The Parisian studio Claves restores Villa Junot, reviving the intensity of its history and the vitality of a contemporary home

High above Montmartre, where the surrealist spirit still mingles with the scent of the past, this house seems to have awakened from a dream. Villa Junot, built in the 1920s, has been restored by the studio Claves for Iconic House, the French pioneer of the Maison-Hôtelière concept, recovering the intensity of a place steeped in history and artistic memory.

Under the direction of Laure Gravier and Soizic Fougeront, Claves approached the intervention as an act of both remembrance and imagination. Where time had left its traces, the interior designers drew a new narrative of noble materials, echoes of Art Déco, and a profound devotion to art.

Located on Avenue Junot, in the 18th arrondissement—one of Paris’s most emblematic neighborhoods—this house was once the residence of composer André Mauprey. At that time, Montmartre stood out for its surrealist energy and avant-garde creativity, attracting artists, musicians, and poets whose legacy still resonates within Villa Junot.

The project carried out by Claves preserves the mansion’s original structure, while transforming it through a gaze that combines architectural precision with pictorial sensitivity.

The original mosaics of the main bathroom are preserved like fragments of an ancient score; new artisanal compositions accompany them as variations on the same theme. The wrought-iron railings reinterpret the treble clef—symbol and homage to the home’s first inhabitant—while the vaults and moldings envelop the spaces with discreet theatricality.

On the staircase, a trompe-l’œil by Mauro Ferreira extends the space into the imaginary. In the dining room, a cosmic mural by Maldo Nollimerg reminds us that art, too, has its own gravity.

The house is filled with contemporary works: paintings, sculptures, stained glass, and frescoes by Lia Rochas, Antoine de la Boulaye, Nina Silverberg, Gaultier Rimbaud-Joffard, Thibault Perrigne, and Garance Vallée, who transforms a bedroom into a painted library. Each artist brings a distinct vibration to this visual symphony.

Claves weaves the project as a dialogue between the decorative arts and surrealism. The draped fireplace by Southway Studio, the reflections of lacquer and gold, the astrological and alchemical symbols appearing like secret signs—all invite the visitor to move between reality and reverie.

With its 550 square meters of interiors, a 40 m² garden and a 120 m² terrace, Villa Junot embodies Claves’s philosophy: to make interior architecture a sensitive art, a living space that breathes history and emotion. The residence thus becomes a maison hôtelière, a new type of hospitality that merges the intimacy of a private home with the excellence of an art hotel.

Iconic House

Founded by Thibaud Elzière and Robin Michel, Iconic House is redefining the notions of luxury and hospitality in France. A pioneer of the Maison Hôtelière concept, its collection of residences combines the comfort of hotel services with the authenticity of private homes. Each property—in Provence, the Alps, the Côte d’Azur, and now Paris—celebrates the local territory, craftsmanship, and contemporary creation.

Villa Junot is its first Parisian address: an artist’s house reborn for the present, where living becomes a poetic act.

Project: Villa Junot.
Location: Avenida Junot. París.
Client: Iconic House.
Area: 550 m² + garden 40 m² + terrace 120 m²
Completion: 2025.
Interior architecture: Claves. Laure Gravier y Soizic Fougeront.
Photography: Alice Mesguich.
Source: Klante.

Claves

There are studios that are born with the maturity of an already-formed vision. Claves is one of them. Founded in 2022 by Laure Gravier and Soizic Fougeront, the Paris-based studio has emerged on the French interior design scene with a voice that blends architectural rigor, decorative sensibility, and a deep devotion to the art of living.

The name Claves —from the Latin clavis, meaning “key”— holds an exact metaphor: the key as both an artisanal object and a gesture of trust. Each client hands over their key to the studio, and with it, the possibility of opening a new story for their space. In this way, Claves conceives interior architecture as a sensitive narrative, woven from light, textures, and silences.

Their projects —from the transformation of Villa Junot for Iconic House to the bistro Le Cornichon in the heart of Paris— reveal a clear taste for ornamentation, decorative painting, and the echoes of the 1930s and 1940s. Yet beneath this appearance of nostalgia lies a contemporary freedom: fantasy, the theatricality of detail, the reinvented reference. Everything that composes a setting with soul.

Trained at the École Camondo, Laure Gravier worked for seven years alongside Pierre Yovanovitch, where she served as art director. Her experience in furniture design and her command of spatial scale give her a vision that unites architecture, material, and emotion. “Never literal,” she often says — references are not copied, but transformed.

Soizic Fougeront, meanwhile, brings to the studio a solid structure and a strategic outlook. Coming from a consulting background and with experience in furniture development, she was also a collaborator of Yovanovitch, where she met Gravier. Her intuition for organizing processes and coordinating craftsmanship complements her partner’s poetic sensibility.

Together, they form a rare alchemy: precision and emotion, method and instinct. At Claves, each project is a quest for beauty — a form of excellence born from the dialogue between history, craftsmanship, and contemporaneity.

Project by Claves