I always try in my projects
to go back into my childhood.
My desire is just to travel,
you know, into another world.
Because it's a small space
we can push all the details to create this world.
My name is Anthony Authié.
I am an architect and designer
at Zyva Studio in Paris.
I live in this apartment with my wife, Adele and my dog Nepal.
The apartment is located in an old industrial building
in the suburban town of Bagnolet.
It's close to Paris.
This building was originally an office building
for a company that made wood floors in the eighties.
I think the building was converted into a residential building
in the 2000s.
The goal for me and my wife was to create a truly unique experience
that reflects who we are.
I am very inspired by childhood play
like Legos, or memories playing Mario on my Nintendo
growing up.
When we found this space, we were super happy to see the high ceiling
and this big volume.
Some spaces were already there, but it was much more compact.
We increased the size of the kitchen and modified the staircase
to wrap around the kitchen and open it up to create one big airy space.
We also removed a small wall in the bathroom
to add a closet.
The entrance of the apartment
is the start of an L-shaped hallway.
The walls are bright yellow and the floor is a grey terrazzo.
The living room is essentially a large grey box
that’s 4.2 meters high.
It shares the space with the kitchen and dining.
There are two large windows to provide natural lighting
for the entire apartment.
The pieces of furniture here were either made by me or by my friends.
The sofa is a wood structure
with red leather cushions.
The shelves are actually kitchen shelves but work well in the space.
The base of the coffee table was 3D printed by myself.
They were inspired by spiny Koopa
Troopas in the Mario games.
I called on various designers I admire to find company for my
Bandit chair, created with the carpenter Maxime Comet, and named after
the fictional criminal Dalton brothers from popular Belgian comics ‘Lucky Luke’.
We have also pieces by my friend Alix Coco.
She is a super talented designer.
We have the Jojo stools, which is like a little yellow octopus
and the Dinodish.
The artwork of the living room
and in the other areas of the apartment
are all from designers that I love.
The kitchen is on the other side of the living room.
The metal doors and grey granite countertop
was inspired by Mr. Freeze from Batman.
I often think of kitchens as a cold science lab
where experiments are conducted and things are preserved.
All the door handles were all 3D printed at my studio.
I like to play with scale with the pattern of the granite.
The countertop is large with a darker tone.
The dining table is lighter with a smaller pattern.
There are four orange stools that look like
the pipes in Mario Bros.
There is a staircase at the end of this open living, kitchen
and dining space, which also acts as a wall for one side of the kitchen.
The stairs leads to the bedroom.
The outer layer of the curtain is a block out fabric in yellow.
So from the lower floor
the bedroom looks like a large yellow box.
When in the bedroom there is another layer of curtains
with a 3D fire simulation pattern
that I design and printed into the curtain
On the wall
there is storage for our clothes.
The lighting in the bedroom is inspired by the industrial lighting
you can find in the subway of Paris.
The bathroom is located by the entrance
through the yellow door.
It is quite a spacious room and contains a large sink,
shower, closet and laundry space.
The floor and the walls are the same grey terrazzo
as the rest of the apartment.
The sink is a large floating white resin
slab with a large mirror above.
I also designed and made the yellow 3D
printed lights that illuminate the space.
The shower sits in the corner of the room
and it's always open as there is no need for a door.
It also increases the usable area
in the shower.
The green closets provide extra storage for our clothes and also hides the washing machine.
The space feels a bit like the walk in closets
that you can often find in larger houses.
It's a bit of luxury, but it's also convenient to have all
this function close by.
I can change, wash and store my clothes
within the same area.
The toilet is in a separate room next to the bathroom.
It has a similar design to the bathroom.
I try to integrate into my work a bit of humor.
I really like to think of spaces and pieces of furniture
like fictional characters, just like the toys in Toy Story
that come to life as soon as Andy leaves the room.
They are an integral part of a larger play that’s enacted around me.
I think my philosophy with small spaces
is to create a truly unique experience, as if you are entering into a time machine
and traveling through new unexplored worlds.
The space is bigger when you have this kind of feeling.