The perfectly judged interiors of Ellie Peugeot

It took the British-Iranian interior designer Ellie Peugeot some time and convincing (from friends and, ultimately, herself) to leap from human-rights lawyer to creative. She launched her design career in 2019. “I always had a creative side but it was just deemed a bit too risky,” says Peugeot, who fled Iran with her mother when she was just two years old to settle in the UK, and later Canada, where she completed high school and undergraduate studies. “My mum wanted me to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer – a respectable profession for immigrants. It’s that story.” 

Peugeot, now 40, is dressed in a chic midnight-blue knit skirt ensemble from Molli and black Loro Piana ballerinas. We’re seated in the spacious salon of her new Parisian home, where she lives with her husband Edouard – managing director at TowerBrook Capital Partners and the youngest son of Robert Peugeot, chairman of the board of Peugeot Invest, the investment holding company of France’s Peugeot family – and their two children, Tristan and Aria. The family’s Samoyed dog Laika, named after the ill-fated Soviet dog sent to space in Sputnik 2 in the 1950s, lies dotingly at her feet. 

When Peugeot first visited this apartment, it was steeped in lavish Empire style with elaborate trompe-l’oeil and gilded columns – not to mention a hodgepodge of small salons impractical for a young family. The building dates to 1849 and is in step with the old-world architectural grandeur of the neighbourhood, which draws diplomats and visitors alike – the Élysée Palace, Le Bristol and La Réserve are all within a stone’s throw. From one side of the apartment, there is a treetop view of the gardens of the Hôtel de Marigny, the former 19th-century Rothschild residence built in the neoclassical style – now a state guesthouse.

To make the residence their own, she decided to open the layout, replacing a second salon with a spacious, bespoke kitchen from Smallbone. The former kitchen, a small space sequestered at the back of the apartment, is now a cosy guest room. “I think kitchens are an afterthought in most Parisian flats, but my husband and I both cook, and when we host, we like to have everyone congregate in the kitchen,” she says. 

Throughout the home, she has taken great care to preserve and restore the original bones – the intricate mouldings, cornices and Versailles parquet flooring – while tempering such ornate details with a restrained, neutral palette. The effect has created a serene backdrop for her collection of modern and contemporary art and objects. A pair of Picasso ceramic pieces entitled Plate with Clock Face adds a playful touch to the jewel-box-like dining room, encased in florid boiseries and mirrored panelling. Other notable artworks include a black relief etching by Lucio Fontana and a black-and-white nude self-portrait by Tracey Emin. 

More than a home it is a canvas for her constantly evolving style – and a place where she can bring people to experience her vision. “All of my clients thus far have been trusted friends I have known for more than a decade, who have wanted me to help them execute a personalised version of my aesthetic for them.”

Peugeot has a talent for mingling disparate schools and eras – united by an evident appreciation for craft and texture and monochrome or natural tones (colour makes a cameo only in the kids’ bedroom). “I would always cross-collect and realised that it came naturally to me. It’s like a dinner party when you mix characters from different generations – that’s when the magic happens,” she says. In one corner, a Greek bronze from Galerie Chenel in Paris sits atop a marble column she bought from the Hubert de Givenchy estate sale at Christie’s. On the adjacent wall hangs a monochrome ceramic diptych by the Paris-based Korean artist Minsoon Moon, while a Charlotte Perriand stool sits off to the side. 

One of the first items Peugeot bought was an Enrico Castellani white paper relief (1985) acquired while undertaking her master’s at the London School of Economics and working at Withers law firm. It still hangs above her desk today. “I was living in a 20sq m studio in West Kensington and, at the time, it was an absurd and completely reckless purchase… But now, with hindsight, quite a sound investment,” she says. 

As her collecting habits developed, friends took notice of her talent and recruited her to help them design individual rooms to help sell their homes. Before long, she was asked to redesign entire residences – an apartment in Holland Park, a Georgian house in Notting Hill and even Isabella Blow’s former apartment on Eaton Square – and decided to focus on design full-time. Until now, however, she hasn’t been able to show her work. “People are very discreet, including myself, so that’s why it’s exciting I can finally showcase it,” she says of the home and first-ever Paris project.

Last year, Peugeot took on another role as the French chair of the International Council of the World Monuments Fund, a private, international non-profit founded in 1965 dedicated to preserving heritage sites all over the world. Personally, she considers Nuri in Sudan – a royal burial ground for the ancient kingdom of Kush, dating back to the middle of the 7th century BC – as a site of importance, but says the focus is not just on physical buildings but what Unesco now refers to as intangible cultural heritage. “It is about considering urgent measures to keep alive folklore, customs, traditions, knowledge and language,” she says. “Iranian Lenj vessels, for example, are traditionally hand-built and are used by inhabitants of the northern coast of the Persian Gulf for sea journeys, trading, fishing and pearl diving. But the traditional knowledge surrounding Lenjs also includes oral literature, performing arts and festivals, sailing and navigation techniques, as well as terminology and weather forecasting.”

She also hopes to cultivate more interest and funding in sites from recent history – 20th-century architecture from the brutalist or art deco schools – while seeking new council members involved in contemporary art and design. “I think we have such an opportunity to decide what will be heritage, going forward,” she says. Next spring, for example, she will stage a talk with a curator from the Pompidou Centre at the 18th-century folly gardens Désert de Retz in Marly-le-Roi – once a place of great inspiration for André Breton and the surrealist movement. “My angle was similar to my approach with this property. The surroundings are so beautiful, with the ceiling heights and mouldings, but when you start bringing in contemporary elements, it becomes much more exciting. It’s a completely different conversation,” she says. 

On the design front, there are upcoming projects in the UK, such as the former historic home of Thomas Cubitt in Belgravia and a Georgian terrace in Kensington. She seems to be in her element, though she admits that work sites demand as much tenacity as her former career. “People only treat you as well as you demand to be treated, which is a shame,” she reflects. “I was once quite an apologetic person… just to set the tone and make others feel at ease, but when I see women who are super-strong and say whatever they think, I’m now on that path,” she smiles.

Is there anything about practising law she misses? “No, but it has been useful. I still do my own contracts. Also, I know how to take a critical approach, to do my research – I’m not afraid to fight with facts,” she says. “But I definitely don’t miss working 80 hours a week.”