PLACES & SPACES | ROOMS & GARDENS | WORLD OF CABANA
A 19th-century mansion behind huge imposing doors and left uninhabited for decades, Casapiane feels frozen in time. It was here in Bordeaux that Cécile d’Amade Briant fell under its charm and knew it would make the most atmospheric setting for her intriguing business. Joanna Maclennan takes a tour.
BY JOANNA MACLENNAN | ROOMS & GARDENS | 24 JANUARY 2025
A richly-detailed bedroom at Casapiane, Bordeaux © Joanna Maclennon.
There are often places that we walk past, where we wonder what goes on behind those closed doors. Are they empty, abandoned or is someone still living there? A faint light or just the play of sunshine on the window makes us wonder what is inside, and what stories that place could tell. There is a constant fascination for who lives - or lived – there, and what lies within. This is one of those places.
A 19th-century mansion standing behind huge imposing doors, left uninhabited for decades in the heart of Bordeaux. It’s a place that has been frozen in time with high ceilings, peeling paint, beautiful light streaming through the windows - a handsome house leading out into a large garden. It was here that Cécile d’Amade Briant fell under the charm of the house and knew it would make the most atmospheric setting for the latest edition of her business, Casapiane.
“I have always had an appetite for everything beautiful," explains Cecile, a former lawyer who spent a decade specializing in cultural heritage law. After moving to Bordeaux four years ago, she left the profession and founded Casapiane, an intriguing concept that sees her bring creatives together in different uniquely staged spaces. "I have had this idea for a long time: to bring together craftsmen, artists and antique dealers, to create ephemeral interiors...in places for sale. The place highlights each of the pieces on display, while the scenography highlights the place to facilitate its sale.”
With this, Cecile has created a unique immersive experience entitled Metamorphose Fortuite, transforming this forgotten house into a living creative scene, combining artistic and decorative installations, in situ performances and impromptu events. Cecile joined forces with Aurelie Jezequel, a Parisian gallerist who lived in New York and settled in Bordeaux after returning to France. Together they select people who reflect the quality and creative diversity of Bordeaux, with an ambition to collaborate with artists, artisans and antique dealers to make Casapiane a fleeting theatre piece highlighting the hidden beauty of spaces in transition. Everything is available for sale during the event, from the smallest accessory to the venue itself.
As soon as she saw Casapiane, Cecile's ideas for the scenography were clear. "The garden and the palm trees struck me with their unexpected exoticism," she reveals. "I also felt that nature was reclaiming its rights in this abandoned place. Nature and the call from somewhere more exotic then became the common thread that led me to select partners who had the same aesthetic: antique dealers who offer MCM furniture from Brazil and South America. But also artists - in particular Joanna Maclennan whose images capture places frozen in time, often with very beautiful perspectives or focuses on architectural elements, all things that we find here in this place.”
As you walk through the doors of Casapiane, especially at dusk when it's illuminated by candles and low lighting, you feel as though you are walking through time and history. The huge palm trees and spiral stone staircase could lead anywhere. Everything has been arranged as if it has always been there, and the splendour of another era shines through. One can only imagine what conversations and parties once took place here.
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