The guest kitchen illustrates Dries’ interest in minerals, rocks and the way materials evolve. Finishes include an experimental patinated copper splashback’s patterning beside the veins of the marble countertop. A ceramic and metal vase from Dries’ Traces collection sits on top.
A Songye dining table and ceramics by Dries is framed by a bespoke oak and cotton banquette seat, with a Claire Tabouret portrait neatly fitted above the hemp-like panelling.
With a design driven by place, personality and innate curiosity, this Parisian penthouse sculpts the geometries of several apartments into one home, an art collector’s haven.
Home to collectors and over three hundred curated artworks, this Parisian penthouse embodies art-enhanced living. Designed by Sophie Dries, the renovation began by considering the historic location, its genius loci. “Every place has a spirit,” Dries explains, retained here through the quality of light and framed city views. The client’s day-to-day surroundings then take shape through conversation, “It’s understanding what will be happening in the place. In the future? In their social life? Almost like writing a piece of theatre,” Dries adds.
What appears to be an effortless sequence of sweeping contours is, in fact, a feat of design and engineering. The entryway introduces the first of many carved walls, blanketed by a Laure Prouvost tapestry. Inside, the penthouse unfolds over three storeys: one for guests, a private floor for the owners, two terraces and an upper entertaining area. These seamlessly interweaving zones have been adapted from approximately seven floors, with the renovation fusing previously separate apartments around one spiralling plaster and oak staircase. An aluminium and glass elevator threads its centre.
The resulting volumes, a mesmerising wow-factor, are highly functional. Complex geometries were restructured to host artworks, while fake walls conceal storage. Each interstitial space is given a raison d’être—a hallway is transformed into a nook for enjoying smaller-format artworks. “Everything is a kind of gallery, but also functions as a home. We broke the corridor-effect with curves to give an embracing shape,” Dries describes.
The upper dining space features an Italian vintage chandelier hovering over 1980s XO Dr Sonderbar chairs by Philippe Starck, a Cassina Doge dining table by Carlo Scarpa and a vase by Gaetano Pesce.
A fireplace, sculpted by Philolaos, sits below peaked ceiling angles alongside a Wonmin Park Plain Cuts stone and steel coffee table, and Sophie Dries Petra side table. To the left, a ceramic by Guy Bareff holds a Philolaos sculpture.
Colourful artworks prioritised; neutrally-toned materials emphasise texture. The grained patterning of burl, veneers and patinated copper provides warmth. Having collaborated with collectors and galleries before Dries understands balancing design alongside art. “The interior might have your signature, but it should never overlap the artworks. You still have to serve the artworks,” she says.
Dries’ diverse creativity shines through furnishings, including her Petra side table by the original Philolaos sculpted fireplace. Moving fluidly between designing spaces and objects, Dries’ lens as a creator is clear, “It’s a machine, it has to work. Then it has to be beautiful and personal,” she shares.
Collector’s Penthouse resonates with the culturally curious personalities of its owners, and that of Dries herself. She reflects, “I read a study that children feel time slower as everything learned is new. Curiosity keeps your brain young; slowing time. Every project is an encounter with a new world, introducing me to new people…And my creativity is collective, a very human experience.”
A corridor becomes a place for pause, housing small artworks on shelving, for easy rotation. A Lomm edition FILO Maxi chrome and leather armchair sits beside a Marc Leschelier sculpture.
Pictured: Miss Beason chair designed by Philippe Starck.
The entrance features a tapestry by Laure Prouvost, contoured to the curved wall with a timber bench seat from Gallery Amelie Du Chalard. A bronze-finished sideboard by Garouste et Bonetti, is arranged with artworks including Pablo Picasso drawings and Claire Tabouret portraits.
Pictured: Cappellini Tube chair designed by Joe Colombo.
In the bedroom, nestled into an angled wall and framed like a bedhead, sits STYX mirror designed by Sophie Dries with metalwork artisans, Atelier Moore. Its pearlescent blur becomes clear the closer you move toward it.
Pictured: Sophie Dries Météor Puzzle rugs in the bedroom and en suite.
