Architect Sophie Dries was just 28 when she established her studio back in 2014. Four years on, and her growing portfolio spans showrooms in Istanbul to collectible product design that caught our eye at Salone del Mobile last year. Her latest foray is on her home turf of Paris, where she has taken a friend’s loft space in Canal Saint-Martin district and converted it into a minimalist cove defined by natural light and soft tones.
Dries’ principal concern for her overhaul was to retain the ‘purist spirit’ of the space, to preserve its airy and immaculate personality. She emphasised these traits by removing the majority of the loft’s interior walls. This opened the loft up to its now-generous 90 sq m floorplan, which encompasses a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom at the rear and a spacious kitchen-cum-dining space at its centre. A simple concrete floor laid throughout unites the isolated living spaces, as well as providing the foundation for the muted palette chosen by Dries.
The refined structures of the kitchen and dining areas are awash in blonde woods, and bathed in light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows. Birch plywood is employed across surfaces in the kitchen, hiding key appliances and messy accessories. Meanwhile, a solid oak table by Guillaume Gouerou is matched with a pair of benches in the dining space, and a bespoke library fitted in an adjacent corner seamlessly stores Dries’ CDs, DVDs, books and paraphernalia collected from her worldwide travels.
The dining room, with plenty of light supplied by the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Between the living and dining spaces, Dries installed a striking geometric structure by Gary William Webb, which acts as a central nucleus for her selection of vintage pieces. In the living room, a sofa reupholstered in Kvadrat fabric with graphic drapes, is accompanied by a 1940s railway coffee table and drawings from Sol Lewitt’s ‘Complex Forms’ series overhead.
The bedroom is also minimally furnished with just a Liaigre ‘Nagato’ bedside table, bed and a prototype ‘Jingle Saw’ chair by Max Lamb inhabiting the space. Dries’ sensibility for art shines here, with a diptych of works by Ettore Sottsass (from the Metafore series) and a collage by Haris Epaminonda. Elsewhere pencil drawings by Nathalie Du Pasquier grace the walls, while in bathroom, Dries includes many of her own works including a brushed steel worktop, black lacquered doors and a tuned wood stool.
Light-toned wood occupies the kitchen and living spaces, from the birch plywood-covered storage spaces and appliances in the kitchen to the oak table and benches by Guillaume Gouerou
Dries designed the custom-made library which is adorned with various forms of media, as well as items collected by the architect on her worldwide travels
Left, from bottom, prototype ‘Jingle Saw’ chair, by Max Lamb; collage, by Haris Epaminonda, and Large Gardens, by Astrid de la Chappelle. Right, clockwise from left, ‘Nagato’ bedside table, by Liaigre; hand-hammered steel handle, by Michael Moore, for Metalwoodworkshop; diptych from the Metafore series, by Ettore Sottsass, and linen and velvet bedspread and velvet cushions, by Merci
The bathroom features a brushed steel worktop; black lacquered doors, and a tuned wood stool, by Sophie Dries
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Sophie Dries’ website
-
This Canadian house is a precise domestic composition perched on the Nova Scotian coastBishop McDowell completed a new Canadian house overlooking the Atlantic, using minimal details and traditional forms to create a refined family home
-
‘With a small gesture of buying a postcard, we all become copyists’: the Louvre’s celebration of copying speaks to human natureContemporary artists are invited to copy works from the Louvre in a celebration of the copyist’s art, a collaboration with Centre Pompidou-Metz
-
Serious cyclists now have serious options, courtesy of two new models from CanyonWith two new bikes, the Endurace: ONfly e-bike and Endurance: AllRoad, Canyon is innovating with both price and performance
-
Vincent Van Duysen ‘inspired by modernism’ for Molteni & C’s outdoor furniture debutMolteni & C goes alfresco with two new collections and reissued classics, bringing its signature elegance to the great outdoors
-
First look inside Centurion New York by Yabu PushelbergCenturion New York is an expansive new space for American Express’ ‘black card’ members. Its interior designers Yabu Pushelberg give us a tour
-
Is this the most beautiful office in the world?Parisian creative agency Art Recherche Industrie’s new HQ translates a 19th-century landmark into a chic open-plan office worth leaving home for
-
Designer James Shaw’s latest creation is a self-built home in east LondonJames Shaw's east London home is Filled with vintage finds and his trademark extruded plastic furniture, a compact self-built marvel
-
Taschen tantalises with new edition of Jorge Pardo’s ‘Brussels Lamps’German publishing house Taschen launches a limited-edition series of five ‘Brussels Lamps’ by Cuban-American artist Jorge Pardo
-
Edra’s outdoor furniture is an ode to the seaDesigned by long-term collaborator Jacopo Foggini, the ‘A’mare’ collection of outdoor furniture mimics shiny water, and was named 'Best Disappearing Act' at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2023
-
Peep inside Luca Nichetto’s Pink Villa in Stockholm, part studio, part showroomWelcome to the pink house that is the new Stockholm home to Luca Nichetto's team
-
These papier-mâché lamps combine craft with sustainabilitySustainability and fine art are the driving inspirations behind ‘resolutely maximalist’ London lighting designer Rowena Morgan-Cox of Palefire
