MAREDI Design

Three countries, one summer, endless dusty treasure. 🇫🇷🇮🇹🇷🇸

This summer took us through flea markets and antique halls across France, Italy, and Serbia because the best pieces aren’t found online, they’re found in person, covered in dust, usually in a town you’ve never heard of.

Every trip is also a hunt for our clients. If a piece could anchor a room, a project, a client’s whole vibe, we bring it home.

We’re always sourcing. Always looking for the next project too.

Got a space that needs one of these finds? DM us or drop a comment. 👇

As healthy as it is beautiful — that’s not a tagline, it’s how we design.

Every material we choose starts with a question most people never ask in a design conversation: what is this actually made of, and what does it release into the air you breathe every day? Natural stone, mineral paint, organic textiles, solid wood, zero-VOC finishes, some of the things that we love not only for how they look, but also for what they don’t put into your home.

Beauty and wellness aren’t separate decisions at MAREDI Design; they’re the same decision, made twice as carefully. As a studio working across France, the US, and beyond, we bring a multicultural lens to sourcing: the best material for your health and your space isn’t always the local default, and we go looking for it.

Swipe through a few moments where that philosophy shows up in real projects.

What’s one material you’d never bring into your own home? Tell us below.

One design duo. Two countries. One philosophy.

We’re Marc and Dijana, the Franco-American/Serbian duo behind MAREDI Design, bridging culture, language, and design from Chicago to France.

We restore homes rooted in history and designed for wellness, because good design should tell a story: yours. That means healthy materials, honest craftsmanship, and spaces built to work for how you actually live that will hold up over time.

Welcome back, or bienvenue for the first time. 👋 Say bonjour in the comments, we’re glad you’re here.

From flea markets in France leading to a roadtrip through the Alps, Italy, Serbia, and home through Munich, August was full of objects, interiors, architecture, long roads, and artisans and craftsmen making things with their hands.
The moments we keep returning to: kilims unfolding across a floor, shelves of local, handmade pottery, and the happy chaos of a good market.
Where would you have spent the most time: the kilim palace, the pottery atelier, or the flea markets of France and Italy?

In our most recent podcast episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Alkemis Paint , which is the first wellness paint company. The two women steering the ship are visionaries who are on a mission to transform the world of wall coverings! We are fans of the product and the mission - be sure to check it out!

Rock over Plastic Episode 27 OUT NOW

My grandmother’s kilim, handed down and still holding its color after decades. Traveling through the Balkans this summer, we kept noticing the same thread, craftsmanship that outlasts trends: hand-knotted textiles, terracotta pottery, herringbone floors worn soft by light, facades layered with a century of detail. It’s the kind of texture you can’t manufacture, only inherit or find. It’s what makes this part of the world so special, so unique, like a true diamond in the rough.

A penthouse in Angers, frozen in the 1960s — original wallpaper, original layout, original everything.
At just 900 square feet, this one’s all about making every inch count. We’re leaning into mid-century modern as our north star, pairing it with bold materials — think terrazzo, matte black, warm stainless — to give this space a second life without erasing its character.
Construction hasn’t started, but the vision is locked in and the sourcing is well underway.
Swipe through for a look at where it’s starting from → where it’s headed.
What’s your favorite material from the mood board?

Some months, the sky doesn’t cooperate. Chicago spent part of July under wildfire haze and with a major heatwave (similarly to other places in the world). All of that as a reminder that what’s outside your window isn’t always in your control.

But what’s inside is. That’s the thread running through this month: a guest lecture on sustainable design frontiers, a podcast recording, material sourcing back at the studio for projects in the US and France, a flight across the Atlantic, and progress on-site in France.

Two countries, one design philosophy and home as the one thing you get to shape, no matter what’s happening outside it.

C’est tout pour Juillet.

This is not about wildfires. It’s about the air already inside your home.
Smoke over Chicago. Fires across France, Spain, Scotland. This summer made air quality impossible to ignore.
But here’s what doesn’t make headlines: our indoor air is usually worse than the air outside, wildfire or not. Paint, flooring, furniture, everything we bring into a home is quietly shaping what we breathe.
Clear skies aren’t guaranteed. What’s inside your home is.
Read more on Substack. Link in bio.