- Interior
Dream away in the artistic and organic interior of Apartment Saint-Germain. Designer Emmanuelle Simon created a sober and natural aesthetic with custom interesting, unique and beautiful decorative pieces and details.
Talented French Israeli design- er Emmanuelle Simon gradu- ated from the École Camondo in Paris in 2012. She began her career with Jean-Marie Massaud and Pierre Yovanovitch. With these masters, Simon gained crucial experience in both public and private project design around the world. With the necessary skills in her pocket, she finally set up her own studio in 2017, creating interiors as well as furniture and object designs. 
Authentic Craftmanship
With a global vision, Simon sees every project, from interiors to objects, as something unique and gives each design a strong identity of its own. For the realisation of her bespoke furniture, she works with craftsmen who excel in what they do. In Simon’s aesthetics we recognise influences from Art Deco and the wabi sabi philosophy, a style originating from Japan in which the beauty and acceptance of transience and imperfection are central. Her ‘Raku’ series, consisting of a cabinet bar, tables, sconces, cabinet murals and a buffet, is a perfect example of this. As the name suggests, she was inspired for these pieces by Raku, a centuries-old Japanese firing technique in which ceramics crackle through rapid cooling and thus show imperfections. These influences celebrate the raw properties of materials and give her projects an authentic look and feel in the carefully designed lines of architecture. Simon makes clever use of light to accentuate every detail by volume and to create the right atmosphere. The well-considered details and decoration are always unique and beautifully balanced, creating a refined and sophisticated whole.
The well-considered details and decoration are always unique and beautifully balanced.
Apartment Saint-Germain
This project in the seventh arrondissement of Paris is a true sober and artistic oasis. Apartment Saint-Germain is located in a typical Parisian building in Haussmann-style. With a neutral colour and material palette of off- white, beige, wood, rattan and ceramics, the designer created a refined and unique home with a poetic aesthetic. We clearly recognise her specific style partly because the customers gave her complete carte blanche. 
Simon kept the layout of the rooms and focused on the design and experience of the spaces. Thanks to the all-white walls and the French chevron parquet floor, the space feels very open, light and airy. The neutral and soft colour scheme plays with light and is nicely balanced with different materials such as rattan, velvet, bamboo and rice paper. This creates an eclectic atmosphere throughout the apartment thanks to the many but well-considered pieces of decoration and art objects with different textures. The whole interior reads like a perfectly composed work of art. The furniture pieces, such as the black solid ‘Elly’ dining table, the ‘Jonathan’ bookcase, the special ‘Yaku-Raki’ coffee table made of lava stone and the ‘Samba’ bed made of natural brushed oak, are custom made designs by Simon. Other pieces include finds from ceramics studio Aurélien Gendras, Maisonjaune Studio, Quentin Marais and the Desprez-Breheret gallery in Paris. We also recognise the iconic Pierre Augustin Rose sofa. The main materials of her own furniture including lava stone, blackened assamela wood and Raku ceramics determine the sober and organic palette in this home. For the colours Simon based her choice on natural and mineral tones such as sand, terracotta and lime- stone. This gave the whole an almost thermal look and feel. In addition to the special objects and furniture, Simon used paintings by artist Hermentaire to really complete the interior. His colours and interplay of lines match the subdued palette and subtle contrasts.
The apartment became a sober and natural oasis in the middle of the bustling French capital. Filled with curiosities, art and authentic pieces, each room here became a quiet and refined experience. A true timeless Parisian interior gem. 
A big fan of Emmanuelle Simon? Then be sure to read our full interview with her in our magazine Imagicasa Autumn 2020 and also keep an eye on the upcoming summer edition of 2021, where we will highlight her latest unique project!
Images courtesy of Emmanuelle Simon
Photography by Damien de Medeiros