We wanted to focus the maximum
on the idea of the outside getting inside
because we are very lucky
because we are in front of the Cemetery of Père Lachaise
First, it's a quiet place
but it's also one of the biggest parks in Paris
You don't feel anymore in Paris, or in a town
in a big city like this
You feel a little bit like in the countryside
And I'm coming from the countryside
I'm not a city guy
And in a way, I can't really live in a city
so it was my only way to resist
My general idea of furniture
is doing like a "niwa"
It's a Japanese garden in the house
And I think that the furniture can participate in this niwa
Tsubo-niwa garden is really the idea
of getting a piece of nature inside the house
but in a very controlled way, in Japan
to have a reconnection spot in the house
and to never forget where we come from
or what's around us
And actually, this house is breathing
because we have modularity systems
for example, in the rooms
And everything is open, in a way, but you can close also
and you can create some private spaces
Most of the furniture I'm designing is made of material like wood
for example, American Walnut, which is a quite strong wood
with a lot of identity
So I wanted simple backgrounds
for this furniture and this material
I don't try to intellectualize too much
This has to be very instinctive
That's actually coming, perhaps, from my background
because I also did sculpture when I was at school
And I have some sculptures also of my father
because my father used to be a sculptor
I didn't know him, actually
I don't know him
I never had the chance to know him
but there is a testimony of his work in this house
And one sculpture is important
because it's expressing a woman's body who is pregnant
and actually, it was my mother
And it's a piece of wood which had, more or less, this shape
and my father took it and just worked on it
All the shapes and my language are really inspired by nature
So it's easy
A lot of designers are doing that
But it's more emotionally
like not taking a shape directly
but more an emotion
try to get a moment in this nature
which is coming from my memory
from moments I had when I was a child
or when I was growing up in Brittany
or moments I have today
And it has to be alive
and it has to breathe
Otherwise, it's just a museum
or somewhere where you can't really live
and it's boring
and you are dying in the house
Life is a synonym of life