Small Apartment Design Ideas: Colourful Interiors Inject Humour and Irony Into This 45-Square-Metre Paris Apartment

When it comes to small apartment design ideas, conventional wisdom dictates a monochrome palette. In their bid to make smaller spaces appear bigger and breathable, generations have stuck to lighter colours – and preferably just one tone. But this Haussmannian apartment in Paris tears up the old rulebook to make way for a fun and bold approach that still delivers that coveted illusion of space.

Anthony Authié founded the design studio Zvya Studio with the aim of breaking down the classic image one might have of architects and architecture. With an experimental style consisting of playful elements, comic book references and a deliberately kitschy take, he breaks with conventions and creates spaces that can make you question whether they are really real and habitable. “I have tried to incorporate a form of humour into my work, a little self-irony,” says Authié and this Paris apartment renovation is proof of the architect’s distinctly free spirit.

Synthetic colours and custom-made furniture make this small apartment special

For French DJ Myd, architect Anthony Authié transformed a traditional Hausmann apartment of just 45-square-metres into a luminous, almost unreal universe with pop culture at its heart. To achieve this, he wraps the small apartment in a synthetic baby blue with a touch of candy-crush pink. The result? A refreshing, somewhat unusual “Elektro-Hausmann apartment”. The musical influences of the French electro DJ and music producer are amply evident in the apartment. In this case, that would probably be Daft Punk and the 80s and 90s. To achieve this, the architect retained the building’s style-defining elements from the 1930s, such as cornices, skirting boards, stucco and parquet flooring. In general, it was important to Authié not to change the given floor plan, but to approach it in a playful way. The curved lines and soft shapes of the custom-made fixtures underline this approach. This is also where the storage space is hidden within the limited number of square metres. The furniture has also been carefully selected: The bespoke table in the dining alcove made of pink and green terrazzo was made exclusively by Mosaic Factory. Some of the furniture was also designed by artist and designer friends. “The project should be legible and clear without losing sight of the main goal: To have fun with the process,” says the architect brimming with fun, yet practical, small apartment design ideas.