An Intimate Look At The World Of Decoration With Sandra Benhamou

Sandra Benhamou emanates a serene and warm presence. A Parisian interior designer with Italian-Tunisian origins who has lived in the United States for a long time, Sandra Benhamou works on instinct. A collector of contemporary art and photography, keen on cinema – a field in which she worked for a time -, and an admirer of the great masters of Italian architecture and design – Carlo Scarpa in the lead -, she claims multiple influences. Whether it’s a Haussmann apartment, a country house or seaside architecture, it’s always the history of the place, its light which, together with the way of life of its customers, guides his interventions.

The one who has a habit of rethinking circulations in order to make spaces more fluid to make them convivial develops atmospheres that are as cultivated as they are delicate. Sandra Benhamou is fond of muted hues: ocher, sand, cream, which she punctuates with warm touches of yellow, orange or khaki to infuse character. While she favors natural materials – elm, linen, travertine -, she always endeavors to confront the elements with each other. In a kitchen, aged nickel doors contrast subtly with the stainless steel worktop, while walls upholstered in wild silk instill softness and sophistication in a living room with a minimalist feel. Never a total look, no ready-made recipes. So does its eclectic selection of objects. A fine connoisseur of the art market, Sandra Benhamou likes to mix vintage pieces found at flea markets.

In addition to her projects dedicated to private clients, Sandra Benhamou designs a number of public projects. In 2015, she transformed the former aquarium in Dinard into a 5-star hotel, Le Castelbrac, with Art Deco accents. A nod to the bohemian spirit specific to Saint-Germain-des-Prés, it nonchalantly mixes prints and patterns in the rooms of the Hôtel Belloy. We also owe her the Blitz Society, a bar on the Left Bank dedicated to chess, the showroom of the fabric designer Métaphores… The decorator likes to move from one type of project to another, in a desire to always renew herself. She is thus preparing to inaugurate Casa Barbara, an original concept of residence for seniors in Levallois Perret, designed by the Trigano group in association with Korian. From the common areas to the apartments, to the gym and the hairdresser, Sandra Benhamou wanted warm living spaces at the antipodes of the usual retirement homes.

While she has been designing pieces of furniture for the needs of her construction sites since her beginnings, Sandra Benhamou has been publishing real collections since 2021. Ginger, her first opus, a tribute to the film Casino by Martin Scorsese, comes in a cabinet bar, psyché and armchairs in stainless steel, brass and mirror. Equally graphic, but more minimal, his second collection called Marfa refers to the small town in Texas where Donald Judd worked in the 1970s. Her Folk approach stems from subtle juxtapositions of elm and cork, pine and raffia, ash and cherry. Whether ironwork or cabinetwork, each object is made by craftsmen and produced in limited series. In order to present her furniture, Sandra Benhamou develops atmospheric scenographies. Her talents for ephemeral architecture led him to design the decor of the Elle Décoration café, as part of the PAD 2022, on a theme of travel.

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A graduate of ESSEC, but self-taught in the field of interior architecture, the one who began her career by building her own country house in the Hamptons, opened her agency in Paris in 2010, located on Place du Palais Bourbon. There, surrounded by a close-knit team, she developed five or six projects simultaneously. Anxious to invest herself personally in each of her sites, and very attentive to the smallest finishing touches, Sandra Benhamou takes an intimate look at the world of decoration.

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