I want to start this project by thanking Nathan Prochownik, the jewish factory owner before us, the humble and joyfull man to whom i'm the most respectfull and greatfull. I just spent my night reading his book "mémoires barbelées, et après". Nathan came back from the death camps in 1945 when he was 23, I'll will be 23 when i will open this space my turn and i want to honnor his memory.
Today it is sunday 16th of july 2006, the commemoration day of the "vel' d'hiv" roundup : ignoble day Nathan's entire family was taken to a single journey to the death camps where they were all slaughtered. Nathan after suffering hell remained the single surivor of his family and came back to Paris to start a new life. He gave a chance to my family, he taught us what love and giving is, he raised us in his kindness. Thank you Nathan, we'll always love you Nathan.

The same year he died in 2000, Nathan offered for my father's 50's birthday this precious chased crystal vase. On the right side you can see a glass piece i blew the same year in Belleville. The two pieces are complementary : one is glorious and wide open, the other is secret and uncertain. I must grow up now and share.

When my family arrived in the rue pihet we were very poor and my brother Narito and me were so small we were called titi et loulou. All the family worked hard to repair this factory.

Before Nathan, the barturning industry belonged to Sirs Magot and Castella. Before the war Nathan was a simpler worker in this factory. After the war he bought this industry from his ex-bosses.

The area was very different at the time, much more popular.

It was completely broken down and sad. Now, more and more and more vitality flows inside it.

The ex-offices were the locals in the best conditions so the entire family, 4 people plus sometimes my grand-mother and sometimes an uncle lived in this small space in this modest and joyous atmosphere.
I mostly grew up in the streets of this neighbourhood, the inside of the house being to crowded or dangerously equiped for a very curious little boy.

I took this photo today, 20 years after we came in.
It took the family about 10 years to repair this house and many more years to pay the loan. Now it's a beautifull large appartment and the area and the mentality totaly changed.

The access of the space to the street is immediate, like a shop.

The offices used to have also an entrance by the building collective entrance.
The back of the space leads to very small and dark courtyard where we store garbage bins today.

the front of my future appartment is very anonymous and old school. I want to change things but i want to keep my discretion. unknownuser-space

Before you step in, little green alive things are saying hello to your feets. I love have some green, and i appreciate it like this : "tiny and wild", coming from nowhere, full of hope yet simple and autonomous.

The old door is here, everything works though it's so old and fragile now.

Pierre Gam, opens the door, thanks.

Inside, it looks like a mess but it's great. This space is a working space, everything on the wall breathes it's tremendous creative activity, we can paint on the wall, on the floor, destroy walls, build it again, each time, we can design a different space for each project. Imagine a project = a new location, so inspiring and tolerant.

The little kitchen is not very functinnal ... The bath is very uncomfortable.

The old small librairy.

My brother Narito used to sleep upstairs for several years, until he became a lawyer recently. He adapted his way of life to the space, i want to adapt the space to my way of life. Is he more ecological than me than ? hahahaha !!

So, with the help of Pierre Gam, i did this very first draft of the space.
-It's 470cm Large, 540cm deep, 400cm high.
-It's open on the street and courtyard side
-It has a small double door to the street and a standard door to the collective flat corridor. It is not on the map (oops) but it also has a WC at the bottom left hand corner. It's a great space !
-The floor is half ceramic and a half covered with wood.
-It has electricity, hot/cold water, central hitting, internet : woaouh !

I want to live in a cube. unknownuser-space. I want to have the posibility to suddenly turn this "abstract space" into a family warm house, a hysteric work space, just opening the folding room divider. I don't need intimacy, i want to share, an open space, and a protective space at the same time, i need to seale things. A display and a confidential house.

The first isometry, to talk with my family of the organisation of the space, to put everyone on the same wavelength.