When the iconic, oversized, Charles Zana sofa that Isabelle Dubern-Mallevays bought for her Parisian-chic-meets-London-classic apartment wouldn’t go up the stairs, she hired a crane, took out a window, and made a hole in the ceiling to allow it in.
"It was worth it as it set the scene for the flat and is a major contributor to the slightly masculine London club atmosphere I wanted to achieve," she says, speaking of her modern home, an apartment on the third floor of a Victorian townhouse in South-West London.
Eight years ago Isabelle employed those same problem-solving 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 Chelsea Flower Show, who happened to have commissioned Pierre to design her Manhattan apartment.
"Anna offered to add the chair to her order for me and I jumped at the chance," says Isabelle, who at the time was working for Dior Maison after a stint as a lifestyle 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 a whole project."
And so a business idea was born and the friends teamed up with a third partner, Lily Froehlicher, to create a platform offering high-end design pieces to all. The Invisible Collection is now sold online and through their flagships in London, New York and Paris, as well as global pops ups.
As you would expect, Isabelle’s home is a testament to previously unavailable design pieces and acts as a mini 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. Isabelle and husband, Pierre Mallevays, who are both French, live between this Victorian apartment in South West London and a flat in Paris which is, "maybe more sophisticated, but less comfortable."
"We had the bonus of renting this flat for a while before buying it four years ago," says Isabelle of the property which overlooks a quiet garden square at the front - which they have a key to - and a churchyard garden at the back. The flat, previously owned by a "Chic Scottish woman," was charming but old-fashioned, so they re-did the bathroom and the kitchen.
Other work was focused on the decoration: painting all the rooms in a calming gray-beige and adding two enviable walls of storage in the large living room — one hidden storage behind wall paneling, the other made up of shelves for books.
Although pared back so its classic bones of wide wooden boards and big windows are enhanced, the apartment gets a contemporary twist from the addition of muted modern colors and textures — decorating with neutrals, largely, but with the additional unexpected accent.
"We have used lots of greige, brown, dark blue, and pale pink tones in different materials, including velvet, wool, and cashmere," says Isabelle. "I loved every minute of the project, it was the first with my husband and I wanted to create the perfect London home for us."
When there the couple enjoy quiet evenings, reading and relaxing or hosting friends and family for intimate dinners. They have also been known to spend time working from that sofa. "It has paid us back for all the angst of its installation," says Isabelle. "And in case you’re asking, it’s staying put for the foreseeable."
