Parisian elegance reinterpreted by designer Nathan Baraness in his Saint-Germain-des-Prés apartment

Hidden behind a discreet inner courtyard on Rue Jacob in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Nathan Baraness found this apartment—an unexpected dream for the designer, who has transformed it into a space tailored to his measure. It breathes time, silence and character; a place where past and present coexist in serene harmony. An exercise in balance between Parisian elegance and contemporary expression, where every material and every object compose a narrative of living.

Here, Baraness unfolds his entire creative universe: a sensibility that embraces interior architecture and object design with equal devotion. In Jacob, the designer turns space into a three-dimensional composition of textures, volumes and artworks, where history and modernity intertwine as if they had always coexisted.

Light, the silent protagonist, enters from the south and caresses the living room with its restored ceiling, where whitewashed beams reveal their structure and a herringbone parquet sets the classical rhythm. Facing the black marble fireplace, a rug by Giancarlo Valle for Nordic Knots adds a playful note. The furniture —a mix of iconic pieces and vintage finds— weaves a dialogue between eras and styles: a studded armchair from the 1950s, a Camaleonda sofa by Mario Bellini, a varnished walnut-root table, lamps by Muller Van Severen and Santa & Cole, and works by Judit Reigl, Henri Matisse and Aristide Maillol lend the ensemble an artistic vibration that permeates the entire home.

In the dining room, colour becomes a language in itself. A sun-yellow velvet bench, an Emperador marble table and a geometric composition inspired by Mondrian bring rhythm and energy. Pieces by Claude Gilli converse with a painting by Serge Poliakoff and a bar cart by Cesare Lacca, while the tableware, bronzes and flowers by Debeaulieu complete the domestic tableau of a warm modernity.

The bedroom, clad in earthy fabrics, invites retreat. The bed, nestled into a niche, becomes a small sanctuary illuminated by ceramic lamps and presided over by a painting by Miró. In one corner, the unexpected presence of a resin chair by Gaetano Pesce introduces the playful and experimental gesture that so deeply attracts the designer.

In the study —a space for thought, drawing and contemplation— a walnut table takes centre stage. Facing the window, a bronze torso by Maillol recalls the importance of form and proportion. There, among antique measuring instruments and a Snoopy lamp by Castiglioni, the memory of craftsmanship coexists with industrial precision.

The kitchen, clad in Rosso Levanto marble and Burgundy stone flooring, distils the essence of the project: nobility and authenticity. A plate by Picasso and a sculpture by Fernand Léger integrate naturally among Mado Jolain ceramics and everyday utensils.

Each room is conceived as a living scene, where objects are not mere ornaments but protagonists of a personal story. The lamps designed by Baraness with Maryna Dague —such as the Mojave and the Dina— intertwine with pieces by twentieth-century masters and with works edited by galleries such as Dina Vierny or Noom, revealing the cultural depth of Nathan’s gaze.

This apartment stands as a statement of intent: an ode to the art of living surrounded by beauty, where material has a voice and time seems to suspend. Nathan Baraness makes daily life feel like an aesthetic gesture, where every detail, every colour and every texture tell a story that only the attentive eye can decipher.

Project: Jacob.
Location: Rue Jacob. París.
Interior design: Nathan Baraness.
Completed: 2025.
Photography : Matteo Verzini.
Art : Galerie Dina Vierny, Ateliers Hugo & private collections.
Floral arrangements : Debeaulieu.
Source: Nathan Baraness.

Nathan Baraness

Nathan Baraness is a French designer whose hand draws both the living space and the ornamental object with the same evocative sensitivity. A graduate of the prestigious École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL), his academic training was enriched by practical experience in Lausanne, Milan, and finally Paris, where his vision has acquired a voice of its own.

From his Paris studio, Baraness articulates two intimately connected disciplines: interior architecture, which he interprets as a narrative of inhabiting, and product design, whose expression gracefully occupies the realm of objects and furniture that accompany life. His signature—reflected in the walls of his office and in the pieces he designs—is the fruit of a driving force: curiosity. Through the space that surrounds him, the antique objects he collects, the materials and craftsmanship he admires—or even the cinema he loves—Nathan forges a formal language that is at once sober and poetic.

In the field of interior design, Baraness conceives space as a fine recipe, a blend of textures, colors, and nuances that become a narrative language. In his own apartment on Rue Jacob, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district, he has experimented with this idea: a display of antique and modern pieces, noble materials and industrial elements, a herringbone parquet in dialogue with marble fireplaces, copper, brass, mosaics, and travertine.

In product design, his approach seeks refined forms, timeless lines, and an absence of pretension: the trace of industrial process converses with the quiet perfection of the artisan’s gesture. Whether in furniture, decorative objects, or limited editions, Baraness combines elegance, meticulous detailing, and a deep appreciation for materials. His practice draws no boundaries between interior design and product design: both disciplines feed each other, generating a creative ecosystem where furniture recognizes space, and space recognizes furniture.

Committed to exploration—and to responsibility as well—his studio has received notable recognition: winner of the Archiproducts Design Awards in 2022 (decor), finalist and award-winner at the Bolia Design Awards (2020–21), and second prize at the Cinna Design Award in 2019.

Today, Nathan Baraness continues to inhabit that hybrid realm between art and use, between the domestic room and the object of desire. From his base in Paris, he offers to the contemporary environment atmospheres that seem to have been woven over time, furniture that feels as though it has always existed, and spaces that invite permanence, introspection, and the poetry of everyday life.