For more than twenty years, nothing stops the Parisian designer and decorator, never short of projects and dreams.Look back at his extraordinary journey on the occasion of the release of his new book.
Dream, dare, create… and start again. The title of his book
This is also Poniatowski’s mantra. For more than twenty years, nothing has stopped the designer and decorator, who gives his advice in a fun and practical book. the energy and courage it takes to believe it and renew yourself.This book is designed as a companion to answer the various questions How to sharpen your curiosity? Build your relationship with others? I also wanted to talk about women’s empowerment.At 50, it’s important for me to convey, and if possible, disempower women.
The route of a self-taught woman
If some people censor themselves out of fear of failure or obstacles, Sara Poniatowski never asked herself the question of gender. “Women in my family have always created, worked, taken over. First of all, my mother was a decorator. My sister, Marie, and I grew up with this model and each have our own brands, Maison Sarah Lavoine and Stone Paris (jewelry, editor’s note). to do.”
Self-taught Sara Poniatowski did not attend architecture or design school. As a teenager, she saw herself not as a decorator, but as an actress. Cinema is still a passion, a part of his daily life (he shares his life with Roshdi Zem), but he gives up this dream to study psychology to become a script reader for a production company. He is looking for himself. Interior architecture finally came about almost by accident. “I often moved and had fun moving the furniture around and changing the decor. People were talking to me about it, people were asking me about it, and one thing led to another, I started organizing other people’s homes more professionally.” Her casual and chic style quickly stands out from the crowd. I’m lucky that my eye was educated in beauty from an early age,” she says, before going on market trips with her mother, trips to the museum, trips with her father, a former magazine director,
Vogue.
I want each object to evoke some emotion. I am in the process of transference
Sarah Poniatowski
Multidimensional universe
In 2002 he founded his interior architecture studio, whose creations are now available in private homes, hotels (Le Roch in Paris, Le Café Paris in Biarritz, etc.), headquarters (Seine 62 for L’Oréal Luxe) or stores (Stone, rue des Saints) -Pères) But the turning point of his career came in 2012. Meeting his partner, Edouard Reneviere, he reached a milestone with Maison Sarah Lavoine. take “I couldn’t find the clothes I was looking for – timeless essentials at affordable prices that you can wear to work and add to an outfit in the evening with a jacket or accessories.”
Multidimensional, his universe unfolds in four boutiques and other corners of Paris, but also in the region (Lille, Bordeaux, etc.) and in Brussels. Like the Sarah blue color or the Léo two-tone pouf, some of his creations are now important or clinical atmosphere. I want to feel the soul of that place, that every object evokes a feeling. I am in the process of transfer.
In my 50s, it’s important for me to pass on, and if possible, unimpeach women.
Sarah Poniatowski
Solidarity and inclusiveness too. True to its “like at home” style, the studio works in the Café Joyeux franchise spaces where people with disabilities work, and together with the Yellow Pieces Foundation, they design recreation spaces in hospitals and nursing homes. I don’t save lives, but I can bring beauty, and therefore prosperity.” Some glass and ceramics from her collections are also painted in Morocco by Atelier Beldine, an association that helps young women in rural areas gain their autonomy.
Paris to Marrakesh
Today, Maison Sarah Lavoine employs a hundred and twenty people. “Responsibility and pride,” replies the elegant fifty-year-old, whose order book is never empty. In the program: a decorative pop-up at Bon Marché until the end of January, a collection of Christmas capsules. Upcoming restaurant openings in Zurich and a hotel in Brussels, a new collection in the first quarter of 2025… “I still have dreams to one day, for example, run our own hotels. A logical extension of our work. But as Nike founder Phil Knight recounts in his biographyThe art of victory
entrepreneurship is a trick. We’ll see what the future holds, but I know it’s important not to rest on my laurels. I’ve always gone for it, and even if I’ve slipped, I’ve always felt that I can do a thousand things at once.” .
Despite a busy professional life, Sarah Poniatowski is the mother of three children born from her marriage to her ex-husband Marc Lavoine, aged 26, 17 and 14 respectively. All of them were born and raised in Paris knows like the back of his hand. if his roots are aristocratic and Polish, then the designer was born and always lived in the capital.
“I still admire its beauty, its cultural richness. I like everything here, except the grayness. I wish Paris was further south.’ He regularly flies to Marrakech to recharge his batteries and soak up the sun. He will spend Christmas there. “I’ve never been a big fan of parties, but I want to continue the family tradition: my father lived in Morocco and my sister and I went there every year. It is my other anchor, the land of my heart. There I have wonderful memories and build new ones with those who are dear to me.” Dream, dare, create… and start again.
Source: Le Figaro
