Ricardo Labougle meets Antik Batik, whose home embodies a softer way to live …
Gabriella Cortese made her mark on the fashion universe when she founded Antik Batik in 1992. The fashion house stands out for its collections of chic, bohemian clothing and accessories that emphasise craftsmanship and artistic techniques. Paris has been home to Gabriella since she unpacked her bags there in 1984 to continue her studies. Hailing from Turin, the “Paris of Italy,” she felt immediately at home in the French capital.
In 2011, after months of searching, Gabriella was captivated by a splendid residence hidden in the Nouvelle Athènes neighbourhood, between Place Saint Georges and Pigalle.
In the early 1900s, this area was home to artists and brothels, cabarets and the Bouglione circus. The bourgeoisie mingled here, Toulouse-Lautrec painted his dancers, and revellers went to the Moulin Rouge and drank absinthe. The living room opens onto the garden, evoking the grand tours of the 18th century, to Italy but also to the East, passing through the fantastic Samarkand.
“I appreciate warm colours – those that comfort the soul.”
For Gabriella, the house embodies her Italian childhood with a Hungarian grandmother, her discovery of India, and the dandy side of her late husband, actor Marc Rioufol, who should have lived in 1800. The decoration, done in tandem with Italian interior designer Michela Curetti, encompasses all the spaces of the house, including the staircase with its cascade of Tom Dixon lamps. The colours of Ratti fabrics, Dedar silks, Braquenié jacquards, and de Gournay tapestries blend together.
Family objects harmonise with those collected over 40 years: antique side tables and an 18th-century love scene on the mantelpiece; Vallauris vases, barbotines, Henriette Jansen ceramics, and photos by Antoine d’Agata. “I have a certain taste for orientalism,” says Gabriella, “and I appreciate warm colours – those that comfort the soul.”
Inside Paris by Ricardo Labougle is published by Vendome Press.
