In the Hybrid Universe of Michèle Lamy

Artist, performer, fashion icon, and partner of American designer Rick Owens, for whom she is both muse and creative partner, Michèle Lamy spoke to us about the house she has occupied for 20 years in Paris—a hybrid and open space that serves as a showcase for the furniture pieces they design together and for their very personal collection of artworks.

July 2024, Place du Palais-Bourbon in Paris. Michèle Lamy welcomes us on the terrace of the building she has shared with Rick Owens since 2004. “In the troubled times we are going through, our home could be seen as a refuge, but I would say, for me, it is rather an open space where everything blends together. I have always lived in houses that combine living, meeting, and creative spaces with the possibility of moving from one to the other. The doors are always open. When I ran Les Deux Cafés in Los Angeles, we moved from the restaurant to the studio in this same logic of interconnection,” explains this mysterious icon, a native of Jura who spent many years in Los Angeles, where she met Rick Owens, with whom she has shared her life since the late 1980s. It is no surprise then that Michèle Lamy cites the iconic house of architect Ricardo Bofill to express her vision of the ideal home: “A mixture—also hybrid—of new and old coexisting in perfect harmony.” In the Parisian hideaway of the couple, a classic building in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the former headquarters of the Socialist Party, the exterior is Napoleonic.

Centred around concrete, the material at the heart of the home, the interior, however, has been left in its raw state. “When we first moved in, many visitors, convinced that our living space couldn’t be so bare and imperfect, asked us when we were going to finish the work,” she jokes. “The central idea of our approach is to mix styles to create consistency based on elements that are not interconnected at the outset. It’s a nomadic interior meant to change over time.” This is exemplified by the couple’s bed, one of the pieces Michèle Lamy most willingly talks about, which she compares to one that could be found in a campsite. “It’s the same one we had in Los Angeles,” says the artist. “It’s interesting because it allows you to divide a room without putting up a wall. The space takes on a completely malleable dimension. In other words, it divides… without dividing.”

THE OWENS SIGNATURE

Co-created by Michèle Lamy, the Rick Owens Furniture line finds a more-than-perfect setting in the couple’s home. Michèle works closely with the artisans throughout the entire creation and construction process of all pieces. “One of the main themes of this furniture collection is cabinetry work. We mainly work with plywood, which is assembled in a very noble way, without nails, just by a system of interlocking. We also often use blankets from military surplus,” continues the artist, whose vision aligns with a discreetly refined approach. In the Lamy/Owens universe, nothing is ostentatious or too perfect. “The terrace stool I’m sitting on is made of solid elm. We leave it outside all winter so that its appearance evolves over time. It’s a type of wood that can no longer be used today. This piece of wood dates back to the 1980s. We recovered it from an old sawmill,” she says enthusiastically.

Through its brutalism and lack of artifice, the Rick Owens style conveys a sense of universality, as if the people who adopt it are freed from any idea of belonging: “Depending on where you are, the approach to creating a home and the juxtaposition of its elements are different, but I think the result isn’t. In the United States, I created a decor in line with Los Angeles in the late 1970s: a city very much at the forefront in terms of music and contemporary art. This very particular dynamic naturally resonated with our aesthetic.”

LIFE MEMORIES

Michèle Lamy also refers to the candle marks visible on the table around which she welcomes her guests. “When materials age well, you can afford to let them live and ennoble freely,” she continues. Like her tattoos, her kohl-lined eyes, her hands and arms laden with jewellery, the wax becomes one of the chapters in a great life story. The ultimate symbol of this brilliant symbiosis and the monolithic style dear to the two creators, the Plug Table, one of the flagship pieces of the couple’s furniture collection, is among Michèle Lamy’s favourites. “An interior evolves over time, sometimes very slowly; it all depends on each person’s way of living. I like the idea of not having a dining room (after all, what’s it for?) but of transforming a room in the house into a space that can accommodate 200 people for dinner.” In the Parisian building, most of the pieces, whether furniture or artworks, tell a slice of life. Like these marble heads by sculptor Barry X Ball. “We met in Venice 15 years ago. We talked for a long time about the idea of my portrait sculpted in stone. Now it’s a reality,” she says, before mentioning what she calls her “artistic journey,” a journey that explains the presence of other major works by Carol Rama, Anselm Kiefer, Amy Moore, architect Georges Hoentschel, as well as a monumental fresco by her daughter Scarlett Rouge.

INTERIOR JOURNEY

Do travel souvenirs also form part of the decor? “I like to appreciate things where they are. That’s why I admire the architecture of Ricardo Bofill or Jean Nouvel so much. It’s rooted in an environment with which it becomes one. Transposing objects to another place prevents you, I’m convinced, from appreciating them in the same way. For example, I like the Art Deco spirit, but the volumes of this furniture no longer correspond at all to our lifestyle. I am also fascinated by the way Japanese people live: a barefoot life without doors that hinder movement. When we arrived in Paris, we took immense pleasure in starting over. The place was huge, and the proportions different. We created this new space based on the elements and the soul of the place. And I could still do it. In Cairo, for example…” she continues. One can easily imagine how Michèle Lamy could create almost anywhere a universe in her image, that is, in line with her black look so emblematic of Rick Owens’ style. “Fashion and interior design are linked, of course, but I think there is a less pared-down side to fashion. When I dress, it’s as if I’m creating costumes for a performance. The clothes make me want to perform. They reflect the way I want to define myself. But in the end, my look and my home form, I hope, a coherent whole.”

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