- 7/17/2025
Today on AD, we visit architect Hugo Vince of Atelier HA and artist Caroline Derveaux in their vibrant Paris apartment, located in Saint-Ouen. Despite raising three young children, the creative couple has chosen to embrace compact living, transforming their 69-square-meter (742-square-foot) space into a dynamic and functional home for their family of five. With bold colors, clever design solutions, and plenty of personality, the apartment showcases how thoughtful planning, like the use of mirrors, built-in appliances, and optimized storage, can make a small space feel open, stylish, and livable. Discover how Hugo and Caroline bring together form, function, and creativity in their inspiring Parisian home.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Paris is the most dense city in Europe, so it's true that people are used to live in
00:15extremely small apartments and maximizing the spaces. I am a partisan of living in
00:21the small spaces. In fact, I think I could never live in a huge house,
00:24except if I have a family with 20 children. I think that being in a small space,
00:28it allows us to control what's happening, that it also contributes to the physical and mental
00:32physical. I like having a small space optimized, but if I had the choice between a large house and a small apartment, I really prefer the small apartment.
00:40I'm Hugo Vins. I'm Caroline Berreau.
00:44Welcome to our apartment of 69m2, in Saint-Ouen, at the heart of the Puces, near Paris.
00:49Oh, you're hot, there! I'm feeling inspired!
00:58With Hugo, we are known for 21 years, we were friends, we became friends, we became friends, and all of a sudden, when we came together, we started to collaborate together.
01:12I decided to become an architect, it was done pretty naturally, I always liked everything that was a bit creative, and so naturally, I was directed to the architecture of the interior architecture.
01:22I'm an artiste-peintre and muralist, I have a two practice, both of the painting on the wall, and both of the monument painting in the public space.
01:34In fact, we had friends who lived in this apartment, we came to dinner one night, they told us that they would sell the apartment, and that was done quite quickly.
01:41We didn't have a garter at the time, when we bought this apartment. When we knew that we were going to have females, we told us that we were going to change an apartment.
01:50We told us that it would be too small, there were only two rooms, and very quickly, we told us that we were really good in this apartment.
01:56Being a family, first of three, then then five people, it was sure that we had to optimize each space, to make it both beautiful, but also functionally.
02:05What we wanted really, and that's why we had all painted in white, was to have a painting, like in the work of Caroline, where we arrived, and then we came back to the color.
02:14We wanted really that it was a very living place, which also inspire people.
02:18It was really important for us to work our interior, which is aesthetic, which we look at, and which is really practical,
02:27where a family can live in a way all of a normal way.
02:40Now we're entering the main room, the salon.
02:43In this living room, there was a real challenge, in terms of the maintenance,
02:49it was to know where we were going to put the roof.
02:51It's less conventional to put a roof in front of a building, so it was asked to suppress the roof.
02:56So we decided to totally assume the agency and the functioning of the building,
03:00and to put the roof in front of the building.
03:03We found that in the end it worked quite well.
03:05There was also an important challenge, it was that we wanted a library,
03:09and we didn't know how to design it,
03:14whether it was put on the floor, whether it was suspended,
03:17whether it was color, whether it was working with the lake.
03:20And at the end, I think we decided to do something very discreet,
03:25in the same paint that the wall, like if it was a wall that was a new experience.
03:29And we wanted to have this linear, functional,
03:32and in the same time, a little infant, a little Fist Design,
03:35without having the color.
03:37We have this commode Garance Valley, which is made for a singular world.
03:41It's a hybrid building, which allows us to have a function,
03:44a little connection between the two spaces.
03:47This kind of graphics, a little band of security route,
03:50we wanted to put in front the fact that there was a closure before.
03:54It's even a way to put in value, again,
03:57things that we want to hide,
03:59like the tuyaux, like the radiators.
04:01It's really to put the light on it,
04:04to accept them fully, and that this weakness becomes a force.
04:09These paintings are a bit of the first paintings
04:12of a new chapter in my artistic life.
04:14And these paintings follow me everywhere.
04:17These paintings are three abstract portraits
04:19of women inspired by me.
04:22It was, I think, the first piece of art
04:24where we knew that it was on the wall.
04:26It gave the tone of all the colors,
04:28of materials, of all the buildings around.
04:31Well, The Soleil, it's a very special piece,
04:34because it's a piece that we made all the two,
04:36but which is part of a little bit of an idea of our son,
04:38who told us that it would be cool to have a soleil.
04:40And so, we already had this need
04:42to have a light on the floor.
04:44We also wanted to experiment
04:46around a mirror effect a little bit of a deformity
04:48to continue this narration that we have in the apartment,
04:50of reflection,
04:52of game of light, of game of mirrors.
