Michaël Malapert was born in 1978 in Paris and was raised by his architect father and therapist mother. From a very early age, his mother introduced him to alternative medicine while the doors of his father’s architecture firm were opened up to him. This place, where he spent most of his time and acquired basic notions of space and spatial reflection, would unlock something in him. The passing down of these sensibilities, architecture on one side and energy on the other, would play a decisive role in Michael’s career. This period was a learning phase, which developed his eye, expanded his mind and fuelled his vision.
Later, he would join the ESADSE and begin studying furniture design where the absurd and off-beat names of his two first lessons quickly led him to understand that he had found his path. Almost reflexively, he trusted his first instincts and embarked on the creation of micro-architecture. He earned his degree and turned towards the design, construction, development and customization of interior spaces. In 2002, he worked first at Philippe Starck, then took on the management of large-scale international projects, notably in Shanghai, Bangkok, London and Marrakech, alongside Imaad Rahmouni. In 2007 he set up his own, eponymous interior architecture and design agency. For more than 10 years, Michaël Malapert has created interiors for restaurants, selective bars and hotels. He defines himself as a creator of living spaces and designs environments that go beyond the visible. He frees their energies and favours décor which everyone can make their own.
At the end of 2016, Michael’s agency became Maison Malapert, an interior architecture workshop specializing in the creation of mixed and immersive living spaces. The vocabulary he employs shakes up the traditional boundaries and creates open-plan living spaces.
Thought of as a manifesto, this approach focuses on the energies of spaces: how to circulate them, how to distribute them and how to create them when there are none. Spaces open up and invite visitors to take possession of them… kitchens extend to the living spaces, bars are placed in the centre of the action and the so-called “intermediate” areas are set free, becoming places for conversation and exchange. This synergy between the distribution of invisible vibrations and the ergonomics of space is the central focus and very foundation of the agency’s approach.
If architecture is a social catalyst, then public spaces are the new territories of expression. Maison Malapert, therefore, invites artisans, artists and their savoir-faire into a new dynamic where a hotel can be a gallery ora concept store, and a bar can mutate into a games room. This strong identity encourages life to literally invade establishments. Each address tells a story of its own.