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Giselle and Philippe ﬁrst met in Singapore, introduced by mutual friends while working in fashion. The connection was instant, and within a year, Giselle moved to Tokyo, Philippe’s longtime home. Their fast-paced lives were interspersed with countryside getaways, where they fell in love with Japan’s landscape and artisanship. This appreciation for Japan is the essence of DAMDAM—their clean skincare brand that showcases Japanese heritage values and ingredients such as shiso, snow mushrooms, and rice.

In Misaki, their weekend home is spacious and lived-in. Fishing baskets sit alongside a growing collection of washi paper, framing the landscape that pours in through the ﬂoor-to-ceiling windows. Here, Philippe spends hours in the kitchen, crafting meals from garden-grown herbs and spices, while Giselle ﬁnds solace in long, restorative baths with ocean views. “It’s magical—this house is our dream place.” says Giselle.

Giselle and Philippe sitting in a wooden Japanese style living room, using a laptop.

Rocky coastal landscape at sunset with calm sea.

How is living in Tokyo?

The magic of Tokyo is the many secrets of the city. When people talk about it, they usually talk about the big attractions like the Sensoji Temple—which is beautiful—but the city has a lot of layers, and you can go very deep into it. There are so many streets with unknown magic places to discover. Now we know the diﬀerent areas to go for ceramics or vintage shops, but we are always on the quest to discover small places no one talks about. It feeds into our creativity—the constant re-discovery of the city.

You live with one foot in the city and one in nature in your home in Misaki.

When we ﬁrst met, we would go to the countryside almost every weekend to unwind. We went to discover diﬀerent places closer to nature and the land, and it came to the point where it made sense to have a home outside Tokyo. We were living in the middle of the city and felt a need to balance it. We had been looking for over two years, and then a friend of ours introduced us to this house by the seaside. It was in bad condition, but we could see that the bones were very good. So we decided to knock it all down and rebuild it.

“We were living in the middle of the city, and we felt we needed to balance it.”

Can you walk me through the house?

The house was originally built in the 70s by an American photojournalist who moved to Japan. He was interested in a mix of mid-century modern and Japanese design. We tried to preserve the feel of the original house but modernize it at the same time. We left a lot of walls with their original wood, which was preserved and cleaned, but added window panels all over the house. It was really important for us to have that open feeling of fresh air and light coming inside the home. Now it looks like the ceiling is ﬂoating at night because you don’t see the wall’s glass corners anymore. It’s magical—this house is our dream place. We didn’t think it would become that.

“It was really important for us to have that open feeling of fresh air and light coming inside the home.”

What is the role of nature in your lives?

Nature is everything. Our alarm clock is the birds. Living so close to nature has been a humbling experience because we had to learn to be attuned to it and its ﬂow. The more you live in nature, the more you understand how it works. We can understand the month of the year depending on which ﬂowers are beginning to grow. Nature is marking the passage of our time.

“Living so close to nature has been a humbling experience because we had to learn to be attuned to it and its flow. The more you live in nature, the more you understand how it works.”

How do you choose the pieces that you live with?

It is a mix of what we already had and things that were in the original house. We have restored a lot of it. For example, Philippe had a table by David Chipperﬁeld—an old friend—which was a little bit rotten, so we worked with woodworkers in Japan to have a completely new top. We also have things we collected from traveling and a few pieces that were in the house that we just cleaned up and salvaged.

Do you have any rituals?

We grow sage in the garden. We burn it to cleanse the house as well as incense to clear the energies. Otherwise, we normally wake up quite early and have a cup of matcha—we have been producing our own matcha with an organic farmer from Kyoto. After that, we spend a couple of hours in the garden, especially in summer. Then we have lunch and return for a couple of hours in the evening for gardening.

“Our house is very close to the sea, and you can observe how every day is diﬀerent. The sea is never the same. It is hard to explain, but it has made life so much richer.”

Giselle and Philippe at a dining table in a bright, wood-paneled room sitting on Cover Armchairs.

Minimalistic bedroom with wooden furniture, shelving, and a large area rug.

Where do you go to relax?

We designed two main spaces in the house. For Philippe, the kitchen, and for me, the bathroom. Philippe has a full kitchen to do everything he wants. He works with spices and herbs from the garden, preserves a lot of food, makes bread from scratch, and tries new things—so the kitchen is his area. Mine is the bathroom, which is my sanctuary. I have a wall of windows towards the bamboo garden and a view of the ocean from the Japanese bath. I’m always there.

What is your favorite time of the day in the house?

Philippe: I like it when I wake up. I open the bedroom door and discover the color of the sea of the day. Sometimes, it is completely white because of the waves raging onto the rocks. Sometimes turquoise, sometimes gray or black. You never know what you're going to get. I love that.

Giselle: For me, it’s the sunset because it’s also diﬀerent depending on the day. Our neighbors taught me to look at sunsets. I’m learning to observe them and how the sun sets in diﬀerent locations depending on the season. From here, we see Mount Fuji, and there is one day a year when the sunset is right behind the Mount—called Golden Fuji. That particular day, everyone is excited—its just perfection.

In collaboration with Friends of Friends
Photographer: Gui Martinez
Words by:  Maria Paris Borda

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