Frédéric Méchiche

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My room can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of decorating and ideal decor.
I love thee to the level of every home's
Most decorative need, by sun and candle-light.
and so on and so forth

apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning
appreciation to Anna of Door Sixteen
adoration and big french kisses to Frédéric Méchiche

accolades for Portraits (see #11) by Mark Luscombe-Whyte

Frédéric Méchiche is a superstar and I'm not ashamed to say I'd follow him to the ends of the earth. I'm not alone. He has designed the interior of villas, hotels and yachts. In this way, he is known around the world, leaving behind his designs with an unmistakable French charm. Look at this designer's work, much of which I have gathered for you here, and see if you don't fall for this guy. Hard. Ohhh, Frédé.

Stalking the Internet for Méchiche, one finds countless references to his work. Here, as this blog begins, there also begins what will hopefully become a definitive curation of work by Monsieur Méchiche.

In trying to piece together a bit of biography, I have learned that he is Algerian-born. Algeria was a colony of France from 1830 until the end of the Algerian Wars in 1962. Judging by the two photos I've seen of him, I'd say he was born around that time and perhaps his family then moved to France. I asked a French-speaking Algerian friend of mine to pronounce his name. He thinks it would be: may'-she-shuh or may'-sheesh, with the accent on the first sylable. He added that the name is Berber. Whatever it is and however it is said, anyone with "chic" in their name is okay by me.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Frédéric Méchiche.


Petite Bauhaus

Le Curry de Frédéric Méchiche

An 18th Century Loft

Apartment in Paris

Classic Style

Hôtel Particulier

Magazines on Méchiche

Changing sheets and other transformations

Taking it to another level

A Fisherman's Cottage

Booked

A room in Paris

Ship Shape

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Petite Bauhaus

A few years back, around 2008, Frédéric Méchiche changed homes in Paris. He downsized from a large loft (a stunning seven room duplex he created by gutting three minor apartments) to a small pied-à-terre that has been referred to as his "Petite Bauhaus."

For a beautiful bunch of photos on this apartment, click on New Paris Interiors, a gorgeous book you will definitely want to set aside some time to see. All 301 pages are viewable, so let the site load. To jump to the chapter on Méchiche type "208" into the small rectangular search field beneath the images, then keep clicking right to turn through all five pages.

New Paris Interiors



Get the Look from Casa Vogue.



The apartment also appears on the site Elle.hu. I can't tell you much about the article because it's in a language I don't recognize, but I'm sure that whatever it says, it says it's beautiful.


Bauhaus kicsiben és Párizsban

"Ez a párizsi átmeneti szállás (pied á terre?) a maga keskeny terével vintage-elemekkel kevert modern hangulatot kapott. Kialakításában ötletesen keverednek az ipari és a bio-megoldások."








Blogging Elle Decoration UK: Petite Bauhaus

As posted on Apartment Therapy SF
February 22, 2008 by Shayna
Images: Elle Decoration UK, February 2008
H/T to Door Sixteen

"Hands up if you wouldn't mind a small pied à terre in Paris. Yeah, we're right there with you. We certainly wouldn't turn down an opportunity to set-up a little nest over there in the land of romance and fromage....especially if it was filled to the brim with gorgeous, vintage furniture. If you're lucky enough to be Frédéric Méchiche then your hand didn't make it that high 'cause you've already found la chance."

"We like the concept behind this dream of a small apartment, but we love the execution."

"Monsieur Méchiche has held fast to his admiration for the Bauhaus mentality by making sure that everything in this small space is simple, modern and functional."

"Though he relies heavily on black, metal and glass, Méchiche keeps the space from falling too far on the side of heavy masculinity or industrial chic by warming up the decor with wood and organic accents."

"To see more of interior designer Frédéric Méchiche's Paris apartment, check out the February issue of Elle Decoration UK."

Le Curry de Frédéric Méchiche

If Méchiche's Paris apartment doesn't whet your appetite, his Le Marais loft should have you drooling. It's food for the soul. But first, a bite of real food, cooked up by Méchiche himself. Yes, ladies, he's even good in the kitchen.



Le Curry de Frédéric Méchiche

Posted on Madame Le Figaro
Translated to English


Pour 6 personnes
Assez long, facile

Temps

Préparation: 40min
Cuisson: 30min

Ingredients

1, 2 kg of the monkfish thickest part (make Desaret peel and slice through the fish), 18 cooked prawns, 750 g of organic yogurt (True), 1 can of coconut milk, 5 shallots, 2 small dried chillies (Spanish), 1 tablespoon white cardamom, 2 tablespoons curry powder, 1 tablespoon ginger powder, 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 1 tsp cumin powder , 1 teaspoon dried lemon, 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil, salt and pepper.

* Dishes * 500 g basmati rice, 2 tablespoons black sesame, 3 yellow kiwis (Zesprigold), 1 small Victoria pineapple, papaya 1, 2 bananas, 1 mango, 1 jar of hot mango chutney, 1 jar of chutney sweet mang, 80g pine nuts, 100 g of grated coconut.

Open the peppers, remove seeds, place them in a mortar with lemongrass and cardamom, crush up the box. Put them in a nonstick skillet coated with curry, ginger, cumin, cinnamon. Sauté over medium heat.

Stop cooking when the mixture begins to smoke. Peel the shallots, chop, melt them in a skillet in 2 tablespoons oil for 5 minutes on medium heat.

Pour the spice mixture, mix well, slowly add the yogurt, and coconut milk, stirring constantly.

Shell the shrimp. Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan, brown the slices of monkfish. Put them in the skillet into the sauce, keep warm.

