Photography by Marie Hennechart.
Marie Hennechart is a documentary style photographer and self described good sport with a ready smile and updated Red Cross skills More often than not she s on the go to cover a London and a Bay Area family swapping houses for Travel Leisure...
...magazine which is where the two of us first crossed paths or to Sicily or Tokyo to take portraits of walls for a project about the passing of time or to Nablus to work on the next in her cookbook series with Laurence Phitoussi
The apartment is situated on the top floor, formerly the servant quarters, of a 1907 stone building in Montmartre with a winding stair, a tiny elevator, and, notes Marie, “a very friendly concierge at the entrance.”
The space has high ceilings, its original oak floor, and two sets of French doors that open onto the wraparound balcony. Marie’s biggest move was to take down the central wall that divided the apartment into two rooms.
A space saving circular George Nelson table is surrounded by a sampling of Marie s chair collection including a green Eames chair from a cafeteria in the...
...Pigalle that closed a steel and leather Renzo Piano library chair salvaged from the Pompidou and a Bertoia Side Chair with a very vintage orange leather cover
Noguchi Akari Lights pack flat–Marie brought them home from a trip to Japan more than 20 years ago.
The portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat is from a Polaroid taken by photographer-designer Maripol; it evokes the years Marie was getting her start in NYC (post-high school, she trained under fashion photographer Kei Ogata).
A Didier Gomez sofa is positioned opposite the dining table (and immediately off the entry hall). The collage photograph was a gift from artist-filmmaker Michel Zumpf.
Above L: A vintage hanger displays an embroidered hankie by artist Catherine Laroche.
Marie’s bedroom is screened off by a partition that she paints a different color every few years.
“I wanted a big living area and a small bedroom, so I had the wall built as far back as I could, and left it open on top.”
The tiny bedroom has an expansive view of Montmartre.
Marie left just enough room for a storage bed (with a mattress that lifts up—”hugely practical for a small space”) and almost invisible built-in cabinets with touch-latch doors.
The bookshelf headboard made by Marie s carpenter incorporates a cabinet where she keeps sweaters along with some bars of Mon Savon an old and cheap French soap brand...
...it perfumes the area with lavender which keeps the moths away and helps me sleep The hand painted pillowcase is by designer Nathalie Gervais one to watch says Marie
Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves are tucked into the end of the room that’s partially open to the living area.
Marie replaced the existing “long basic kitchen” with a kitchenette off the entry hall. It has Ikea cabinets, a cooktop with a slate backsplash, an oven (that looks like a microwave), as well as an under-counter fridge, slim dishwasher, and normal size washing machine.
With space gained from the original kitchen, Marie slotted in a bathroom with a full-size tub.
She got her polished chrome sink at Sopha, “a bath equipment store on Rue Blanche near Pigalle—it was a prototype and small enough that I remember carrying it home.” She uses her champagne bucket as a wastebasket.
Above L: The green hanging light, one of Marie’s favorite details in the apartment, was a €3 ($3.56) purchase from Ikea. Above R: In need of compact storage, Marie happened upon Joe Columbo’s 1970s classic Boby Mobile Office Organizer at a flea market.
Winding wood stairs lead to the charmingly tiled top floor.
Marie in her uniform: an indigo-dyed dress and Prada sunglasses that she converted to reading glasses.