Twist N Shout

The beauty and rarity of gems drive the decor of a classic Parisian apartment.

- Gay Gassmann

A young, worldly couple moves into a classic Haussmannian building near Paris's ChampsÉlysées and is faced with a choice: stay true to its 19th-century character, leaning into the high ceilings, marble mantels, and gracious rooms, or throw caution to the wind. One glance at its color-saturated rooms and it is evident which route this couple chose.

It was Julien Sebban, the Paris-born founder of the four-year-old firm Uchronia, who helped the homeowners to demolish their comfort zone. Sebban, who was based in London for six years to study architecture, has quickly made a name for himself with spaces that tap into the zeitgeist with abandon. Most notable may be the restaurant Forest, opened last year at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, and before that, Créatures, a pop-up eatery atop the Galeries Lafayette that's since become a seasonal staple of the city's dining and social scenes.

The firm's name is itself a neologism taken from Uchronie, the title of a book written by 19th-century French philosopher Charles Renouvier, referring to a hypothetical time period of our world. Sebban's multidisciplinary collective, then, is something of an anachronism, straddling our current moment and some whimsical, acid-tinged version of it hovering just beyond the scope of our peripheral vision.