Step Inside a Centuries

By Dana Thomas

Photography by Stephen Kent Johnson

Some homes are designed to first appeal to the eye. But for French tech investor Pierre Krings and his wife, fashion entrepreneur Nima, what mattered foremost for their centuries-old apartment on Paris’s Left Bank was how the home feels underfoot. Upon entering the 3,200-square-foot, four-bedroom apartment, redesigned by French designer Pierre Yovanovitch, guests are instructed to remove their shoes—a practice the Kringses adopted during their sojourns in Japan. He sold his company, PriceMinister, to Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten in 2010, and she is the founder of Nimette, a private retail space distributing apparel from independent fashion designers from Japan and other countries.

The entrance hall’s doors, lighting, and ceiling are all Yovanovitch designs. Artwork by Xavier Daniels; Guillaume Bardet bench from Galerie Kreo; FontanaArte mirror.

In the office, a Pierre Yovanovitch desk and Armand-Albert Rateau chairs stand in front of another fireplace by the designer and Armelle Benoit.

As one moves from the entrance hall’s waxed reclaimed-oak parquet, to the cool Delphine Messmer mosaic flooring in the kitchen, the sense of touch is not only stimulated but delighted; it’s pleasure for the sole and the soul. “The goal was to create an environment that is sensual and warm,” Yovanovitch explained, as he stood on the primary bath’s heated marble floor in his stocking feet.

“Especially warm,” barefooted Nima said.

The Kringses called Yovanovitch for the renovation because they wanted someone who would understand how to turn the ancient apartment into a 21st-century home for a family with young children and a taste for contemporary art while maintaining the due reverence for the building’s august history and regal allure. Tucked inside a cobblestone courtyard in the city’s literary Latin Quarter, the building once housed a publisher on the ground floor, and writers lived in the building over the years. “The best known was Théodore de Banville,” a 19th-century Symbolist poet and author, and friend of Victor Hugo and Charles Baudelaire, Yovanovitch noted.

Homeowner Nima Krings in the living room.

“This project had all the green lights,” he said. “The owners were supercool: handsome, charming, clever, funny. The building had good vibes, good bones, and a good location. It was what you call a no-brainer.”

Though it did have “some challenges that required creative thought,” Yovanovitch said—mainly that the apartment actually straddles two buildings, one dating from the 17th century and the other built a bit later, which had been united in the late 18th century with a “lovely main staircase,” he said. “We had to contend with the quirks: odd shapes for the bedrooms, split levels, a narrow corridor with steps—a mishmash of structural elements modified over the years, sometimes in a haphazard way.”

The kitchen’s ceramic backsplash was crafted by Armelle Benoit. The cabinetry is clad in formica with custom handles.

Yovanovitch sorted all that out by rearranging the floor plan. He turned the dining room into the primary bedroom and made it round—curves are a theme in the design, including arched doorways or rounded cabinet corners. He moved the kitchen, which was small, to a much larger space in the heart of the flat, to create a convivial center for the family, with an inviting banquette, yummy butter-yellow 1950s-style Formica cabinetry, and shelves holding eye-catching pottery Nima has collected from around the world. Nima’s appreciation of fine handcraftsmanship is rooted in her youth in Africa—she was born in Guinea and lived in Gabon before moving to Paris at nine—and was honed during her time in Japan. At every turn in the flat, there are artisanal touches, be it hand-painted stars on the corridor walls or Lesage embroidery on the bedcover.

Curved walls define the primary bedroom. Custom bed by Yovanovitch; embroidered bedding by Lesage; sconce designed by Pierre Yovanovitch and Matthieu Cossé and made by Glassworks, Matteo Gonet.

The marble-floored primary bath is furnished in a suite of custom Yovanovitch designs, including the sinks and tub.

For the decor, Yovanovitch’s studio executed several site-specific pieces, such as bronze lighting, a crescent sofa, and a pear-wood dining table that extends to seat 12. He and the Kringses then filled in the rest of the space with vintage finds like the Jouve lamps and 1920s Armand-Albert Rateau amaranth chairs—“I love trolling flea markets, galleries, and auction houses,” Nima says—as well as commissions, such as the cane-fronted corner piece in the dining room by the Campana Brothers of São Paulo. Yovanovitch turned to a host of other artisans for other quirky details, like Pierre Marie, known for designing silk scarves for Hermès, who created charming stained-glass windows for the primary bath and one of the children’s rooms, and Matthieu Cossé, with whom he has worked many times, including for his own home in Provence, to execute painted glass sconces for the primary bedroom and a fresco in the kitchen niche. “I love Matthieu’s approach,” Yovanovitch said. “He observes nature and creates a joyful poetic world of it.”

Together, the Kringses and Yovanovitch chose the art, something he says, “I don’t always get a chance to do, even though I love it.” Pieces they acquired include works by Miquel Barceló, Latifa Echakhch, Johan Creten, and Claire Tabouret—though not purely for decorative purposes, Yovanovitch cautioned. “Our focus was to select art for a place, art to live with,” he said.

The Kringses are thrilled with the result. “It’s like we are in a cocoon,” Nima said with a laugh. “And our single friends want us to adopt them, so they can move in.”

As long as they leave their shoes at the door.

This story appears in AD*’s January 2023 issue. To see this Paris apartment in print,* subscribe to AD.