A Match Made in Materiality

Simone Haag is a highly regarded Interior Decorator known for her ability to curate spaces that feel both personal and unexpected. With a keen eye for layering textures, tones, and statement pieces, she brings a distinctive energy to every project. Her approach seamlessly blends vintage and contemporary influences, often incorporating bold, sculptural forms that command attention. A long-time admirer of French brand La Chance, Simone has introduced its striking designs into several of her projects, embracing the brand’s signature mix of geometric lines, luxurious materials, and playful yet refined aesthetic.

Can you share a recent project where La Chance furniture played a key role? What made it the perfect fit for that space?
In 2024 we worked on a project in Sorrento, Victoria in collaboration with the Travis Walton and Bear Agushi. The home isn’t the clients primary residence so the Snow sofa from La Chance was envisioned as much as a sculptural element as for the desire for comfort but ironically the client called it the most comfortable sofa they’d ever had.

Due to the scale and orientation of the room the sofa was primarily going to be seen from behind, so the back detail was integral in the decision making. We were drawn to the two-tone design of the Snow and, as enthusiasts of new design, we loved being early adopters and we were thrilled to be and one of the first to specify it in Australia. Whilst the client couldn’t sit on it to try it, we were able to interact with La Change via a video call with the team in France so that the client could establish a true sense of the scale. They couldn’t sit on it, but they had that personalised experience and felt confident with our decision. Rather than having multiple sofas in the room, the Snow is a single piece that allows for conversation having space for several people. There was a strength in the singular bold approach to the room, which suited the brutalist architecture of the home. It has a contemporary unique and playful feel to it rather than being too serious.

What qualities or design elements of La Chance furniture do you find most inspiring or versatile for your projects?
The La Chance designs are great in areas where we are looking to create a moment. They always have a sense of timelessness, with an edge and always an interesting play on materiality. We see it as collectable design… future classics that are actually being collected by those in the know. Pieces to live with, layer upon and pass on to future generations. Some designs in the La Chance collections are slightly more playful, others more traditional, spanning the spectrum of client’s desire for more experimental pieces but pieces that are also liveable. A young, French brand encouraging a conversation around design that it’s too serious.

When incorporating La Chance pieces into a space, how do you approach balancing their bold designs with the surrounding interior elements?
One of the signatures of our studio is to blend styles and eras in unexpected ways, there is a whimsy or playful element to what we do and how we like to design. Generally speaking, our designs are centered on contrasts, they’re about push and pull, tension and harmony, contemporary and vintage, quiet textures against bold graphic elements. By its very nature the bold design of La Chance would often be situated in our work next to more subtle pieces. We don’t want every piece to be a hero, some need to speak louder than others. The Monument Shelving in our Gascoigne House project was a brand-new piece at the time, and the scale of it worked perfectly for the space that it was intended. It felt like the space had been built for it. Pieces and houses sometimes seem to find each other in a fortuitous way, it was serendipity.

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