Wonderland by Clément Lesnoff-Rocard
In Paris' 5th arrondissement, just steps from the Pantheon, Wonderland by Clément Lesnoff-Rocard transforms a grand Art Nouveau apartment into a layered, contemporary home.
Occupying 160 square metres in a heritage building, the renovation is a study in tension and tactility, where clarity of form meets the unexpected, and historic structure coexists with progressive material gestures.
Working from a carte blanche brief, Lesnoff-Rocard reimagines the once-classical apartment as a sequence of cinematic interiors. The living room hovers above a high-gloss white parquet floor, while a sculptural intervention known as the 'Cesar' salon defies conventional domestic programming. At once bathroom, reception room, and office, the space features a marble bathtub at its centre, referencing Roman bathing traditions through a modern architectural lens.
A palette of contrasting finishes guides the experience through the home. Structural openings introduce natural light and allow fluid transitions, while a delicate interplay of stone, concrete, steel, and mirror animates the surface language. These shifts are underscored by a subdued white backdrop, allowing bold interventions to surface with quiet confidence: a cast iron cooker meets a stainless-steel kitchen; a raw stone facade meets fluid curtains and reflective planes.
Throughout the apartment, moments of theatricality invite pause. A corridor window resembles a dollhouse; netted mirrors play with perception; a seashell banquette recalls Botticelli's Birth of Venus. The built-in narrative extends into the furniture, much of it custom-designed, complemented by works from contemporary artists including Marc Leschelier and Ira Bo. Alongside these are pieces by Sophie Dries and Kym Ellery, as well as Pierre Paulin's iconic Osaka sofa.
These elements do not simply decorate, they participate. Each room stages a dialogue between old and new, elegant and elemental. In doing so, Lesnoff-Rocard reinterprets the Art Nouveau sensibility not through replication but through resonance. Arches and ornaments give way to geometry and invention, composing a home where eras collapse and imagination guides the hand.
Wonderland is not defined by symmetry or convention, but by a deliberate layering of detail and time. On Paris' Left Bank, it reads as a manifesto of poetic utility, a living interior that invites exploration, play, and reflection.