04:54So, it's growing the space in the sense
04:56where we have a vision,
04:57where the central element
05:00looks a little bit of measured.
05:02In fact, it deforms
05:03all the vision when we look at it.
05:05So, it's pretty interesting to look at it.
05:07The most big challenge in this piece,
05:18I think it was to create a functional kitchen
05:21without having the intuitive side
05:24on the part of the living room.
05:26What was the most difficult,
05:27was to know where we would put the fridge.
05:30We really dug into this wall.
05:33There was a entrance,
05:34but we were a little bit growing
05:35to be able to enter the fridge.
05:36We ate in the dressing room
05:38from the other side.
05:39And we grew up a little bit
05:40to have a little technical part
05:42with a simple arrangement
05:44on the side.
05:45So, it's a piece
05:47that remains pretty simple,
05:48but functional.
05:49And we're very proud of our fridge.
05:51Very quickly,
05:52we decided to make this huge mirror wall
05:55to really give a great depth
05:57and in the same time,
05:58to keep a little bit practical,
05:59very light,
06:00and that sort of the mirror
06:02that brings a aesthetic
06:04and also practical.
06:05We wanted really
06:07to put other objects
06:10of art,
06:11some books,
06:12especially plants,
06:13and flowers.
06:14We thought that this kitchen
06:15was at the same time,
06:16it continued this space
06:17of gallery, in fact.
06:18And the evening,
06:19we wanted really
06:20that these stairs
06:21are not only stairs,
06:22but that they also become a light.
06:24So, we integrated
06:25the LEDs
06:26so that the furniture
06:27become a light
06:28and that it's not only a functional
06:29but an aesthetic
06:32and that also provides
06:33a light
06:34inside.
06:35When we arrived
06:36in the apartment,
06:37it was a kitchen
06:38that was much more functional.
06:39So, it's true
06:40that we wanted to adapt
06:41the arrangements.
06:42When we open the drawers,
06:43there's this third color
06:44that complement
06:45the two others.
06:46Each arrangement is maximized,
06:48so that it can nourish
06:49a family of five people
06:50and that there's
06:51all the arrangements
06:52possible.
06:53We wanted to have
06:54an aesthetic apartment,
06:55a beautiful apartment
06:56with design pieces,
06:57but also the practical
06:58and functional part.
07:00And we wanted to
07:01cut with the color
07:02and the work
07:03a bit more industrial,
07:05a bit more functional.
07:07The same design
07:09was the Fisher-Price
07:10of the Bauhaus.
07:11And there,
07:12we wanted to cut
07:13between two worlds,
07:14the Fisher-Price
07:15and the technical world.
07:17We love the way
07:18when we receive,
07:19and we receive a lot.
07:20We can eat at the same time,
07:21we can cook at the same time,
07:22we can all decouper,
07:23the children play at the same time.
07:24There's a bit
07:25an ambiance
07:26where we're all together
07:27at the same place.
07:28There's no separation
07:30of groups,
07:31so maybe a loss
07:32of energy
07:33or of an ambiance.
07:35We're always together.
07:36We're now in the room
07:48to bed,
07:49the parental room.
07:50It's a very unique piece
07:51because it's the only
07:52that has two doors
07:53that really allows
07:54this circulation
07:55of energy and movement.
07:56In the room,
07:58everything is oriented
07:59to the chat
08:00of our drapes
08:01and the chat
08:02of this wall.
08:03We've seen a tonality
08:04in the violets
08:05so that's the wall
08:06of Clément Davou.
08:07This is our love room.
08:09And so,
08:10we wanted really,
08:11by the end,
08:12this table
08:13to make a little bit
08:14a little bit
08:15of a love hotel.
08:16We made this table
08:17in a wood loop.
08:18We brought a glossy
08:19finish
08:20to keep this theme
08:21of the mirror
08:22of the mirror.
08:23And so,
08:24to break a little bit
08:25of a love hotel
08:26of the 60s,
08:27we were much more radical
08:29and we tried to make
08:30something at the bottom
08:31of the room,
08:32totally cubic
08:33and monochrome.
08:34And so,
08:35to make a little bit
08:36of the structure,
08:37we designed this room
08:38which is in fact
08:39a coffin,
08:40entirely covered
08:41of a mirror,
08:42the same mirror
08:43that we used in the entrance.
08:44We made a collaboration
08:46with an artist
08:47who does the vitro
08:49called Rebecca Roquet.
08:50So here,
08:51it's one.
08:52We wanted to do a drawing
08:54that is pens
08:55to a light
08:55that's the light
08:56that's the light
08:57that's the light
08:58that's the light
08:59that's the light
09:00that's the light
09:01and the light
09:02of a colour.
