Paris Panache

Designer Robert Normand’s unerring eye for colour and aesthete’s appreciation of decor, objects and art are on full display in his Paris home, where a series of interleading, beautifully dressed spaces each contributes something unique to a house that is an artwork in perpetual progress

- ROBYN ALEXANDER

A first viewing of interior designer Robert Normand’s home takes the form of a series of colourful impressions – an experience reminiscent of taking an initial glance at Henri Matisse’s 1904 painting, “Luxe, Calme et Volupté”. In Robert’s Paris house, as in that famous artwork, flashes of unexpected colour catch the eye one after another. Here is an unexpectedly rich hue of yellow carpet underfoot – and there, a delightfully distracting pair of extravagantly patterned urns. Over there, mulberry-coloured window blinds contrast with a seafoam rug. A bright slice of blue and white bathroom adds brightness, while a swathe of caramel oak cupboards conveys a rich sense of calm. Slowly, a pattern emerges, and one begins to comprehend the picture as a whole.

Robert grew up outside Paris “in a large family home”, and moved to the city when he started to work as a designer of fashion, then interiors, 20 or so years ago. But after many years spent living in the hyper-stimulating heart of the iconic metropolis, “I was tired of being in such a very busy place,” he says. This need for surroundings that were a touch more peaceful – plus a yen for some additional space – were Robert’s main reasons for moving to the suburbs. His new home is located to the east of central Paris, in a diverse and vibrant enclave in which, nevertheless, the atmosphere is not as frenetic as that of the centre. “It is a lively suburb,” he says, explaining that here he can be at the happy medium that is “in between two contrasting states, the ‘overexcited’ centre and the ‘maybe too quiet’ countryside”.