Gold Leaf and Foliage Motifs Plaster This Paris Left Bank Apartment
Marthe Simon and Paul Peller, the work and life partners behind the firm Marthe Architecture, leaned heavily upon gold leaf, trompe l’oeil, and other warm maximalist touches when reimagining this apartment on Paris’s Left Bank. The color palette reflects an extravagance the duo had on their side—two whole years to redo the space’s layout and interior. “We had the luxury of time,” Simon says. “To both experience it through all the seasons, and to better understand its different spaces so we could tailor our design.”
Simon and Peller began by combining two apartments—each about 1,100 square feet—into a single space before reconfiguring a more fluid floor plan. The property’s Napoleonic Second Empire origins compelled the duo to stick to a timeless Parisian aesthetic: expansive openings, a minimalist framework, and imposing double doors (some sliding and others on hinges). They removed any unnecessary internal partitions and created new spaces with hallways as wide as rooms.
All that glitters
Shiny surfaces are consistent throughout the home, turning it into a formidable jewel box: A Milanese studio applied a metallic floral wallpaper to the entryway walls, for example, while patinated bronze-and-gold leaf covers those in the living room (but the wicker-patterned brass fireplace is the latter room’s lustrous standout). A quilt-like custom wallpaper wraps the dining room in a maximalist pattern: Defined by three bands of friezes and a trompe l’oeil bamboo trellis, the wall covering was inspired by the late artist Gabriella Crespi’s rattan-forward home. In the primary bathroom, Italian art students hand-painted the mirrors with similarly metallic hues, which complement the brass basins hammered by a Lebanese artist.
“The materials were chosen to suit each room,” Peller explains. He and Simon were strict about overhead lighting in their design—they deliberately placed light sources at low heights to create an intimate atmosphere. The overheads that did make the cut were sculptural: A black wrought-iron pendant light crafted in a London workshop resembles a stylized tree branch, echoing the floral motifs that adorn the walls and mirrors throughout the home. And in the kitchen, a Chinese pendant light matches the gold leaf, red Iranian travertine, and antique-finished terra-cotta tiles. When turned on, all the apartment’s textures—lacquer, wood grain, tortoiseshell, and an all-over patina—come to life with a gilded sheen.
This was originally published in AD France.