After spending years in Paris, interior designer Marion Mailaender and her artist husband Thomas have returned to their childhood city of Marseille, where they have transformed a 90-square-meter house in the Pointe-Rouge neighborhood into a striking family home just steps from the Mediterranean Sea. The property served as a blank canvas for the couple to express their creative vision, functioning as what Mailaender describes as "a laboratory" where they can freely explore their artistic sensibilities while incorporating carefully curated design references.
Mailaender's journey back to Marseille came after completing work on the Tuba Club hotel project during summer 2020. "We told ourselves we were going to see all our friends to enjoy this nice place and we would end up envying them. It was time to come home," Marion explains. Her initial departure from Marseille to Paris was motivated by her acceptance to the prestigious Boulle School, where she studied interior architecture with a specialization in furniture design. After graduating in 2002, she quickly established herself as an independent designer on the advice of Alain Raynaud, an interior architect who gave her first professional opportunities.
A pivotal moment in Mailaender's career came through her collaboration with creator and gallery owner Emmanuel Picault, which allowed her to develop her distinctive aesthetic approach. "I tried to make chic apartments but I always had a love for color and contrasts. I didn't really find myself in that aesthetic. I met Emmanuel and discovered his way of working, in Mexico: a method where we leave room for the unexpected, for flaws, for patina. I recognized myself in it. I was able to free myself from everything I had tried to do before. I felt more at home in this writing," Mailaender reflects on her creative evolution.
This artistic philosophy led her to establish her own gallery in Paris called "Aimable sur rendez-vous," a space where she nurtured her creativity while showcasing surrounding artists through various exhibitions. The gallery provided her with initial visibility and opened doors to a career-defining project in 2017 when she designed the boutique for Amélie Pichard, a young designer known for crocodile-adorned bags and boldly characterized shoes. "Her creativity and my method gave birth to a unique boutique, different from what was expected in that neighborhood. We tried on shoes on a bed, everything was presented in closets. It was very conceptual, fun, light. And above all, it changed the game," Marion recalls.
Mailaender's design influences draw heavily from Italian masters including Tobia Scarpa, Gae Aulenti, and Lina Bo Bardi, while she also cites the functional rigor of Andrée Putman. She credits older mentors like Bob Calle, Sophie Calle's father, with teaching her "how to look." Her 2020 Tuba Club project in Marseille showcased her vision of unpretentious luxury, where luxury represents a state of mind rather than expensive materials or finishes. "Tuba changed the way people looked at my work. This project created consensus," Marion analyzes, noting how the hotel project propelled her into new professional territory and opened doors to more ambitious commissions.
The family's current home required complete reimagining, but this challenge appealed to Mailaender's design sensibilities. "You had to project yourself, but that's exactly what I like in my projects," she explains. Her intervention addressed the house's structural flaws by relocating the entrance from the kitchen to the garden, expanding the living area by encroaching on outdoor space, and sacrificing one bedroom to create access to a completely new upper floor topped with a rooftop terrace. The construction approach reflected the couple's preference for authentic materials, as Thomas insisted on avoiding conventional drywall in favor of raw brick tiles for the extension, oiled MDF for closets, and lime-plastered bathroom walls.
The living spaces showcase Mailaender's talent for spatial transformation and her eye for mixing vintage pieces with contemporary designer furniture. To bring more light into the main living area, she installed guillotine windows, while a strategically placed curtain helps restructure the awkward room layout. "The shape of this room didn't please me because there was a door on one side, and another that led to a corridor. I had the idea of this curtain that theatricalizes the room and transforms its volume," she explains. The space features green Amanta sofas by Mario Bellini from 1966, reissued this year by Scandinavian publisher Hay, which the couple discovered at a clearance sale in Avignon.
Throughout the home, personal creations by both Marion and Thomas punctuate the carefully curated spaces. Thomas's resin artwork adorns the living room wall alongside a matching stool he crafted from the same material, while Marion's coffee tables, marble vase, and textured plaster lamp find places across both levels. In the bathroom, a mussel-shaped sculpture Thomas created during his studies at Villa Arson sits alongside Marion's windshield mirror. The couple's support for emerging designers is evident through pieces like Wendy Andreu's metal side table, furniture commissioned from designer Régis Jocteur Monrozier discovered at La Traverse gallery in Marseille, and lighting by Arnaud Eubelen.
The home serves as more than just a residence for the family, which includes their two daughters and dog Pamela. As Mailaender summarizes, "For us, this house is a laboratory." Similar to her role as president of the Design Parade Toulon 2024 festival, the space provides her with complete freedom of expression, allowing her to explore all facets of her practice including design, interior architecture, and scenography, always with a carefully measured touch of mischief that has become her signature approach.
