Inside Pierre Frey’s Vibrantly Refreshed Paris Home
“I have the shortest commute ever,” Pierre Frey says of his weekday routine. “It’s a couple of seconds, and it’s beautiful.” Indeed, door-to-door, that trip takes him from his sixth-floor apartment to his third-floor office—all within the same 17th-century building where his grandfather started the namesake textiles company in 1935. The younger Frey and his wife, film director and lighting designer Émilie Cherpitel, recently redesigned their living quarters on the uppermost floors, imbuing them with the same inimitable style that defines the fabric firm.
Aside from a five-year stint spent working in New York City, Frey, the company’s communications director, has lived in the apartment since he was 21. “I was alone and was able to [make] a lot of noise and welcome friends and do a lot of dinners,” he recalls of those early days entertaining atop the otherwise corporate building. “There was never any issue, which was really fabulous.” In 2011, after returning to France from the States and shortly after meeting Cherpitel, he undertook the first major renovation of the home, combining a neighboring unit and the attic to create a full-floor duplex residence. Last summer, with their two sons, Georges (10) and Marin (five), a bit older and evolving aesthetic sensibilities, the couple decided it was once again time to make changes.
“We wanted more colors, and we wanted more carefree furniture,” Frey notes of the latest design brief, which he hoped would be “totally different” and incorporate an alluring mix of vintage items with new pieces from his company, as well as from Cherpitel’s own lighting business, Caneloupo. The family spends almost every weekend at their 19th-century classic French farmhouse in rural Normandy—a retreat as laid-back as it is leafy. That is partly why Frey wanted to celebrate their apartment’s distinctive setting in the 1st arrondissement, nestled between the Palais Garnier and the Louvre. “We wanted something much more urban than the house in the country,” Frey says. “It’s really in the heart of Paris.”
That metropolitan mandate translated into a heady palette of bold pinks, greens, and yellows in graphic patterns; slick, almost anthropomorphic furniture silhouettes; and punchy light fixtures from the likes of Apparatus Studio in the kitchen and above the dining table. Minimal structural work was done this time around, although Frey and Cherpitel were keen to tweak the flow of certain rooms, close an attic space to create a bedroom for one of their sons, and carve out a walk-in closet from a former corridor. They even added a working fireplace. The home’s exposed wood beams, all original to the building (which at one time housed the apprentices of Louis XIV’s famed composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, a next-door neighbor), were a critical decorative feature, so some architectural fortification in the roof was part of the six-month project.
Ultimately, living above the shop, as it were, feels like a tailor-made setup for Frey and his family. As with the company in the floors below, the abode continues to evolve, growing along with its occupants and reflecting their changing tastes and routines—but always with a nod to the past. “It’s ancient and modern at the same time, which I think is the hardest way to do an apartment,” Frey says, referencing the primary bedroom’s headboard, which was designed last year but was adapted from a 19th-century piece. “I wanted those feelings to work together.”
Art: Ronan Bouroullec/Wrong Shop. Alistair Taylor-Young.1/14The double-height living room of the Paris apartment Pierre Frey shares with his wife, film director and lighting designer Émilie Cherpitel, and their two young sons is conducive to both group and solo pursuits. One wall, opposite a newly installed woodburning fireplace, is covered in a Pierre Frey Le Manach Bosquet fabric. The Pierre Frey Virgule modular sofa wears an Igor Olive fabric from the brand and is a favorite gathering spot. “The sofa is gigantic, so we spend a lot of time there, reading, playing, working,” notes Frey, whose grandfather started the family business in 1935. The lamp at left, in front of a black-and-white photograph by Alistair Taylor-Young, is from Cherpitel’s lighting firm, Caneloupo.
2/14“What is beautiful about the apartment is that there’s light coming from both ways—north and south,” Frey says. “So it’s a really airy and light feel in that living room.” The antique spiral staircase, which Frey purchased from a friend a decade ago, was designed by a colleague of Gustave Eiffel. Nearby, a Popus Editions wicker coffee table stands on a Petrushka rug from Pierre Frey, which also produced the two Kiss chairs. The painting near the bookshelves is by Ronan Bouroullec from the Wrong Shop.
Art: Johanna de Clisson/Hiromi3/14Another view of the living room, where a Pierre Frey Ruban chair, in the company’s Cheyenne Havane fabric, stands to the left of the staircase that leads to one of the son’s room; the sculptural artwork over the mantel is from Hiromi Ceramics. The yellow ceramic lamp is from Caneloupo.
Art: Jérémy Schneider. Géraldine Roussel.4/14This corner of the living room, featuring artwork the couple has acquired over the years, including a bear-head print by VJ Type, is Frey’s favorite spot to sit in the warmer months. “We often have the window open and we have a look at the balcony and the plants and the flowers that are there,” he says of the space. The sconce is from Caneloupo and the pillows on the sofa are covered in a Pierre Frey Braquenié Les Petits Appartements de la Reine fabric.
5/14Frey and Cherpitel at home in central Paris.
6/14Next to the library and beneath a skylight, an elegantly appointed storage space houses a Pierre Frey Litho armchair in a Pyla Rosée fabric, creating the perfect reading nook. The fabric on the cabinet doors is custom, while the vintage side chair’s seat wears a Le Manach Toiles de Tours Flag fabric, also from Pierre Frey.
7/14Another view of the apartment’s library and reading corner features the couple’s collection of art and design books as well as their recent interest in pink and green, as evinced by the Pierre Frey Le Manach Bosquet wall covering. “It’s a colorful, but at the same time, very bright apartment. There’s much more warmth, but also much more light than before,” Frey observes. The upholstered bench is vintage.
8/14“We started giving my wife the fabrics that we loved at [the office],” notes Frey of the design process for each room. “We definitely started [with] the pattern and the quality of the colors.” In the dining area, drapes in the company’s Braquenié La Grandiere fabric in a Topiaire colorway hang before a 1970s dining set found at Barracuda Interiors. The chandelier above is from Apparatus Studio.
9/14“We spend a lot of time in the kitchen,” Frey notes, as it’s where the home’s main entrance is located and also where the kids do their homework. The ceiling light fixtures, all from Apparatus Studio, illuminate new countertops and Pierre Frey Dune stools in a La Sorgue fabric. The table lamp on the island is by India Mahdavi.
10/14“We don’t always agree at the beginning, but at the end we’ll always agree,” Frey says of designing alongside Cherpitel. “We had a lot of fun designing it.” In their primary bedroom, drapes in Pierre Frey’s Sibao fabric hang beside the brand’s Indus Tise wall covering and Agathe headboard in a Le Manach L’Arbre Indien print. The nightstands, below sconces from Caneloupo, are vintage.
Art: Michel Comte/Editions Comte, Paris11/14In the bright and airy primary bathroom, a photograph by Michel Comte makes a statement near a vintage chair covered in a Pierre Frey Marseilles fabric.
12/14In the older son’s domain, an opening in the ceiling and a ladder were installed, leading to a newly created bedroom space. The walls are covered in a discontinued woven Boussac fabric from Pierre Frey, which also made the upholstered Litho stool in the corner. The other stools are from Habitat.
13/14In the younger son’s bedroom, a Pierre Frey Bananier wall covering and Braquenie Le Colonie mattress cover add color and whimsy to an already playful space. The rug was found at a market in Morocco; the lamp is vintage.
14/14A north-facing view of Parisian rooftops from the terrace, which comfortably seats a party of four for lunch or dinner. Such private outdoor space, particularly in the 1st arrondissement, offers a rare urban idyll.
