At Home in the French Countryside: The Elegant and Bright House of a Creative Family Near Paris

Inside a Creative Couple’s Art-Filled Parisian Home
Alice and Antoine (Maison Saman founders), a creative couple, a family of 4, who lived in Vietnam, share the story of their journey from discovering Japanese techniques in Vietnam to transforming an old family house next to Paris into both a living space and a hub for creativity and art. Six years ago, while working in IT and communication in Saigon and awaiting the birth of their child, they decided to start their own brand inspired by the Shou Sugi Ban technique. Upon returning to France, they renovated the old family house to blend vintage with modern designs, making it a space for work, client meetings, and art exhibitions. Discover how they have combined and curated their space and incorporated colour and art. They share their love for food, design, and art, texture and color, and highlight the importance of supporting other artists and curators, such as Christophe Charbonnel.

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00:00 Welcome to Our House in France and Origin Story
00:06 Discovering Our Passion and Building a Brand
00:41 Transforming a Family Home into a Creative Space
01:29 Our Journey into Design and Art Curation
03:06 Living and Working in Harmony with Nature
07:13 A Tour of Our Artistic and Cozy Spaces
10:12 Concluding Thoughts and Invitation

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Production ►► ParisianVibe
Art Direction ►► ParisianVibe
Sound ►►ParisianVibe
Editing ►► ParisianVibe
Follow Maison Saman on Instagram ►► www.instagram.com/maisonsaman
Discover Mason Saman furniture ►► https://saman.fr

[Music]
welcome Parisian Vibe welcome to my
house I’m Alice and this is my house six
years ago Antoine and I we were living
in Vietnam so he was working in it and I
was working in a communication agency
and suddenly we discovered different
techniques from Japan we really had a
crush on the burnwood technique called
suuki ban or yakisugi we were gathering
in a little cafe in Saigon in Vietnam
working on our idea I was 8 months
pregnant and we decided to build our own
brand that’s how it started and then we
came back here in this old family house
and we decided to make it a great place
to live in and also a great place to
work in so it’s not only a private house
it’s also a creative space uh where we
design where we receive clients and
[Music]
exhibitions when we arrived to uh to
this house there was nothing but only
very vintage furniture and we decided to
renovate and redecorate everything so
this is used as a the main dining room
but also we use this as a reception room
we love food we love design and we love
art so we combine everything in the same
room one when we came back from Vietnam
we knew nothing about design sector we
started with the
tapestry like this and anine was working
on wood I learned it from an old lady
from uh next to our Workshop back to
that time and she Tau me how to um how
to do it and that really was the first
very first beginning of our brand and I
also wanted to show you other pieces of
art that we like because one of our role
here is furniture makers but also to be
art cators here is really you know like
we are surrounded by Beauty and I really
love it it’s a sculptor from Christoph
shonel 6 years ago when we organized our
very first uh private showroom he came
with his wife and then they bought us a
lot of uh Furniture pieces so they were
first clients and then we work with them
for inventing Furniture but also
renovating vintage furniture so we
started little by little I feel like
really a strong connection with him and
his work as well that we admire a lot
now he’s represented by a gallery but
still he accepted to be here
even if we are not a gallery this is a
connection from Val CH it’s a strong
connection we all decided to live here
outside of Paris in the countryside in
the the
trees um and we have many workshops here
each of us that’s a place where we like
to
[Music]
gather so remember it’s an house here
and there is a lot of vintage furniture
from Antoine’s family and we decided to
keep it because we really like to mix
vintage things with a new design that’s
the core of our story keeping things
from the past and then bringing new
things from our minds uh that’s how we
live here we have a strong philosophy
anine and I we share a lot of values but
Antoine often
say so that’s really something that is
part of us we like to put light on other
people so here is the an old bond that
we renovated and we wanted the light to
come into the room so there are large
windows and um and still high because we
kept the the structure as it was before
and here we used the the space as a
reception place as a party place as well
we invite friends but also clients we
organize our private showrooms and art
creation so I really like it here in the
winter we will go to the fireplace and
sit down in the living room and during
the summer it’s a cool place where to
stay because uh it’s not warm inside
people will hang out in this room look
at the furniture pieces the art
selection that we made and hang out in
the garden and then come back here and
we will discuss here about projects we
like to mix patterns we like to mix
colors and I’m a color lover so I like
to to add like a you know this kind of
question or also this kind of pattern
that you can find at
AB so it’s from T and we made the
structure um I’m a big fan as you can
see here of
[Music]
green when we started our business we
used to go in this little cafe in Saigon
we were thinking about our influences
Antoine spent some months in New York uh
admiring the architecture uh we both
have um a culture in Ardo movement and
we felt in love with this Japanese
technique called sushu Gian where we we
were living in Vietnam so we kind of
mixed everything together and one day
both of us we designed this Buffet
together and this is opar that I really
love we’ve been following his work for
many years we knew that one day we will
work with him and we will get along very
well he paints he draws um uh he’s also
a sculptor and he just enter into a art
gallery and we’re very very happy for
him because we introduce them to each
other and I like the fact that we put
light on people again and we make some
sun around
us so here you can see the house from
the outside and this one is the old barn
that I told you about so that we
renovated into a a big showroom living
room reception room and then upstairs on
the the right side of the house we have
all of the bedrooms and bathrooms and
private spaces here in the garden that’s
the kind of extension of our private
showroom and also art creation so here
you can find different cultures from
artists that we love uh opar over there
and then Kristoff shonel from Galler Bay
and our clients and art collectors will
hang out we tell them that they can go
to the forest uh if they like uh well
it’s like a great natural space to
admire art you can go back to Paris this
way I usually go for a run this way
sometimes some clients from Paris they
come by bicycle from Paris to here
[Music]
so here is the the kitchen and it’s more
Japanese style kitchen uh with a
Burntwood table and benches and art
pieces as well from clud lauron and we
really like to have breakfast here even
dinner sometimes it’s a very um a cozy
uh room so we will cook here and then
eat here with the view on the garden
that I always
[Music]
like so here is the bathroom that the
cutest part of the house and I like to
spend time here um sometimes reading
sometimes doing nothing uh it’s it’s
clear full of light and um green and
blue I like the atmosphere it’s like a
little French BDO with the Vintage
things uh and um yeah a great
atmosphere it’s a quiet place where you
you rest and there’s nothing much to do
I don’t like to use screen in my bedroom
I like to sit down on my desk and maybe
draw a few things and maybe read but no
screen well I put some colors here but
usually it’s just white and and uh this
is the side tables that we made and that
we like here um because it it reminds us
all of the I don’t know the story and
that we have Antoine and I hope you
enjoy this home tour and uh that you
took some inspiration from this place
and from our philosophy and I hope to
see you soon here or in Paris
[Music]