A delicate balancing act—that is how one might describe the achievement of Cosima Ungaro and her husband Austin Feildas, who have brought to life an extraordinary Parisian home with precision and grace. Set beside the Jardin du Luxembourg, the apartment was originally purchased by Cosima’s father, the legendary couturier Emanuel Ungaro, with plans for a complete renovation. His passing in 2019, however, changed the course of the project. Cosima and Austin stepped in, continuing the vision through their creative agency Paris Concept, and turning the apartment into a luminous time capsule that honours both family history and their shared passion for collecting.
Cosima recalls that the roots of Paris Concept reach back to 1995, when her father founded it as “an incubator for dream projects,” from opera costume design for Naples, Rome and Palermo to interiors across the globe. “In 2019,” she explains, “we expanded this creative legacy into a new era. Today we craft innovative concepts for luxury brands through art, design, food and architecture.”
The project on rue d’Assas, she continues, was a natural extension of that legacy. “It was shaped by family and guided by our conviction that every interior must first offer a distinct, unexpected experience for the beholder. Since its completion, interior design has become a central part of our studio’s work.”
For Cosima’s mother, the finished apartment was transformative. “Her world had been turned upside down,” Cosima remembers. “She had lost her husband and left the home filled with decades of shared memories. Stepping into the space Austin and I created brought an immediate sense of hope, joy, and purpose. We made it to measure, like a couture piece—every detail suited to her lifestyle and needs, while leaving room to grow and nurture herself with aromas, flavours, music, life and love.”
This layering of surprise and discovery echoes Emanuel Ungaro’s belief that beauty should unfold gradually. “Some advised us to mimic the building’s architecture or aim for photogenic vistas,” Cosima says, “but we prefer freedom—unexpected combinations of light, textures, and colours. When you enter, you first see the kitchen, with its stainless steel counterpoints and 19th-century Chinese panels refashioned as cabinets. Open them and you find Murano glassware, each piece unique. As you climb the stairs, light softens into the lime-painted, arched walls of the upper floors. It’s a journey for the imagination.”
The apartment’s three levels symbolise earth, air, and sky, reflecting her mother’s way of life. “We wanted the entrance to feel grounded,” Cosima explains. “The kitchen and red-brick pantry are where she begins her day, planning menus and selecting dishes gathered from her travels. A terracotta corridor leads to the guest room, its hues shifting from sand to clay to black, recalling the volcanic rocks of Pantelleria at sunset. Higher floors open to airy calm and finally to a serene retreat under the sky.”
Food and conversation remain the heartbeat of the home. “Shared meals and stories are the pulse of every experience we create,” she says simply.
Through it all, the spirit of Emanuel Ungaro endures. “His legacy guides us not as a rigid set of rules,” Cosima reflects, “but as values that allow our creativity to take flight. We often think of Antonin Artaud’s words on the need to être à l’origine des choses—to be at the origin of things. That is how we honour him while shaping something entirely our own.”
