Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 40
Occupation: Interior architect and designer.
Instagram: @marionstora
Hometown: Paris.
Studio location: Paris.
Describe what you make: Whether for yachts or private homes, I design interiors that are warm and harmonious. This year, I unveiled my first furniture collection, Opening Acts.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: The past fuels the present. Having designed bespoke pieces to fulfill clients’ expectations for spaces I created, I decided to give myself full rein with a collection of furniture. Opening Acts was born out of a desire to create a recognizable and distinctive style, drawn with rigor and precision, yet colorful and lively in atmosphere. I wanted to create a warm and welcoming collection whose materials were a far cry from glass, metal, or marble. Pieces drawn with simple, pure lines highlighting the beauty of the raw materials.
Beyond what is seen, each piece must evoke an emotion. It’s the ancestral savoir-faire and technical virtuosity of craftsmanship, from upholstery to woodwork, that give rise to this emotion. I call it the inner beauty of the pieces I create. With Opening Acts, I wanted to design a collection of 16 pieces with an unassuming and quiet feeling of beauty.
Describe the problem your work solves: The spaces we design respond to a brief that combines the emotional and the rational. It is a close relationship and complicity with the client that gives a design its strength. While comfort and practicality are self-evident, a sense of wellbeing, of harmony in a space, is at the heart of our work. Design must surprise, astonish, and excite the client, and delight them in its approach and vision. Daring creation only makes sense if it replies to the innermost desires of the client.
Describe the project you are working on now: The private apartment of a gallery owner in Soho, New York. The project highlights his personal collection of paintings and sculptures, playing with textures, materials, and colors. The power of the works on display needs to be met with elegance and discretion. We are also on a quest for new talents, new skills to develop new pieces. In particular, I’m looking into goldsmith enameling on copper combined with trimmings.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: My career path has been nourished by encounters. During our Opening Acts exhibition at Masion&Objet In The City, I met Isabelle Dubern-Mallevays and was won over by her personality and commitment to artists and designers. I’m pleased to announce here that our collection will be exclusively represented by Invisible Collection. I’m currently working on our solo show, which will be held in their Paris showroom on Rue Amélie from June to the end of September.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: My Sencha Satsuma tea, beautiful natural light for drawing and researching materials, and an atmosphere of serenity, smiles, and complicity throughout the team.
What you do when you’re not working: My consistent yoga practice over the past two decades has been crucial. It grounds, aligns, and balances me, allowing me to be open to beauty and able to translate it into my work. I have sailed since I was a little girl. I’ve always been drawn to the sea. With my husband and our son, we go off to explore an island whenever our schedule allows. In Europe or around the world, islands rhythm our special times together.
Sources of creative envy: Finnish designer Paavo Tynell, Italian designer Angelo Lelli, and architects Carlo Scarpa and Peter Zumthor are my references. I’m particularly attached to Pierre Chapo, whose sculptural, organic pieces combine contemporary design with traditional craftsmanship. His approach guides me in designing timeless furniture of integrity.
Beyond the arts, it’s really about keeping an open mind, delving into every subject, taking an interest in things and in people, and inspiration flows naturally.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Social media.
Concrete or marble? I love the cool beauty of marble, but my preference is for the warmth of wood.
High-rise or townhouse? Pantelleria dammuso for summer sunshine and a 19th-century Parisian building for living.
Remember or forget? Remember. Without memory, there is no future.
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts draped in the Hermès scarves of their times.
Dark or light? Light.
All images courtesy of Marion Stora.
