Interview with Ludivine Meiers, interior designer // LISAA Alumni

Click on “see more photos” to discover a selection of Ludivine’s projects.

For many years I had wanted to become an interior architect. One of my aunts is a chartered architect and I was always attracted by the creative side of her profession, but less so by the technical side.

I joined LISAA and graduated in 1999, having completed the course in Interior Architecture and Design. During the course, I really discovered design. At the beginning, I wanted to become an interior architect, but by the time I graduated I was more drawn to design.

I have very fond memories of my years on the course: the school is on a human-scale, everyone knew each other and there were good relations between the students and the teaching staff.

The end-of-year charrette, where students from the lower years help future graduates to prepare their projects, really helped to create a link between us.

I soon found work in a Parisian interior design agency (IMLC) where a friend from my year had done an internship during the course. The agency worked mainly on retail projects but also high-end private apartment renovations.

I stayed there for five years, working mainly for commercial architecture projects. I then worked for a year in another agency in Versailles where I found it a bit more difficult to find my place and returned to IMLC for six more years. Then, the desire to progress led me to create my own agency, A comme Archi, in 2011.

After nearly 12 years in retail, I wanted to move on, but I did not know yet how. A call for a big project, just days after I left the agency, meant I had little time to overthink it and so I set up A comme Archi.

Most of my projects are house or apartment renovations for private clients. Thanks to the good contacts that I kept with my former team, I am sometimes commissioned to work on retail architecture projects.

And I occasionally work on design projects and a little subcontracting for other interior designers.

I am convinced that everything can be learned, but the following qualities can make everyday work easier:

- being attentive to the client's requests in order to provide them with the best solution to their problem, and knowing how to put yourself in their shoes. I sometimes feel that my job is midway between that of a diplomat and a psychologist!

- Hard work is also important, ensuring that deadlines and budgets are met.

- Knowing how to take others’ roles into consideration in order to avoid being overwhelmed. I often say to my clients that a project is a three-party project between the client, the architect and the company!

- And, of course, looking out for new products and trends, without sticking to these at all costs. Each project is unique and I take particular care to ensure the client feels at home and that their interior is unique.

There is no such thing as a typical day. I am lucky to be free to organise my diary as I see fit. I adapt to projects: sometimes morning meetings, sometimes late meetings with clients, and between the two, a visit to the office to work on current projects, do any admin and manage my social media.

I subscribe to many newsletters and Instagram accounts enabling me to stay up to date with current trends. Annual events such as the Milan Furniture Fair and Maison & Objet are also essential sources of inspiration.

I follow trends without being overly influenced by them. I always try to ask myself: will this colour go out of fashion tomorrow? Would it not be wiser to choose a tropical-print cushion rather than paint the whole room green?