Heart Space

Parisian design duo Baptiste Rischmann and Guillaume Gibert of RMGB have recently completed a project that captures both the intimacy of home life and the cosmopolitan flair of their clients. Created for a family of five returning to France after several years abroad, it combines classic Haussmannian elegance with a sense of modern adventure, while also reflecting its owners’ fashion-world roots.

Rischmann says that the couple’s fashion background had a distinct bearing on the final design, including “the richness of materials and the variations in textures, as well as the combination of vintage and more contemporary furniture pieces. All of these elements resonate with the world of fashion, through different mediums or at different scales; the explorations can thus intersect and inspire one another.”

The work of Gio Ponti was a particular influence, and particularly Villa Planchart, the hilltop house in Caracas that the 20th-century Italian maestro once described as “an abstract sculpture on a massive scale”. At RMGB’s Parisian apartment, Villa Planchart’s material warmth finds its echo in ebonised oak, patinated steel, mohair velvet and varnished lava stone, as well as in the precision of the built-in cabinetry

“For this apartment, we devoted a great deal of attention to custom-made furniture,” says Rischmann. “In the spirit of Gio Ponti, we enjoy working at different scales and designing each object according to its function, thus creating pieces that are both functional and meaningful.”

RMGB’s creations include a stainless-steel DJ unit in the dining room as well as the bar that sits opposite it, while the living room sofa, with its gently faceted profile, was designed for the space but has since become more widely available via Adret Éditions, RMGB’s recently launched product design spin-off.

The living room also features a painting by Malian artist Amadou Sanogo – hung in a daringly asymmetrical manner to one side of the ornate fireplace – and a monumental table in hand-carved cedar by the California-based Dan Pollock. A video projection system has been cleverly concealed within a piece of furniture.

A few changes to the layout were made to suit the family’s lifestyle. “Ultimately, the main architectural challenge in a Haussmannian apartment is transforming it to suit a contemporary lifestyle and circulation, while preserving its original character and charm,” says Gibert. “Kitchens are often poorly located, and long corridors fragment the spaces, limiting the apartment’s flow and sociability.”

While the main historical architectural features have been restored, there’s now more of a sense of proportion and flow, as Rischmann continues: “We relocated the kitchen, which was originally in a small room separate from the reception areas, as is often the case in Haussmannian apartments. With a focus on elegance and fluidity of space, we decided to create enfilade reception rooms: the kitchen now opens on to the dining room, which in turn flows into the living room, creating a harmonious and welcoming sequence.”

This flowing sequence means that materials can create a rhythmic repeat across the rooms: a swirling green marble kitchen splashback that picks up on the marble dining table in the adjacent space, or brass-lined niches that echo the vintage light (from Galerie Danke) above the dining table. The kitchen itself is in a minimally styled stained oak, and there’s an informal banquette in mohair velvet, echoing the curves of Pietro Chiesa’s 1950s pendant lamp above it.

There was a further change in the master bedroom, which has expanded to become a full suite of bedroom, dressing area and en-suite bathroom. The latter is a dark space with teal stick-tiles lining the walls and an opulent black marble basin, which leads off an equally moody dark green wall in the bedroom. Rischmann says that the bathroom “provides a feeling of enveloping comfort and offers a genuine sense of calm.”

The ultimate goal here was to craft a home that is not only deeply personal, but also one where heritage and modernity can effortlessly co-exist. It feels rooted in its Haussmannian past, yet completely alive to the possibility of connecting to other places, times and cultures.