lived-in feel. “Lighting is very important. It
should always be on at least three levels.”
The first is lamps — some of her favourites
include the ones in her bedroom, made by
the Paris-based designer Maria Pergay, who
is known for her use of stainless steel — “and
the lampshades are hand-painted by Maya,
a Serbian artist”. D’Ornano recommends
always placing lights above pictures hanging
on the wall, and the third level is the light
from your ceiling, which in this case means
grandiose 18th-century crystal chandeliers.
For an added touch, d’Ornano says to
“always place a light by the places you want
to sit — it makes it extra cosy”.
D’Ornano refers to the dining room as the
family’s “cosy area”, but it was once famous
for their “not very French” informal dinner
parties during Paris couture week, where “all
kinds of remarkable people, from actors and
artists to just our friends” would sit and eat
around the table. “The French president
[Valéry Giscard d’Estaing] came to one of our
parties. It was a very relaxed way of enter-
taining,” she says. These days things are a bit
quieter. “Now I enjoy just having a few friends
over for lunch.”
Less low-key, however, is d’Ornano’s love
of art, which fills nearly every inch of the
apartment — even the ceilings. In the living
room, look up and you’ll see a bright blue sky
painted with clouds, reminiscent of Renais-
sance art. D’Ornano puts her love of ceilings
down to her Polish heritage — “My family
had a beautiful house in Poland, which is
where I first saw the idea of ceiling decora-
tion. Ceilings can be great inspiration,
especially if you have high walls.”
In the living room, Anselm Kiefer’s Maria
descendant le 3ème jour (The Descent of Mary
on the Third Day) sits proudly above the
sofa — the countess bought the piece at
Sotheby’s shortly after her husband died —
while a pair of resin snails by Jean-François
Fourtou climb the wall, heading towards the
ceiling, alongside giant glass raindrops by
the American artist Rob Wynne that run
down the window.
Supporting artists is something the
countess is passionate about. She began
collecting contemporary art 20 years ago,
visiting galleries and commissioning
designers with ideas for sculptures, such as
the antler ornaments on the mantelpiece by
a Polish sculptor she discovered in London.
Art is the area where d’Ornano is most likely‘Money helps you
to have beautiful
things but it’s
not what makes
a place cosy’
Right Isabelle d’Ornano.
Below The dining room,
where the d’Ornanos would
host informal dinner parties
during couture week and
have family meals46 • The Sunday Times Style