My friends Ellen and Frank's home: Cassilhaus.
A contemporary nest in the heart of a forest.
Ellen, a longtime friend who lived with French Husband and me in Paris, is an Architect. Frank is a photographer and artist in light and sound. Together, they collect and create artful living spaces.
Their Home.
"… perched on a slope overlooking a forest has an 800-square-foot artist’s space and a 2,400-square-foot house, both with a megaphone of a view…
the 900-square-foot gallery that bridges them, connects our life and our art, in a very overt way. It’s a retreat.” excerpt taken from the New York Time's article about Cassihaus.
a vision of their dreams.
Light, perched high, open spaces, artwork, breathing space…
Their collection of art photographs is stunning.
Four panels of water are running above the stairwell.
Sally Mann: Girl with a Candy Cigarette
When French Husband & I were first married, we lived in Paris in a tiny studio in the heart of Les Halles. Noisy knew no other word in the neighborhood.
As French Husband worked in an urban real estate investment company. Often, he would tell me of the places, primarily apartments he had seen. I would listen in awe. One day, he invited me to see one of the buildings the company would buy. He said, "There is an empty apartment inside; it is so typically Parisian, you gotta see it." So I went with him.
As soon as I entered inside, I started to moan. "Not fair! Why can't we live here?"
French Husband did not have to remind me that we could not afford the rent. We walked around the large apartment; it had 15-foot ceilings, which were sculpted with pomegranates and flowers, Seven sets of French doors, and a large gilded trumeau that stood on top of the marble fireplace: wooden floors and light, glorious light.
I brainstormed: What if we rented one of the two bedrooms? Then we could easily pay for the apartment! Having roommates in Paris was an unknown concept at the time.
As I worked for the American Church in Paris, I put up an ad (before the internet, a well-known source of information in Paris, a hotspot of connection to anything under the sun, was the American Church Ad Board.) Within 24 hours, we had a roommate.
A roommate named Ellen is how we met & became friends over twenty years ago.
Mitch Epstein: Dad's Briefcase.
My suitcases arrived late last night under a rainstorm. Nothing lost, everything gained.
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