This month at Autre Collective, we are excited to launch our very first online journal. Our journal will be dedicated to covering design-based interviews and articles of creative professionals around the globe.

To inaugurate this Journal, we have been extremely honoured to have had the opportunity to interview the highly-esteemed Paris and London based interior designer, Guillaume Alan.

We hope that you will enjoy this interview, as much as we do!

Autre Collective Team x

Tell us how did your journey as an interior design begin?

GA : I was born and raised in the world of architecture and interior design, gravitating to my career was natural for me. At 22, I opened my first design studio in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, and in 2011 a second studio was launched in Mayfair, London.

How would you define interior design, and what does it mean to you?

GA: Feeling of appeasement, appeasement through beauty and purity.

I focus on trying to express a minimalist poetry of space, an elaborate and highly precise poetry, giving birth to a universe of emotion. It’s all about restraint in elements and architecture but opulence in spirit.

How would you describe your personal design philosophy or ethos?

GA: As master Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.

Simplicity is bold and also very complex to achieve. It's always a subtle alchemy between strong lines or materials throughout the space are off set by accompanying lines and textures that are soft and subtle, creating serene lightness and calm spaces.

But it’s not only about simplicity. I focus on trying to express a minimalist poetry of space, an elaborate and highly precise poetry, giving birth to a universe of emotion.

It's all about restraint in elements and architecture but opulence in spirit.

For the aspiring designers that are reading, tell us how did you start your own studio and manage to land your first project?

GA: I am very grateful to my clients. Since my early beginning, I have built sincere relationships with the homeowners from the start of the projects until their completions.

Relationships based on trust; my clients have always been very supportive, embracing our elaborate plans. The idea of being able to create and to open the doors of imagination is extraordinary.

When starting a new project, how do you approach it?

GA: We approach each project as a complete piece, including architecture, interior design and pieces of furniture. Everything is drawn out. It could also be until the selection of accessories and pieces of art.

This approach has an echo with the tradition of French design and 'décorateurs ensembliers' as Jean Michel Frank, in the first part of the XXth Century.

Passionate for detail, for beautiful materials, for their textures and their grains, I also attach particular value to an irreproachable craftsmanship, or how the hand of the man can turn a texture into a beautiful object.

What do you find most exciting about your job as an interior designer, and what are some of the challenges that you face?

GA: Working and apprehending light. Light is crucial in terms of architecture. It’s an element that we try to apprehend at the very first steps of the projects. Light makes architecture, it’s thanks to the light that walls, space, shadows can exist.

Passionate for detail, for beautiful materials, for their textures and their grains, I also attach particular value to an irreproachable craftsmanship, or how the hand of the man can turn a texture into a beautiful object.

What are your sources of inspiration or creative influences that you often refer to and draw references from?

GA: I draw my inspiration from everywhere, there is so much richness for your eyes, or even from emotions. The simplest details often become a trigger point and lead to reflection.

If you had to select one project from your portfolio of work, which is the one that you are most proud of and why?

GA: In a more general point of view, I think the most important, like a 'red thread' is integrity. I am attached to follow my own vision, my own instinct. Far away from rules or trends to draw the attention.

We believe in the essence of things, a quest for the essential. We value profound stories and authenticity. I evolve in my own world, trying to exchange and to convey my own inspiration to my clients.

Since almost the beginning, I have been working in cooperation with Emilie Le Corre, who is leading our design studio in London. She has a great influence in the process of obtaining an exclusive outcome. We share the same vision of what is an extraordinary rarity. We always try to reflect our sensitivity in order to arouse emotions. This is why our interiors are unique, recognizable and timeless I think.

Relationships based on trust; my clients have always been very supportive, embracing our elaborate plans. The idea of being able to create and to open the doors of imagination is extraordinary.

GUILLAUME ALAN

PHOTOS: MATTHEW DONALDSON