How a family's passion for art inspired this jaw-dropping home in the South of France

Paris-based designer Rodolphe Parente has an unparalleled ability for creating interiors of beauty that somehow always feel exciting and new.

His latest project is this spectacularly beautiful apartment in the South of France, designed for a young family with two children who are passionate about art, furniture and design. Dream client alert!

“It was a quasi-total carte blanche,” says Parente of this project, whose objective was to evoke the apartment’s sunny location, fusing it with a deliberate mixture of textures and natural colours.

“The Mediterranean spirit with a chic and contemporary lifestyle, and a cool attitude – this was my framework,” he says.

Parente met his clients through a gallerist friend. “It was a quasi-love affair,” he says. Not only is the couple the same age as him, they also discovered they shared similar views on design and lifestyle.

The pair wanted to create a global project that sat at the intersection of interior design, furniture and art. All the pieces were carefully chosen to embody a certain freedom of spirit.

The generously proportioned 350-square-metre interior sits on the top floor of the building facing the sea. “It’s sunny and full of light from the morning to the evening. Like a house pending to the clouds with a 360-degree view,” the designer says.

Parente developed the project using only natural and organic materials. “It was an important part of our studies to find new finishes and timeless textures that felt connected to the context of the location.”

Osso travertine lines the floor, while cactus-fibre carpet appears in the living room alongside cleaved travertine blocks. The kitchen features lacquered timber panels, lava stone benchtops, and a black and white clay floor.

The entrance door handle and all metal details are crafted from bronze, textured wallpaper makes a cameo in the vestibule, while walnut timber adds a sense of gravitas to the library.

Appearing in the corridor in front of the metal bronze panels and terracotta lime-wash paint are cupboard doors lined in cork.

Dark red bamboo lines the powder room, green Mediterranean marble wraps the main bathroom, while green waxed timber panels line the walls of the main bedroom. “The rich and poor materials are assembled for a perfect story,” Parente says.

The interplay of colours and materials is not only incredibly complex and diverse, but also dangerous. This approach would bomb in the hands of someone with less experience and a lot less talented, yet Parente manages to achieve a visual balance with effortless ease. And this is precisely why I love him so.

Ultimately, the driving principle for this project was to create a family home where life could unfold daily among all the art and design pieces. It’s fair to say they nailed it.