09:03It's a bit different
09:04to the same concept
09:05that the kitchen
09:06the furniture
09:07becomes a light
09:08that on this bed
09:09we've really integrated
09:10the light
09:11which is very hot
09:12which gives
09:13an atmosphere
09:14much hotter
09:15and very cold.
09:16We are in the children's room room.
09:30It's a room that is decorated with objects that we had in the office,
09:35and elements that were present previously in my studio,
09:38like these stairs that I had a little customised.
09:41We also had the problem of finding a table to hang out.
09:45A friend made it, and then I painted it.
09:49So it's true that it gives a tonal of color, joyous and playful.
09:55But there, to have transformed this table to hang out,
09:57with all the technical part on the top,
09:59which is also a box of games.
10:01We are able to take all the toys from the world,
10:03and put everything in the top.
10:04That's why, on the floor, we didn't want to put the stairs
10:07to be able to slide very quickly all the toys inside,
10:10and that we have a more aesthetic space
10:12and not a mess of games everywhere.
10:14We wanted that children's room
10:16continue with the stimulation of the color,
10:19the forms, with a joyous visual landscape.
10:22We also decorated with something quite surprising,
10:24like this light,
10:26where, in the evening, we could put the light
10:28and make it a little bit in a disco.
10:30On a also wanted to put an espalier
10:33so that the children could also play a little bit on it.
10:36Because it's a bra.
10:37That's right.
10:38That's right.
10:39That's right.
10:40That's right.
10:41That's right.
10:42We wanted to make some up with what we have
10:44and this room.
10:45We wanted to put our children into a room fit dans one
10:47pane and Wolf's place.
10:47We wanted to have this little way kind of modula,
10:51which was either a bedroom that seminary
10:54that accounted for friends, but also a game window.
10:57We wanted to make everything very functional.
11:00The rest,
11:00there was a decoration for them to stimulate their imaginations.
11:02imagination on sent qu'ils profitent vraiment de tout le reste de l'appartement pour en faire
11:07leur terrain de jeu et c'Ă©tait vraiment notre choix premier c'Ă©tait que cet appartement ce
11:11soit notre terrain de jeu Ă tous les deux mais Ă©galement pour les enfants qui puissent vraiment
11:15pousser en fait la chambre au delà des murs et que leurs jouets colorés au final puisse aussi se
11:19marier gracieusement avec le reste de l'appartement puisque voilà on est dans des tonalités à chaque
11:24fois qu'ils sont très vives donc nous voici dans l'entrĂ©e de l'appartement oĂą on peut voir voilĂ
11:38un travail d'effet miroir aussi bien au plafond que sur la porte d'entrée où les dérangements pour
11:44vraiment avoir cette amplitude de jeu de réflexion d'agrandissement de l'espace de pouvoir vraiment
11:48s'amuser avec voilà le reflet de la lumière qui n'est pas forcément très présente dans l'entrée
11:53de l'appartement après on a encore une fois des pièces qu'on a achiné un petit peu il ya des
11:58tableaux aussi de ma propre pratique qui abstrait donc ça permet aussi de de rentrer un peu dans les
12:03couleurs cette entrée on a vraiment aussi voulu la réfléchir un peu comme une galerie à d'exposer un
12:07peu certaines oeuvres artistiques mais aussi un peu un lieu de jeu pour les enfants et un lieu de
12:11passage c'est pour ça qu'on a dĂ©cidĂ© aussi de mettre un peu une partie des jouets des enfants Ă
12:16l'intérieur de ce couloir pour que ça vive et que ce soit pas juste un lieu de passage et un endroit mort
12:21donc ça fait vraiment partie de l'optimisation justement des petits espaces
12:24c'est assez agréable d'être dans cette quête de transformation je pense qu'on ira de projet en
12:37projet il n'y aura jamais ce moment on se dira ah c'est terminé moi je suis un éternel insatisfait
12:43enfin j'ai toujours envie d'aller un petit peu plus loin et en tout cas je considère vraiment en tout
12:47cas l'intérieur comme le nôtre l'histoire et la décoration d'une famille d'un appartement
12:52c'est jamais vraiment fini je trouve que c'est ça qui est intéressant et assez excitant c'est que
12:57tout peut encore changer enfin ça ça change vraiment en fonction des voilà des périodes de
13:03l'année des moments de vie donc c'est jamais vraiment terminé je pense que d'être dans confini dans des
13:09petits espaces ça nous permet aussi de déployer de liberté dans notre tête et c'est justement d'être plein de
13:13ressources et de faire des choses d'agrandir quelque part
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