We are engulfed in geometry. And while not immediately life-sustaining, it is as elemental as air and water. But just as we are not aware of every breath we take – and unless parched, don’t fully appreciate each sip – we don’t walk through life registering points, lines, angles and surfaces. Still, it is hard not to give these some thought when in the Biarritz home of interior architect and designer Carole Dugelay. Taking in the jazzy rug in the living room, the 60s-era room dividers by Czech designer Ludvik Volak and the rhythmic play of matte and glossy tiles in the kitchen, one can be forgiven for thinking of the ancient assertion, “Mighty is geometry; joined with art, resistless.”
Situated on the top floor of a 105-year-old building not far from the Casino Les Halles, with the Atlantic Ocean just down the street, the apartment captivated Dugelay the moment she first saw it. “It was already well proportioned, with three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and a living room with a good ceiling height, making for an interesting volume,” describes Dugelay. “And it’s very bright, because the sequence of open rooms – office, dining room, living room – is illuminated by three large, southwest-facing windows.”
The unit had not been touched in 15 years, and Dugelay wasted no time putting her mark on it. Although satisfied with the layout of the apartment, she wasn’t pleased with the bulky block of a fireplace in the living room. Eager to open the space visually, she removed the offending feature and installed a white Gyrofocus, a classic 1960s design comprising a cylindrical flue and a disc-like hearth that hovers over the floor. For the kitchen, she imagined a singular ambiance that suggested Japan and the 1970s and brought in aged terra-cotta for the floor and cabinets she designed herself, covered in stained oak veneer and made by a Basque Country craftsman.
Despite being so close to the ocean, the residence does not enjoy a water view, so Dugelay made up for this by installing The Sea, a hypnotic wallpaper from Jennifer Shorto, in the living room. Gathered around a prismatic rug by Gabrielle Soyer (aka LINDELL & Co), every piece of furniture in this space has a very pronounced profile, including a slipper chair attributed to Charlotte Perriand (reupholstered in Dedar fabric), a Paul Michel mirror and burr elm table from the 1970s and the Dugelay-designed sofa with its polished concrete frame.
Green (“serene, but also energizing”) is Dugelay’s favorite color for decorating, but yellow and blue aren’t far behind in her home. The arched door of the primary bedroom is done in an almost cumin shade, and a painting of a woman in an interior – rendered in a deep, moody blue – is one of several flea market finds that kit out the guest room. Antiques and secondhand pieces are woven throughout the home. A number of items, including a Florence Knoll table in black wood with a star-shaped base and a set of six Afra & Tobia Scarpa chairs in wood and leather, were purchased at Saint Ouen in Paris. At the top of the stairs, a lamp Dugelay found recently at the Quinconces flea market in Bordeaux sits atop a Scandinavian dressing table scored on eBay 20 years ago.
The linear clarity that pervades Dugelay’s home is as solid as an irrefutable equation. But there’s nothing formulaic or forbiddingly mathematical about the way she has inscribed these rooms. Like a fine hand on rag paper, they read beautifully.
Photography by Patrick Sordoillet.
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