Soft Spot

“The landscape and light in Normandy have a softness that inspired the entire project,” says Esther Katz about this coastal duplex in the seaside resort of Deauville. Together with her sister Leah, the pair make up Katz Studio, and with several projects in their home city of Paris in their portfolio, this home was a chance to take inspiration from a different location, with results that are softer and more earthy than their city equivalents.

Designed for a couple with young children, Leah says that this is “a second home, a place where they can truly disconnect from the rhythm of Paris. The brief was clear from the start: the space had to feel elegant, but also welcoming and functional for family life.”

This home started out as two separate apartments, but the two levels are now linked by a fluid spiral staircase, custom designed for the project. Wide archways open up the perspective between the ground floor rooms, their softly rounded corners a motif that repeats itself across an interior that prefers to ditch right-angles for curves, from the concrete dining table surrounded by Tobia Scarpa Pigreco chairs to the contoured Gavrinis rug by Pierre Paulin for Ligne Roset, with its irregular outline, inspired by a pebble.

The pieces of furniture that the sisters have specified in the living room – two Pacha armchairs by Pierre Paulin and a Sesann sofa by Gianfranco Frattini for Tacchini in a brown bouclé – are almost teddy-bear-like in their colour, cosiness and tactility.

“We wanted the interiors to be quiet, textured and open,” says Esther about how their inside mirrors the duplex’s surroundings. In particular, “the large garden, visible from many rooms, became a key element: we worked to create a fluid relationship between the indoor and outdoor environments, letting natural light become a material in its own right.”

Light oak floors and walls in textured plaster or painted with matt, mineral tones provide a subtle backdrop for the light to play upon. “The colours are muted but never flat. Everything was chosen to feel timeless and slightly sensual, with contrasts between rough and smooth, matte and polished, light and shadow,” says Leah. “We wanted to create a sense of calm, but with a certain depth.”

The homeowners are passionate collectors, so their art was integrated from the outset. “We selected works from their collection that felt right for this new setting, and added a few pieces that we sourced specifically for the space,” says Esther. Each piece was chosen to resonate with the architecture: “Chen Cohen brings a quiet poetry, Loris Gréaud offers graphic depth, Erwin Olaf adds narrative weight, while John Baldessari introduces a playful tension. The common thread is that none of the art feels imposed – it’s there to accompany the architecture, not to overpower it,” says Leah. A series of Cohen’s delicate gelatin silver prints sit above a sculptural green concrete console, while Gréaud’s large abstract work in the dining room is carefully framed by the arch.

The primary bedroom continues the theme of gentle curves and sculpted niches. A Mushroom armchair by Pierre Paulin sits in a cosy corner with art books and a Vitra Découpage vase. Black and white works by Bernar Venet and Sakiko Nomura provide crisp contrast to the muted surroundings.

Esther says that this project captures the spirit of Katz Studio “in the way architecture, design and art are layered together, not for spectacle, but to create a quiet rhythm”. This is “a place where you can breathe” – a sanctuary that is a soft-cornered escape from the bustle of urban life.