Born in Paris in 1962, Helene spent much of her time with her artist grandfather, Pierre Henry de Bressac, a painter specializing in watercolor, who drilled her in the “3 Cs”: color, composition and candor.
Later, when she was sent to the private school, Notre Dame Des Oiseaux run by Catholic nuns, she learned the other “3 Cs”: “Christ, confession and cheating at exams! Following her prompt expulsion , Helene worked as a model for Herbert de Givenchy, who encouraged her to enter the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.
Although she felt the lure of the Ecole, the fashion world proved to be much more enticing than school, so she traveled to Milan, London and New York for modeling assignments. Upon returning to Paris, for a Givenchy show, she befriended a publishing mogul, he gave Helene her first interior design assignment: he asked her to completely design the interior of his Parisian penthouse facing the Eiffel tower.
While the experience was a tremendous success, modeling provided Helene the opportunity to travel and absorb the different architectural styles and design sensibilities of major world cities. Nevertheless, when she was in France, Helene pursued important design projects, including one for Fiat, as well as the design of
a country getaway for a high-ranking government official. It was not until Helene arrived in Los Angeles that she began to pursue and embrace her passion for design as a full-time profession.
Helene moved with her family to California’s Santa Ynez Valley, just north of Santa Barbara, and began restoring the vintage clapboard farmhouse into acountry gem, replete with a working barn and a menagerie of pets.
The addition of Helene’s home furnishings and lighting lines was a natural progression of her desire for detail and her love of whimsy and fantasy, resulting in a line of beautiful, unusual furniture. Helene’s current work has been featured by national and international publications.
PHILOSOPHY
One of the main components of Helene Aumont’s design philosophy is quite simple:“The function of design is to enhance the lives of the people living in the house.”
This guiding principle, combined with Aumont’s inherent good taste, sets the stage for her stunning
interior designs.
“The best design is that which does not blare its perfection. Impeccable design and taste do not equal perfection. Exquisite objects are, in their very nature, imperfect and the designer’s role should be to harmonize an interior around those objects, while keeping the sensibilities of the home’s owners at the forefront of design.”
Helene Aumont’s spaces invite a kind of French-California languor and her eclectic mixture of contemporary clean designs combined with carefully selected art and antiques combined with opulent but
subtle fabrics bespeaks a European nonchalance. Important works of art invite contemplation by having the most appropriate furnishings placed in just the right spot.
“Houses must be lived in and a well-designed house begins when a designer listens closely to the practical needs and the wish lists of the clients,” Helene stresses.
A welcoming, artful disarray speaks to a new level of luxury—the luxury of having a home whose design and furnishings attest to the confidence and vision not only of the designer, but of the clients.