How a Couture Designer Is Making a Splash in Interior Design
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PARIS — Alexis Mabille is gearing up for his fall haute couture collection, to be presented on Tuesday at Christie’s auction house. But these days, the designer must juggle last-minute fittings with a full slate of interior design projects, including the renovation of the famed Lido cabaret on the Champs-Élysées.
To hear him tell it, he stumbled into the side gig. Having grown up around interior designers and architects, including his great-uncle Patrice Nourissat, known for projects such as renovating the Rocabella villa on the French Riviera, Mabille started creating items for his apartment more than a decade ago.
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A meeting with Aurelie Julien, an agent who represents designers such as Martin Szekely, Harry Nuriev and Joseph Dirand, convinced him to launch his own line of collectible designs.
His second furniture collection, Wave, was presented at the PAD Paris design fair in March, and he has a thriving business as an interior designer through his dedicated agency Beaubow, with recent restaurant projects including Caviar Kaspia in Los Angeles, Carmona in Paris and Andia in Marseille.
“I did it for a laugh. That’s why, even now, I only take on jobs that I enjoy,” Mabille told WWD. “I’ve turned down a lot of projects that didn’t interest me because I don’t have time to do everything, but if a project is fun, I will go out of my way to make it happen.”
Preparations for the reopening of the Lido, slated for December, are in full swing, and Mabille is also renovating his new apartment in a 17th-century building in central Paris, which will be a showcase for his skills. The place comes with 11-foot ceilings and plenty of history.
“I love working with craftspeople, from window fitters to mirror-makers, marble workers, cabinetmakers, carpenters and fireplace builders, and to really mix all of that. I’ll have embroiderers work on the curtains, so it won’t be the height of minimalism, but the idea is for it to reflect my personality,” Mabille said.
“It’s all about using very traditional decorative arts techniques and giving them my personal twist,” he added.
A graduate of the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, he worked at Christian Dior under John Galliano before launching his namesake label in 2005, going on to dress everyone from Dita Von Teese to Zendaya.
Unlike many designers with a sideline in homewares, Mabille keeps his fashion and furniture distinct. “The vision I have for couture is not intrinsically the same as when I’m designing a furniture collection or decorating an apartment. It’s more a lifestyle that links the two,” he said.
“I’m not going to do a couch with a print from the collection. I think that’s a very ‘90s thing, when you had designers taking their prints and putting them on everything from toilet seat covers to cushions and couches. I’ve always found that horrible. I prefer to think of it as two separate jobs,” he continued.
His first furniture collection, developed before COVID-19 hit, was less a commercial ploy than a money pit, he admitted. Inspired by Art Deco furniture designer André Sornay, and antique French petanque balls, Mabille made bronze nails a signature of the line. No fewer than 28,000 were used on a modular coffee table, with nails painstakingly matched by color.
“It’s very expensive to make this kind of prototype,” he said, noting his first outing was well received. “Working with collectors who have totally insane homes, and knowing my pieces are sitting alongside paintings by Picasso or Basquiat or Rothko, is very exciting.”
Mabille dubs his style “clean maximalism,” though he will stray from his comfort zone if the project requires it. For the South American-themed Andia restaurant in Marseille, France, he created a jungle-like interior featuring 20-foot-high palm trees and a giant crocodile.
“I like to go where I’m not expected. In the end, this project was like designing a set for a fashion show, or the decor for a wedding,” said Mabille, who as a student had a lucrative sideline as a floral designer.
For his personal projects, he draws on an encyclopedic knowledge of design, from antiquity to the 20th century. A fan of the furniture pieces created by French designer Pierre Chareau with Jean Lurçat, Mabille worked with the historic Robert Four manufacturer in Aubusson to turn a drawing by his friend Simon Buret into a tapestry on an organically shaped bench.
His undulating marble coffee table, measuring 5.9 feet by 4.6 feet, is made using a special process of compacting and molding the stone. “It’s almost a bed, in terms of proportions,” he said, noting that the marble with rich red veins is sourced from former royal quarries in Sarrancolin in the Pyrenées mountains of France.
The couch is made from a blend of cotton, mohair and silk designed to catch the light just so. Depending on the time of day, its colors varies between blood orange, terracotta and pink, Mabille said.
“What I like about this collection is that it’s pared down, and at the same time, it’s quite baroque in its approach to form. It’s as if I had stripped back as much as possible the undulating lines that evoke the Louis XV period and Italian Baroque,” he said.
He works in limited editions of eight pieces, meaning a fresh challenge is always around the corner.
“I’ve always followed a fashion rhythm, where you’re used= to things happening quickly and being digested rapidly. When you’re working with craftspeople, it’s not the same rhythm. They take the time to do things right, which is great. Sometimes, you have to push them a little,” he said.
Among his projects for next year are a hotel in the Loire region and another Caviar Kaspia branch in Bodrum, Turkey, as well as the renovation of a private mansion in the swanky 16th arrondissement of Paris.
He’s particularly excited about the cabaret, which has been renamed Lido2Paris and will host productions of musicals like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” in lieu of the topless dancers it is best known for. Working with artistic director Jean-Luc Choplin, formerly director of the Théâtre du Châtelet, Mabille hopes to turn it into a hub of Parisian nightlife.
“What’s missing in Paris? Broadway is what’s missing,” he said. “Jean-Luc gave me his vision for what he wants to put on and what type of clientele he wants to attract. Above all, he wants it to be festive and bubbly, a truly glamorous place that pops. It should be like Champagne bubble: sparkling, playful and warm.”
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