Decorating & Design
February 4, 2022
Step Inside The Breathtaking Homes Of A Countess In Paris
Maximalists, buckle up because we are going to transport you into the homes of a French countess. The new book What A Beautiful World (La Martinière, distributed by Abrams, 2022) written by Countess Isabelle d’Ornano and Christiane De Nicolaÿ-Mazery, is an inside look at some of the imaginative interiors on Paris’s Left Bank.
Scroll down to step inside these sophisticated and glamorous spaces!
Isabelle (co-founder of the $750 million French skincare brand Sisley) opens the doors to her personal and professional spaces for the first time in this book. Shown on the cover is her salon on the Quai d’Orsay which nods to objets and artworks from different centuries. Jean-François Fourtou’s oversized snail sculpture can be seen climbing the window frame.
The salon in the breathtaking Parisian apartment overlooking the Seine owned by Isabelle and her late husband Count Hubert d’Ornano is the site of sophisticated gatherings of leading politicians, writers, sculptors and painters. Here antique portraits are paired with contemporary works and the green-and-gold boiserie comes from a color combination inspired by Versailles
A portrait of the owners’ daughter Elisabeth (once the face of the Sisley brand) at the age of three, by Ricardo Macarron presides over a tiny tufted armchair with bouillon fringe.
“I love words. They carry messages and make us unique as human beings. I have used words on my tapestries, as well as Sisley’s giftboxes. A word is always a message, a gift, a postcard, a souvenir,” says Isabelle.
“They have invented their very personal style, elegant and seductive: the unexpected combination of extreme sophistication with real authenticity,” writes Christiane de Nicolaÿ-Mazery in the book. Three of Jean-François Fourtou’s snails can be seen on the ceilings and walls.
“This place has such a distinctive style. It is an alchemy, something magical and unheard of. One notices both a heritage and a personal eye. It is the sign of curiosity and love for Life,” writes Christiane. Beauty reigns supreme, portrayed through collages, paintings, watercolors, sculptures, animated pictures and sculpted bronzes.
Forced cherry blossom branches are a simple counterpoint to silk drapery that is opulently bunched and trimmed with tassels.
The Sisley office lounge in London features Dimore Studio’s Moon chandeliers, and Philodendrons sculptures by Tomaso Buzzi and Marc Quinn’s Orchid in lacquered bronze.
The office displays À la façon de Matisse (In the Style of Matisse) by Manolo Valdès.
Isabelle’s country home, La Renaudière, is a place for family gatherings and is a true “natural paradise” in the Pays de la Loire. “I like the kind of decoration that admits a certain degree of useful disorder,” says Isabelle.
The box moldings on the ceiling resemble an artist’s oversized watercolor paint palette.
Isabelle likes to put bouquets in straw bags. These quirky versions are embroidered with cheery words and bits of fabric reinforcement in the corners.
“The living room is a mixture of zebra, cord, wicker and velvet… I like to mix, change, and add depending on my mood,” says Isabelle.
Set with comfortable wicker chairs on a limestone floor, the terrace overlooking the garden is the spot where the family takes their tea.
In a pond at La Renaudière, yellow daylilies sprout by a bronze statue by Alquin.
Christina Vervitsioti-Missoffe
What A Beautiful World (La Martinière, distributed by Abrams, 2022)