Cook the rice, pour into a dish, sprinkle with sesame, warm in the oven.

Peel all fruit, cut pineapple, kiwi, mango, papaya, coarsely diced and sliced bananas, put them in a serving dish.

Add the peeled shrimp at the last moment in the curry, mix, restore broth.

Pour into a large bowl and serve surrounded by rice, chutneys, fruit and other accompaniments.

An 18th Century Loft

An 18th Century Loft

As posted on Automatism
March 26, 2008 by Lori
Images and text from Marie Claire Maison, late 1990s
H/T to Door Sixteen

"Frédéric Méchiche transformed his apartment in the Marais district of Paris into an effortless hybrid of Louis XIV and 1960s loft style. In the library, the heart of the apartment, the stairs were pieced together by Frédéric from eighteenth century materials."

"In the salon, 18th century paneling sourced from various locations has been patiently pieced together like a puzzle and then unified with white paint. The furniture is a mix of French and Italian 18th century with modern classics by Mies van der Rohe and Bertoia. All this is set off by a collection of African masks and 20th century art by Jean Dubuffet, Sol Lewitt, Laszlo Szabo and Joseph Beuys."

"Another view of the salon. The mirror is placed in the corner to open up the space. A Louis XVI chair happily stands beside a Harry Bertoia wire chair."

"Left: On the marble mantel of the library's fireplace, a collection of late 1950s Danish glassware poses with a photograph by Joseph Beuys. Right: A view from the dining room to the library. The sofa is by Florence Knoll, and the table and chair on the right are by Eero Saarinen."

"Frédéric Méchiche in his dining room, lined with 18th century paneling. Frédéric designed the four granite and metal tables placed around the room, which are put together for large dinner parties. The chairs are Louis XVI and Restoration. On the wall, an eighteenth century mirror hangs beside photos by Robert Mapplethorpe and Raymond Voinquel."

"The kitchen, in striking contrast to the rest of the apartment, is painted entirely in black. On the marble countertop sits a collection of 1950s - 1970s silverware, set off by the black and white photographs above."

"The bedroom features a bed designed by Frédéric, with an extra high headboard. The wood floor is original, and has been left as is. On the wall is a work on paper by Jean-Pierre Raynaud. The chair is by Eero Arnio."

"Left: Chairs by Harry Bertoia and Charles Eames stand beside a compression artwork by César. Right: A serigraph by Andy Warhol is placed above a bathtub from the late 18th century.

"Frédéric Méchiche's confident mix of 18th century classicism and 1960s modern is a wonderful example of making contrasts work, keeping the formal elegance of an earlier era comfortably within a more easygoing loft living sensibility. Scanned from Marie Claire Maison, late 1990s. (Photography by Gilles de Chabaneix)"

Apartment in Paris

Interior Designer Frédéric Méchiche's Apartment in Paris

As posted on Interiors
February 24, 2009 by Christelle
Images from Marie Claire Maison
H/T to Door Sixteen

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Classic Style

Classic Style

Author: Judith Miller
Photographer: Tim Clinch
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date: November 1998
Frédéric Méchiche: pgs 158-163


pg 158

(copyrighted photo)

Left: The Napoleon III chair and stool in the library are upholstered in a striped fabric - a fashionable pattern in late 18th- and early 19th-century French Neoclassical interiors.


pg 159

Paris Apartment

"As far as the Directoire style is concerned, Frédéric Méchiche...has long admired its sober, severe lines, and he finds the architecture and furnishings of the final years of the 18th century very contemporary in tone, marrying perfectly with modern art and interiors." --Barbara Stoeltie

When the prestigious French decorator, Frédéric Méchiche, bought his Parisian residence in the center of the French capital, it consisted of three nondescript apartments on two floors of an old building that had been given a glass-and-aluminum face-lift in the 1960s. The transformation into what, internally, has the appearance of a two-story Directoire-style townhouse is attributable to Méchiche's enthusiasm for late 18th-century French Neoclassicism and to his eye for authentic period detail. However, the "house" also accommodates fixtures, furnishings, and artifacts derived not only from other Classical styles and periods, but also from the vocabularies of art and ornament that are as diverse as Ancient Egyptian, Persian, native African, and 20th-century Surrealism.

(copyrighted photo)

Above: Frédéric Méchiche's Directoire-style interior also incorporates pieces of art and funiture, such as this 1940's chair by René Prou, sympathetically chosen from other periods and styles.


pg 160

(copyrighted photo)

Above: Neoclassical elements in the hallway include a geometric-pattern tiled floor, a late 18th-century faux porphyry (variegated stone) urns.

(copyrighted photo)

Right: Surrounded by early 19th-century Empire-style chairs, two tables with X-frame and tripod bases recall Ancient Greco-Roman-style furniture. The rock crystal chandelier dates from the 18th century.

The successful integration of what in many instances are heavily contrasting styles of design into a Directoire setting can be largely explained by the essential characteristics of the Directoire style itself. Fashionable in France from the end of Louis XVI's reign (1795), and enduring until the burgeoning of empire style in the early 19th century, Directoire style is pared-down, sparsely ornamented and a rather sober form of Neoclassical decoration that has a very contemporary feel. This is clearly evident in the painted wall-paneling and in the oak parquet, stone-and-marble and limed-board floors. All salvaged from late 18th-century Parisian houses, these, together with other prominent architectural fixtures and fittings, such as a Louis XVI-style wood-and-iron staircase and Directoire-style windows, display a clarity of line that provides an uncluttered and complementary backdrop...


pg 161

(copyrighted photo)


pg 162

(copyrighted photo)


pg 163

(copyrighted photo)