What is the most unexpected place a project idea has come from?

Marie-Sarah and Josselin

The most unexpected place where ideas have come to us is … deep in Mexico, in Puerto Escondido. When travelling, in a new and unfamiliar environment, our minds are set free and our senses are heightened. Our eyes, above all. But our projects continue to be a constant backdrop. It is then common for ideas to spring to mind, and, back in Paris, our imagination is more fertile than ever. That’s why we love to travel and step outside our usual routines, away from our studio. Our creations are, in fact, inspired more by things we’ve seen outside than by other interiors. You can see examples of this in some of our pieces of furniture. Our Sobek sofa, for instance, is inspired by the silhouette of a crocodile.

Lauren

Some of my favorite ideas have come from places that have nothing to do with interiors. For one project, I ended up watching a stack of films from a client's personal collection because I wanted to understand what they kept coming back to. We found ourselves really drawn to the atmosphere and emotional tone of Ingmar Bergman's films, and that became an unexpected starting point for the project.

I've also built entire color palettes from paintings. At one point I got completely obsessed with a series of 1930s Berkeley watercolors while designing the interiors of an original Julia Morgan home. More often than not, the breakthrough doesn't come from looking at pictures of beautiful rooms. It's a painting, a film, a book, or even something a client says in passing that gives me a sense of how they want to feel at home.

Sarita

For me, the most unexpected place a project idea came from was the orange seats of the old New York subway cars. The form is so great and really of that time in the early 70s - utilitarian, but with a real point of view. Adapted to a totally different context as we did for a Diner in London, they feel familiar without being too on the nose. 

Who outside interiors has influenced you, perhaps an artist, fashion designer, filmmaker or writer, and where does that influence show up in your work?

Marie-Sarah and Josselin

Fashion is a great source of inspiration for us. We love to draw, for example, on the world of Yves Saint Laurent: the sensuality and timelessness that can be found everywhere, from his fashion shows to his living spaces, whether in Paris or at the Villa Majorelle. This world embodies a way of life. We also like to draw inspiration from painting. The murals at the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris, by Pierre-Henri Ducos de la Haille, inspired the colour palette for an Art Deco flat. The imaginative worlds of Josef Albers and Henri Rousseau guided us in the creation of a café near the Trocadéro.

Lauren

I love watching films. We always have one going in our home. My daughter and I are particularly into Jacques Demy's "Donkey Skin" at the moment. The costumes are so imaginative. I love paintings old and new. The studio is always looking at art together in books and galleries. Recently I have gone back to studying northern renaissance work again. I love traditional architecture, and studying furniture. I love museum and textbook archives particularly for textiles. I love bookstores and building our library. I love gardens and flowers and thinking about the environment and surface that our projects sit on naturally. Roses and iris are my favourite and I try to make arrangements most mornings before I start my day to begin my day creatively and peacefully.

Those references tend to show up in subtle ways, seeping their way into my work through color, shapes, and mood. Every project seems to turn me onto new materials which keeps things moving.

Sarita

Artists, musicians, filmmakers who approach their work separately from whatever’s currently in the water, and who trust their own instincts enough to work against the grain of their moment. With music, I find myself moving across decades and genres, listening for a specific feeling I want a room to carry, and sometimes will use that as a starting point in my process. The influence isn’t stylistic so much as taking note from committing to a point of view or end point and letting the rest follow.

Do you have a ritual at the start of a project, perhaps somewhere you go, something you look at, someone you call?

Marie-Sarah and Josselin

We call this ritual ‘Talk and Walk’. We leave the studio and chat whilst walking around our neighbourhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés or in the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg. Because the best ideas come to us when we clear our minds and exchange our points of view. It also allows us to stay in touch with our neighbourhood, where the artworks on display in the galleries are constantly changing. Back at the studio, we have a large roll of white paper which we unroll on the studio’s large table. This time, we visually express what we’ve been talking about on our walk. For each project, we keep these large sheets, 3 metres wide, filled with sketches and notes. Once the project is complete, when we look at them, we often see that many things have changed and evolved, but the original intentions are still very much present.

Lauren

The first thing I do is listen and observe. Before I start looking at floor plans or pulling references, I want to understand how someone actually lives. What do they care about? What are they collecting? What are they curious about? I'm usually more interested in their bookshelves, travel habits, favorite films, or the art they already live with than a traditional design brief. Those conversations almost always reveal the story that ends up guiding the project.

From there, my team and I dive into research. We look into the history of the house, its architecture, the cultural context around it, and contemporary references that might push the project in an interesting direction. Every project has a scrapbook which contains water colors, sketches, and old magazine references. This allows me to play with a flow of ideas and notes before our designers bring things to a digital process.

Sarita

I start with historical references, almost always. But before I let myself get too deep into the visual side, I try to pin down the ethos first of how we want someone to feel in the space or what we want them to take with them. Once that's clear, I think back to moments I've experienced that produced something close to that feeling.

Which era, place or moment in design history continues to shape how you think about your work, and why?

Marie-Sarah and Josselin

The Art Deco period continues to influence our work. We love its ambivalence between geometric simplicity and decorative richness, between restraint and elegance. It is also a movement with many influences itself, drawing as much from different historical periods (antique, classical) as from different regions of the world, particularly around the Mediterranean sea. These principles remain entirely relevant today, and we enjoy reinterpreting them, particularly by combining more contemporary materials or techniques with traditional craftsmanship.

Lauren

It honestly changes depending on what I'm interested in at the moment. Lately I've been thinking a lot about Art Deco. I live in a Deco house in San Francisco, and I've been slowly restoring it, which has made me appreciate the period in a much deeper way. I love the optimism of that era—the way craftsmanship, artistry, innovation, and everyday life all felt connected. I also come back to Frances Elkins quite a bit mainly because she worked in the same neighborhoods and I admire the trail she blazed so much. Her work still feels incredibly fresh because it balances sophistication with comfort and personality. Both have been a good reminder that the interiors that last are the ones with a clear point of view.

Sarita

Probably, but not limited to, the late 1960s and 70s. There's a real evolution happening in form during that period and a loosening or moving away from earlier eras that had more visible structure and rules. I find myself thinking about both ends of that at once: the discipline of a period with clear conventions, and the moment those conventions start to bend. That push and pull between structure and departure is where most of my own choices tend to live. 

Headshot Credits:

OUD Architecture / Alexis Armanet
Sarita Posada / Jen Steel