CLOUDLIGHT, PARIS
HOME
In Paris’s 9th arrondissement, gallerist and collector Amélie du Chalard has created a home shaped as much by instinct as by intention.
Spread across two levels, the apartment carries the layered memory of its former lives: first an artist’s studio, later a library and eventually the site of her inaugural gallery space, the starting point of what would become Amélie du Chalard Gallery, founded in 2015 and now operating across Paris and New York. Today, the former exhibition space has been fully integrated into the main residence and it’s now home to du Chalard, her husband and their three children.
The volume of the space defines the atmosphere immediately. An expansive glass roof rises thirteen metres overhead, drawing daylight deep into the interior, while soaring ceilings lend the former atelier an almost contemplative calm. Light moves continuously through the apartment, softening raw surfaces and sharpening textures in equal measure. “Light here is treated as a material in its own right,” says du Chalard. “Even when it rains, the space remains beautifully bright. It feels as though we are living in the clouds.”
The sensitivity to materiality runs throughout the home. Solid wood, textured stone and panels of Corten steel create a restrained architectural backdrop for the family’s growing collection of artworks and objects. Nothing feels staged or overly resolved. Instead, the interiors unfold with an ease that reflects du Chalard’s belief that art should exist within daily life, not apart from it.
“To be honest, there is no separation between the gallery’s identity and my domestic life,” she explains. “They feed into each other.” The result is a space where artworks coexist naturally with the movement and unpredictability of family life: “Every artwork is integrated so that it can be touched by light, lived with and even challenged by the joyful chaos of family life.”
Her collection has evolved instinctively over time, certain works acting as markers of personal milestones: the first artwork she received as a teenager from her parents, a sculpture by Rana Begum purchased with her first salary, and a work by Pizzi Cannella gifted by her husband for their wedding.
“The eye is a muscle,” du Chalard reflects. “The more you train it, the sharper and more rigorous it becomes.” While her tastes have shifted towards works that are perhaps more complex or less immediately accessible, one thread remains constant: a fascination with the physical presence of materials. Texture, density, and tactility recur throughout the apartment, binding together disparate works and periods into a coherent whole.
At the centre of the home is the open living room, anchored by an oversized leather sofa. It is here that the family gathers at the end of the day, reading, talking, resting together beneath the expanse of the ceiling above. From this vantage point, du Chalard can see much of the collection at once, the artworks becoming part of the quiet rituals of everyday life.
There is no hierarchy between art and living here. Instead, the apartment proposes something softer and perhaps more difficult to achieve, a home where art is not preserved behind distance, but fully inhabited.
WORDS BENEDETTA RICCI
PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTOPHE IDEAL / Amelie du Chalard
THE MECHANICS OF SCENT
Previously presented in Paris, Los Angeles, and New York, FRAMA’s exhibition The Mechanics of Scent arrived in Copenhagen, inviting visitors to reconsider one of the most overlooked dimensions of design.
DESIGN / DIALOGUE 2026 at DEN FRIE
Ark Journal presents the third edition of DESIGN / DIALOGUE, the annual exhibition of curated design and art, this year taking place at Den Frie Udstilling in Copenhagen.
CASE STUDY – COMPOSITION IN WOOD
Compositions in wood – from funkis to modernity. Styled by Pernille Vest and Henriette Schou. Photographed by Anders Schønnemann.
CLOUDLIGHT, PARIS
HOME
In Paris’s 9th arrondissement, gallerist and collector Amélie du Chalard has created a home shaped as much by instinct as by intention.
Spread across two levels, the apartment carries the layered memory of its former lives: first an artist’s studio, later a library and eventually the site of her inaugural gallery space, the starting point of what would become Amélie du Chalard Gallery, founded in 2015 and now operating across Paris and New York. Today, the former exhibition space has been fully integrated into the main residence and it’s now home to du Chalard, her husband and their three children.
The volume of the space defines the atmosphere immediately. An expansive glass roof rises thirteen metres overhead, drawing daylight deep into the interior, while soaring ceilings lend the former atelier an almost contemplative calm. Light moves continuously through the apartment, softening raw surfaces and sharpening textures in equal measure. “Light here is treated as a material in its own right,” says du Chalard. “Even when it rains, the space remains beautifully bright. It feels as though we are living in the clouds.”
The sensitivity to materiality runs throughout the home. Solid wood, textured stone and panels of Corten steel create a restrained architectural backdrop for the family’s growing collection of artworks and objects. Nothing feels staged or overly resolved. Instead, the interiors unfold with an ease that reflects du Chalard’s belief that art should exist within daily life, not apart from it.
“To be honest, there is no separation between the gallery’s identity and my domestic life,” she explains. “They feed into each other.” The result is a space where artworks coexist naturally with the movement and unpredictability of family life: “Every artwork is integrated so that it can be touched by light, lived with and even challenged by the joyful chaos of family life.”
Her collection has evolved instinctively over time, certain works acting as markers of personal milestones: the first artwork she received as a teenager from her parents, a sculpture by Rana Begum purchased with her first salary, and a work by Pizzi Cannella gifted by her husband for their wedding.
“The eye is a muscle,” du Chalard reflects. “The more you train it, the sharper and more rigorous it becomes.” While her tastes have shifted towards works that are perhaps more complex or less immediately accessible, one thread remains constant: a fascination with the physical presence of materials. Texture, density, and tactility recur throughout the apartment, binding together disparate works and periods into a coherent whole.
At the centre of the home is the open living room, anchored by an oversized leather sofa. It is here that the family gathers at the end of the day, reading, talking, resting together beneath the expanse of the ceiling above. From this vantage point, du Chalard can see much of the collection at once, the artworks becoming part of the quiet rituals of everyday life.
There is no hierarchy between art and living here. Instead, the apartment proposes something softer and perhaps more difficult to achieve, a home where art is not preserved behind distance, but fully inhabited.
WORDS BENEDETTA RICCI
PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTOPHE IDEAL / Amelie du Chalard