Oct 14

Oct 14 TheW+ Interior: The India Mahdavi Showroom and Shop / Paris

On my last trip to Paris for Maison et Objet in September, it was in my itinerary to visit all the design showrooms in-and-around the Quartier Saint Germain where I was staying. Delightfully, I discovered the latest rugs from the amazing Tai Ping House off Rue de Montalembert, received a tour of the showroom of Le Manufacture Cogolin at Rue Des Saint-Peres, had a shopping spree at the all-in-one Conran Shop, and inspected showrooms of newer design galleries like Triode. However for me, the highlight of this district had to go to the ultimate Queen, Designer India Mahdavi, who operates her studio and showrooms from corner to corner of the Rue Las Cases, a quiet street on the edge of Saint Germain. Mahdavi’s shops is the real destination in this neighborhood for decorative sourcing. One may find anything for a home or project- all designed by Mahdavi and in collaboration with brands such as Ralph Pucci (furniture and lighting), Pierre Frey (fabrics and pillows), Le Manufacture Cogolin (Rugs), and now DeGournay (wallpaper). For the many who are big fan of hers or interior styling in general, her street should be at the top of the list.

India Mahdavi-designed furnitures fabricated by Ralph Pucci, including the “Charlotte” seat made famous at the London eatery, Sketch. Wallpaper in collaboration with De Gournay.

There’s just something fresh about how Mahdavi has come to utilise colours, patterns, and narratives in her design projects - especially the way she juxtaposes, remixes, and rearranges them while creating specific forms and geometries to invent places that are initially familiar - but are really new interior worlds unlike anything experienced before.

Plush pillows by Pierre Frey- designed by India Mahdavi.

India Mahdavi furnitures and objects in collaboration with Ralph Pucci. Wallpaper in collaboration with De Gournay.

Dining chairs by India Mahdavi with fabrics by Pierre Frey.

Mahdavi was born in 1962, to a Persian father and an Egyptian mother. According to a New Yorker article, India moved with her family at a young age of 2 to Cambridge so her father could study at Harvard. Due to his research critical of Agricultural reform, the family couldn’t return to Iran- so the Mahdavis spent their time living transiently - having started their journey from the “cartoonish abundance” of the United States, to the black and white existence of Heidelberg, Germany, and eventually ending up in the austere elegance of Nice, France, before finding an apartment to live in in Venice. All the moving around encouraged her to experience a world of references on the outside at such a young age.
The article also ads that while Mahdavi is globally celebrated, her work remains small and boutique (ie. she has never really worked with large scale hotel properties to this day), mostly working on stand alone European projects like homes and restaurants. The definitive interior style that makes her so beloved to her loyal fan-base, and as evidenced in the showroom, is most likely what makes it a bit too stylistically bold and cosmopolitan for Americans- who to this day, largely prefer their homegrown Post-British-Colonial and Mid-Century modern influences (see last few posts on Roman and Williams and Tyler Hays).

That said, her London restaurant, Sketch, is a complete social media phenom- especially for Millenials who have embraced Pink as THE colour for their lives. Anyone with an Instagram and Pinterest account looking for some F&B Inspiration, will definitely not miss photos of Sketch all over the internet- which re-opened a few years ago with Mahdavi’s unique interiors. Coincidentally, Mahdavi’s Sketch opened only several months after another Millenial pop culture reference was unveiled in the movie theatres -Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel- a feast of candy colour set pieces and retro-romantic European backdrops, not unlike the mood of Sketch. Mahdavi’s interiors have made an emotional and visual connection for digital aesthetes world-round. Since its inception, Sketch has officially received the distinction of being one of the most Instagrammed restaurants in London and the World.