CALM & COLLECTED
From the co-founder of Invisible Collection, this curated London apartment combines relaxed living and bespoke pieces by stars of the interiors world
LIVING ROOM
‘This room gets a green light filtering through because of the trees outside, so we used earthy shades to balance it,’ explains owner Isabelle.
LIVING ROOM
The board-and-batten panelling hides a wall of cupboards, including this pull-down office space.
When the iconic, oversized Charles Zana sofa that Isabelle Dubern-Mallevays bought for her Pa risia nchic-meets-London-classic apartment wouldn’t go up the stairs, she hired acrane, took out awindow and made ahole in the ceiling to allow it in. ‘It was worth it as it set the scene for the f lat and is a major contributor to the slightly masculine London club atmosphere Iwanted to achieve,’ she says.
Eight years ago, Isabelle employed those same problemsolving skills when she dreamed of owning a Pierre Yovanovitch Papa Bear armchair, which, at the time, was only available via interior designers commissioning a whole project. She had bumped into a friend, Anna Zaoui, at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London, who happened to have commissioned Pierre to design her Manhattan apartment. ‘Anna offered to add the chair to her order for me and Ijumped at the chance,’ explains Isabelle, who at the time was working for Dior Maison after a stint as a lifest yle editor at Bloomberg. ‘Then we began a conversation about how sad it was that so many beautiful pieces remained hidden and unavailable. They were “invisible”, really, to design amateurs and collectors – anyone, in fact, who didn’t want, or didn’t have the wherewithal, to commission awhole project.’ And so abusiness idea was born and the friends teamed up with athird partner, Lily Froehlicher, to create a platform offering high-end design pieces to all. Invisible Collection is now sold online and through their f lagship show rooms in London, New York and Paris, as well as global pop-ups.
As you would expect, Isabelle’s home is a testament to previously unavailable design pieces and acts as amini showroom as well. ‘It’s sad if smaller items like a piece of art or an occasional table disappear, but there is always something new and exciting to replace it, so it’s not so bad,’ she says. Isabe
