; it feels so good! When the eye rests, it's on a pretty lamp or a beautiful painting, full stop. I've created an extension of the bookshelves for books and magazines because we have lots that we've been using for a long time. We accumulate them, and I draw inspiration from them for my work. I really like the Rotondo modular sofa from our brand. The leopard-print fabric works particularly well against the ochre of the carpet. And then, with the children and the dog, it's practical. You can move it about and put it back, and it doesn't show the dirt too much. In the corridor, I've installed a Versailles parquet floor that I found and put it back, and it doesn't show the dirt too much. In the corridor, I've installed a Versailles parquet floor that I found— — at my mother's! Years ago, she passed by a town house that was being renovated. She saw the parquet floor ripped out, cried out that it was a crime, and salvaged it for her home in the Perche countryside. We laid it here at home this year, block by block, filling in the gaps with new ones. Then we sanded, waxed and varnished the whole thing. We've also transformed the enclosed, windowless room adjoining the living room, which we use as a TV room, games room and library. For our highly successful La Scopa exhibition last winter, we took over a mansion in the middle of Paris that was due for demolition. We showed our The Socialite Family collections, and I took the fabrics we had hung on the walls and created this draped box-like effect. After our show, I then acquired a few paintings by an artist I discovered thanks to The Curators, Renske Linders , like this pair of buttocks in my office! In the evening, I turn on our little Tubo lamp, which lights it up beautifully.

Dans le bureau de Constance Gennari

Eclairage idéal pour paire de fesses parfaites :

Chez Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Chez Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Chez Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris

Après le léopard, le tigré avec

Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris

Après le léopard, le tigré avec

Dans le bureau de Constance Gennari

TSF

You live with your family. So it's not just you who decides on the decor here...

Constance

That's true. Laurent and I don't always have the same tastes and have to compromise like everyone else. But what's great is that he likes what I suggest more and more (laughs). There's a vintage desk from the American Herman Miller's house here in the living room, that belongs to him, by the way, just like this great armchair by Hans Wegner, the one with the ropes.

TSF

Can you name one of your favourite places in the apartment?

Constance

My very own office area, in a recess of the living room, flanked by picture windows overlooking the rooftops and our little balcony! My key piece here is, of course, my desk, which is actually a poker table by designer Joe Colombo. It's surrounded by my paperwork, my books and my favourite objects, some of them family heirlooms, like this little Gallé lamp that belonged to my great aunt. At each of the four corners of the table, there's an ashtray that swings out for smokers to use. I've always had a passion for ashtrays, and I have a lot of them, mostly Italian. All this to avoid smoking... I often work from here, and Léonard, my youngest son, sits right opposite me with his colouring book. I've paired it with a Plexiglas stool I bought in Italy: I love Plexiglas at the moment.

TSF

What should we look out for at The Socialite Family in the coming months?

Constance

Well, at the moment we're in the middle of promoting our latest collection, L'Arte della Gioia. It's alive, vibrant, and a genuine celebration of "home"- the cocoon that welcomes us after a hectic back-to-school period, where we find our bearings, prepare for autumn, and lose ourselves in a good book. Or even live life like in a novel! I wanted to give a nod to the new literary season, so we came up with an elegant, timeless interior peppered with books with messages, colourful and warm, with contrasting fabrics and other elements. Some of the motifs are inspired by 17th-century designs, while others are nods to the 1980s, which I'm very interested in at the moment. In the longer term, I'd like The Socialite Family to be able to spread the word to other continents. Last year, we opened our first office in New York. To be continued...

dans la chambre de Constance Gennari

Dans la chambre parentale, nos couvre-lit

et

animent le lit avec

et

dans la chambre de Constance Gennari
Chez Constance Gennari à Paris
dans la chambre de Constance Gennari
dans la chambre de Constance Gennari
Chez Constance Gennari à Paris
dans la chambre de Constance Gennari
dans la bibliothèque de constance gennari

Constance Gennari

I’ve always had a passion for ashtrays and have quite a few, mostly Italian ones. All of this, and I don’t even smoke anymore—it’s silly!

Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris

Posé sur le lit de Brune,

comme un petit berlingot féminin.

Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le bureau de Constance Gennari
Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris

Posé sur le lit de Brune,

comme un petit berlingot féminin.

Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans l'entrée de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans la chambre de Brune la fille de Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le bureau de Constance Gennari
Chez Constance Gennari à Paris
Dans le salon de Constance Gennari à Paris
Constance Gennari chez elle et en famille à Paris
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