Gia Kelsey Weller 38 Hauvette & Madani

HAUVETTE & MADANI

Formed by duo architects Samantha Hauvette and Lucas Madani. The homonymous studio is known for their timeless style linking the past and the present, designing spaces and pieces of furniture. They ensure their designs have a timeless feel, the features are all carefully selected and materials are smartly blended creating an aesthetically balanced space.

“Since 2010, Samantha Hauvette and Lucas Madani have been working on high-end projects in France and abroad. Complementary in their timeless approach to space, they have been working together since their first encounter on the benches of Camondo Design School in Paris From the conception of space to furniture design, they sign elegant and refined interiors, tinged with the patina of modernism of which they have made their signature.

“We are a team of 7 people working together on all projects, we are always looking for a sense of balance in our projects and feel that the multiplicity of our brains working together is a great asset.”

How do you usually start your day? Never the same way! Best way to never get bored!

What motivates you and keeps you going? We are very passionate about our work so we don’t really feel we are working. As we are always looking around for inspiration it sometimes feels we work constantly!

How do you get to know your client before starting a project? We talk a lot before and through the whole project. We really want our projects to be the reflection of our clients rather than ours! Especially because we work a lot on private projects. It is such a pleasure for us when our clients feel instantly home. Louise Bourgeois, Frank Gehry, Donald Judd, Christo and Jeanne Claude, Carlo Scarpa, Gio Ponti, Jean-Michel Frank, Andrée Putman, Richard Neutra… amongst a thousand others.

How do you think design and architecture are evolving? We think that the awareness of reasonable sourcing of materials is starting to infuse as much coming from the architects and designers as from the clients. Also the term of what we call in French “les ensembliers”, which means viewing the space and furniture as a whole and not individualy. More and more interior designers are also creating furniture. Personally, we are launching our first furniture collection at the next French design week in Paris (in September at the Galerie Yves Gastou in Paris).

Do you prefer designing your own furniture pieces? More and more yes. Mixing our designs with the designer we love, often vintage.

How do you combine function and aesthetics? Do you find that challenging? Actually, it comes quite naturally. We don’t over think it, as we work as a collective if something doesn’t seem functional or comfortable, one of us will spot it.

Designs are now inspired by previous times like the 70s and 80s, minimal, art. We love that but what are your thoughts about this? I’ve noticed that in most of your projects, especially Volta.

We are always looking for a balance that will give a timeless spirit to our project. We find that mixing all kind of periods is often the good solution to avoid the “showroom” effect. We love the idea of an always evolving décor and that people don’t know whether this piece was a family heirloom or was designed by us or recently purchased!

L’Appartement

L’Appartement

Project Volta (Paris)

Thoughts on the puffy furniture trend? I’ve noticed some pieces in your apartment. Love the comfy effect it gives. Also, we design most of our living room to entertain friends and family, so we are always imagining that people can sit on the floor around the coffee table, others are on a low couch or even sitting on a small end table. Drinking good wine and listening to music!

Tell me more about the spiral wooden stairs in your Volta project? It is timeless and beautiful! In this project we used the little space on the mezzanine to create a little bedroom under the roof. But we also wanted to give the feeling that it is an important space despite the small size and ceiling height! So we imagined these magnificent stairs to give importance to this space. And it actually brings a strong identity to the whole appartement!

Tell me more about the arches in your apartment. How do they add to a space? I don’t really like totally open kitchens but still, I don’t like to be alone in my kitchen, so we used them to create a feeling of separation without totally closing the space we have added revolving mirrors in the side arches also to reflect the daylight as the dining room was quite dark

Any guesses on upcoming design trends? Precious wood essences and lacquer. The comeback of Inox after a long period of patinated gold.

We have been spending much more time at home due to the pandemic, how has that affected your designs and approach? It didn’t change a lot for the architecture part but we had more time to think about furniture!

Favorite project? Impossible to say! Always the next one.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAIA SABATÉ