The White House: Margiela to Launch Apt and Homeware

Maison Martin Margiela has dropped a monumental hint that it’s ramping up its line of home objects, unveiling an all-white 2,000-square-foot apartment situated atop the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine museum in Paris. Sponsored by Ikea, Margiela is the latest guest designer to be invited by Elle Decoration magazine to take up the interior challenge, filling the shoes of Christian Lacroix, who attended the launch party Thursday night along with Diesel honcho Renzo Rosso and Jean Paul Gaultier. Lacroix, whose flat was a characteristic riot of color, was flabbergasted by the space’s transformation, now blanketed in white and touches of mirror, while Gaultier pored over the dining room’s confetti-covered trompe l’oeil linoleum, printed to resemble white parquet flooring. Other features include a grand piano muffled in a white cotton sheath. The room will later house work by up-and-coming artists. Outside, a lawn of snow-white Astroturf now covers a vast balcony that overlooks the Eiffel Tower. “It’s meant to resemble the aftermath of a party. We’ll be scattering dead glasses and bottles over the floor later,” said one of the house’s lab coat-wearing workers. Margiela architect Sandra Marquis, just back from Dubai where she’d been working on the house’s new store, as well as doing a bit of skiing, said the project had taken five weeks to achieve.

Maison Martin Margiela chief executive officer Giovanni Pungetti hinted there’ll likely be bigger design projects to come. “We’ve been thinking about the kinds of projects we could do in home decoration or hotel design. This was a great opportunity to show what we can do,” he said, confirming the house also plans to intensify its home design line, likely adding carpet and wallpaper lines. So will the next Maison Martin Margiela show take place in the house’s new temporary Trocadero home? “Who knows? The apartment’s ours for a year and we definitely intend to make good use of it,” said Pungetti.