In photos: the stunning home of the Pauline family in the heart of Paris

Opening the door of Benjamin and Alice Paulin’s house, hidden in an alley in the east of the capital, is an extraordinary experience. Passing through the courtyard with glass, greenery and mirrors, we enter the breathtaking interior. Furniture by Pierre Paulin, Benjamin’s father, is everywhere here. But especially not shown. Kids play on the Big C and Mid C couches, watch movies with their parents nestled in the Dune, and eat while sitting on their grandfather’s Elysée chairs. This sums up the spirit of Benjamin and Alice and their friendship: Pauline, Pauline, Pauline. “When my father died in 2009, we didn’t want the focus to be on the missing, but on the live work. We therefore, among other things, tackled this problem by creating Pauline, Pauline, Pauline, a name that evokes and therefore conveys. To do this, we work with secondary market players, we collaborate with industry publishers to ensure that more democratic pieces are created according to the rules of art, explains Benjamin. And above all, we are bringing to life my father’s utopias, which were not commercialized because they were too complicated.

We sense in Benjamin and Alice an overflowing passion for Pierre Paulin’s work. So much so that they chose to put their personal space and offices in the same place. “The idea is to have no boundaries between our two existences,” notes Alice. Coming home from the office in the evening and thinking about other things is not the right way to understand furniture. To achieve it, you have to live with it.” To support this point of view, he likes to tell the story of the “Tongue Chair”. “Pierre imagined it in the late 1950s, he submitted it to a publisher who rejected it, and he put the prototypes in a closet. Her son pulled them out at a party and all his friends thought this chair was awesome. Therefore, the father published the Language Chair. A chair that entered the collections of MoMA in New York after its commercialization in 1967. And Benjamin continues. “I grew up with my father’s prototypes, the rejected pieces, and for me they are the strongest.”

Coming home from the office in the evening and thinking about other things is not the right way to understand furniture

Alice Pauline

Like a sign

This fusion of the couple around the work of Pierre Paulin is probably related to his story. When Benjamin met Alice twenty years ago, he introduced her to her mother, Maya. The latter then finds a photo of Alice at age 2…with her family. Thus, the duo discovers that Alice’s mother was one of Pierre Paulin’s colorists. “We were part of the same story,” enthuses Benjamin. So, without being mystical, we are attentive to the signs that are being sent to us.” And we can certainly count one of these signs as the cryptic ad that Alice happens to consult while “window shopping” on real estate websites. “I arranged to visit this house on a whim and texted Benjamin to alert him with a photo… He recognized it immediately.” It’s Jean-Michel Vilmottin, a friend of the Paulines. Benjamin knows this well because he was in elementary school with the architect’s sons and regularly came there for lunch. Alice and Benjamin see this as another twist of fate.

In place

Although they did not plan to move, they are packing their boxes. “When a meaningful opportunity like this comes along, it means something. It was difficult to manage, particularly in terms of investment, but it also suited our development. The courtyard and many doors allowed furniture to be brought in and out. We could set up our offices there and our teams while living there. It was easy to get. And Jean-Michel, who was very attached to the place because it was his first house (fronted by Pierre-Louis Falosin), knew we could take care of it,” confides Alice. The couple therefore bought it and worked to insulate it better, update it, opened up the uninhabited basement to turn it into a projection room, a music room, a reading room or even a dining room… but did not touch the distribution. rooms or layout. “We even kept the stove,” laughs Alice.

Jean-Michel is very attached to the place since it was his first home, he knew we would be able to take care of it.

Alice Pauline

The Pauline spirit

Of course, the soul of Pierre Paulin floats everywhere. But hesitant. “The layout is constantly changing depending on exhibitions, requests, trade shows…” The pair is set to send the above-mounted Mitterand office to Design Miami/Paris, where it will be exhibited in conjunction with Mobilier National. Alice and Benjamin also prepare an exhibition to fit within their walls; Wall drawings By Sol Levitt. We will reveal it with the reservation. “We received 3,000 people for the last exhibition. It’s not easy. But that’s our way of being real smugglers. Like my mother, who worked alongside my father for forty years, Benjamin insists. We took the power from him. My father was incapable of compromise, he spoke little… He was the one who maintained cohesion with the rest of the world.” Maia is now located in the Cévennes, a residence that Pierre Paulin intended to become an exchange area in the 1980s. Alice and Benjamin also hope to realize this dream at their own pace. A completely written new chapter… and maybe a place they’ll open the doors to us after a while.

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