I
n Paris, in a neighbourhood undergoing gentrification, an intimate contemporary design gallery has just opened: Galerie Room. Galerie Room has an air of sophistication and the same pretty young vibe of its owners: designer Violaine d’Harcourt and communication manager Ludivine Chabert. We are in the 18th arrondissement, amid alleyways and staircases, just before the North side of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, the famous white church on top of the Montmartre hill. This area is at risk of soon becoming the next place to go.
The idea of opening a design gallery came to Violaine. Parisian born and bred, she studied interior and product design in Paris, later completing a masters and training in some of the most renowned studios in New York, Milan and Buenos Aires. After returning home, she met up with friend Ludivine, who had just spent three years working in London as a PR in the creative industry. They immediately started making plans for Galerie Room.
Galerie Room is an innovative space, which displays, aside from the owner’s work, pieces by experimental young designers. What’s more, Galerie Room creates a meeting point between professionals of different creative fields, starting from the many architects, designers, photographers and publishers, who live in this buzzing neighbourhood.

Left hand-side: "Rays" wall-mounted lamp by Marta Bakowski, in Plexiglas and woven polyester; "Meret" by Léa Ginac in marble slabs. Right hand-side: in the foreground, "Saou" table by Solveig Bongrain, in solid oak and sand-blasted steel; left pedestal, “Lune” table lamp by Violaine d’Harcourt, in marble and oak.
We could say that setting up a neighbourhood network, made of local craftspeople, who share knowledge and skill with the rest of the community, is not an entirely new concept. However, the novelty rests in the fact that a system, which was working perfectly in the Middle Ages, can be applied to our modern age, embracing only its best features. We cross our fingers and wish them every success. After all, our owners just have to breathe new life into a tried and test system.

Design project
Galerie Room
67 rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris, France
Tel. 0033 (0) 9 83 30 21 76
E-mail: contact@galerieroom.com
Opening times
Tues-Sat: 11.00 – 19.30
Photos: Courtesy Galerie Room