The Olympic torch might be on its way to Paris, along with 15 million visitors, but, like thousands of their fellow Parisians, Anaïs Seguin, Alice Gras and their newborn daughter, Gisèle, won’t be around to greet them. “We will be on a beach in the south of France,” says Seguin. “It’s going to be crazy here.”
Until their summer sojourn, the family – including three-year-old silver tabby Billie – are happily in residence in the Haussmann apartment they started renting last year in the leafy, village-like 17th arrondissement.
Anaïs, 36, and Alice, 38, have been business partners for 10 years and a couple for almost nine, building up their furniture and graphic design studio Delajoie Editions, as well as running Moyo (Mind of Your Own), a community of local creative entrepreneurs. Their home is their office, as well as a joyful crucible for their design endeavours – a place full of colour, constantly rearranged flowers, and furniture they have designed and customised.
A bright central space is home to the living room, where Rotondo sofa modules – recently re-covered in citrus-coloured velvet – match canary-yellow Dedar moiré fabric panels that the couple have cut to fit into the mouldings on the walls of the lounge.
“We chose the yellow because it’s energising and works well with all the light that comes into the apartment,” says Anaïs, adding that they were rigorous about colour choices. An airy dining room connects to the space, with – along a narrow hallway – a bathroom, galley kitchen and a bedroom painted powder blue (“To match Anaïs’s eyes,” says Alice).
As tenants, the couple, who previously lived in an apartment nearby, have had to be inventive with their design choices. The panelling in the living room is easily removable, making it a convenient way to add glamour that they can take with them when they leave. Original bathroom and kitchen units have been given “country house” flair with candy-striped curtains and geometric vinyl flooring, to colour match. “A temporary and elegant solution to cover the grey and sad floor,” says Anaïs.
Meanwhile, zings of colour have also been added to the space through painted chair legs, tables and storage units. “We brought some things from our previous home,” says Anaïs, “including the dinner table and coffee table that we designed, but we had them repainted for the new space.”
The couple say they’re in sync when it comes to their playful tastes (they even dress alike). They met at a fancy dress party in their 20s. “I was a princess and Alice was Black Swan,” says Anaïs. Alice studied graphic design and worked for five years as an art director for the international GLA Hotels brand, while Anaïs worked in film before they started their business. “We have got more personally connected to our creativity in recent years,” says Anaïs. “Alice draws and sculpts and paints and does a lot of the designing.” A low-fi, DIY approach to interiors has given their apartment a joyful energy – and built the couple a following on YouTube and Instagram, where they share tutorials on how to emulate some of their more exciting projects.
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Everything in their home tells a story. Take the bedroom, where a much-loved holiday in Venice inspired a bold, hand-painted frieze around the ceiling and doors, taking its visual motif from the ancient flag of the city. Or the headboard, handmade from an old sheet that belonged to Anaïs’s grandmother and restyled with bows and pleats. The walls of the dining room are dotted with a witty collage of art, meaningful to the pair. Pieces painted by Alice are joined by fabric samples the couple have created for projects, as well as a booklet of illustrations by the artist David Shrigley. “It’s the kind of thing I used to do with magazines when I was younger,” says Anaïs.
Tripling up as a family room, an office and a place to entertain at the weekend; it’s this space that the family spend much of their time in. It was because of regular “long lunches” with friends and contacts that the couple commissioned a wooden bench for the room, to expand seating at the dining table. Painted in a lavender blue reminiscent of the fields of Provence, the bench serves another purpose, too. Like many new parents, the couple often find that mess creeps in to their apartment, but a spacious cupboard under the seat means they can clear clutter away quickly – ensuring their home remains an oasis from busy Paris outside. “This is the perfect apartment for us,” Anaïs says, of its relaxing atmosphere. “It feels like a little bit of the countryside in the city.”