Some time again, Julie and I found a group of handblown vases and bottles that look unearthed from an historical period—see Design Sleuth: La Soufflerie’s Glassware. On a visit to Paris final 12 months, I occurred upon La Soufflerie’s retailer in Saint-Germain-des-Près and commented to the supervisor that if the atelier founders stay in a spot that appears something just like the boutique, we’d like to see it.
Many months later, Valentina Nobile stunned me with a batch of pictures. She offered no background, and seeing knotty pine paneling and hand-me-down furnishings, I figured I used to be taking a look at her household’s inherited retreat from Paris.
YES, we have been desirous about that includes their cabin, I responded. Valentina set me straight: the woodsy chalet is definitely her household’s Paris duplex within the fifteenth arrondissement, close to Montparnasse; she and her husband (and La Soufflerie co-founder), Sébastien Nobile, designed and constructed it themselves. “We have been really among the many first non-public folks in Paris to have the ability to purchase roof rights and construct our personal place. Sébastien is the one who did many of the building along with his personal fingers. It’s an ecologically accountable house, all made out of wooden with cork insulation.”
Be part of us for a tour of their city hideaway (and scroll to the top to see it coming collectively).
Images by Louis Daumur, courtesy of La Soufflerie (@lasoufflerie). 
Above: Earlier than their two youngsters have been born, Valentina and Sébastien lived in a studio residence of their 1910 constructing. The four-story walkup “occurred to be sandwiched between two taller buildings—so we noticed that we might elevate it,” says Valentina, explaining how their DIY plan was hatched. It took 5 years and loads of negotiating for them to safe the roof rights—”we have been among the many first to profit from La Loi ALUR, a regulation that handed in 2014 permitting, amongst different issues, for folks to take down roofs and construct on prime of them.”
It took can-do and savoir faire. Valentina and Sébastien designed their place collectively. Valentina doggedly labored via the permissions course of, and Sébastien, who’s a sculptor, glassblower, and grasp plaster caster, amongst different issues, spent 18 months constructing the duplex, which was accomplished in 2017. He teaches mildew making on the Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, and one in every of his college students, William Wick, an architect on the verge of retiring, stepped in and helped with the structural planning and labored with Paris Charpente, the corporate that constructed the duplex’s pre-fabricated body.
The bud vase proven right here is La Soufflerie’s Bougeoir Bulles Framboise; €29.
