While in Paris last week visiting Le Manach, our wonderful host mentioned that we should make a point of seeing the Interieurs 2011 showhouse held just off the Champs Elysse at Hôtel Dassault This is the second edition of the showcase organized by Architectural Digest( FR) and Artcurial and this year’s theme  - The art of living with art-certainly lives up to its press.

Twelve top French interior designers were invited to illustrate his/her relationship to art, from collaborations with artists to art-inspired sets to the staging of collections. The goal of the producers was to show today’s diversity in interior design and the decorative arts and to reveal future design trends.  This was a not- to- be missed event and we were so excited to be able to see it.

 The cherry on top was lunch at Café Artcurial after viewing the exhibit, as I got to check the Café off my list to eat at in Paris. ( Basically, I wanted to see the restaurant’s interiors designed by Gilles et Boissier.)

The rooms and designers:

• The Japanese Office by François-Joseph Graf
• The Caesar Salon by Alain Demachy
• The Mark Rothko Styled Bedroom by India Mahdavi
• The Living-room in Optical Illusion by Olivia Putman
• The Dream-like Library and Bedroom  by Roxane Rodriguez
• The Sculptural Dining-room by Chahan Minassian
• The Private Art Gallery by Jean-Louis Deniot
• The “other” Kitchen by Tristan Auer 
• The Porcelain Office-Dining-room by Laurent Buttazzoni & Associés
• The Cocoon to contemplate a video by Pierre Yovanovitch
• The Three-dimensional Living Room by Thierry Lemaire

 

Interieurs 2011 – Artcurial by aucoindumondedeco

French showhouses are conceptual as U.S. showhouses are literal. You have to walk through the rooms with an open mind and read between the lines of what the designer was trying to express. My favorites were:

The room as Mark Rothko to India Mahdavi

 The project. The designer uses the palette of  painter Mark Rothko in a patchwork of squares of velvet wool, cotton and silk that lines the walls and extends into curtains.  The multicolored geometric print carpet with animal skin contrasts the walls.

 The decorator. An architect trained in Fine Arts and then at Christian Liaigre, India Mahdavi founded her agency in 1999. She has been exploring different areas ranging from design to interior design, through set design, and master the art of the bold stylistic juxtapositions

 The most outrageous and fabulous!

The Sculptural Dining-room by Chahan Minassian

The project. The decorator showcased the Belgian artist Arne Quinze, famous for  upcycled wooden buildings. A sculpture of wooden beams juxtaposed against gilded and paneled walls that is reflected on a mirrored floor.

The decorator. Chahan Minassian excels in art since 1993 atmospheric sets, mixing subtle shades, textures and game style agreementsFor this Parisian-Armenian, furniture, fabrics, ceramics and works of art are part of the same story.

The “other” Kitchen by Tristan Auer

The room is an architecturial synthesis inspired by the artistic currents of the 20^th century such as surrealiasm, arte povera, minimalism and artists that embody these movements like Rene Margitte   The “HABITATION CELL” combines all the functions of the kitchen into a mirrored brass monolith and explores light and space as if in a darkroom with an image projected onto a sensitizied surface.  

The Three-dimensional Living Room by Thierry Lemaire

The project. Parquet Versailles goes from floor to on the walls. A piece of aluminum sculpture by artist Christophe Raynal, is a kind of  metal springs of a chair. Her simple furniture – sofa taupe, buffet and coffee table composed of three modules lacquered white, turquoise and beige – play it down and remember that it is in a salon.

The decorator. Elegance and simplicity define the style of Thierry Lemaire.  This Parisian architect made a debut in the building before going in the decoration of private projects, and appreciates the authentic raw materials he works with modernity.

The Private Art Gallery by Jean-Louis Deniot

The project. The hallway, staircase and gallery suggest the atmosphere of a collector. Jean-Louis Deniot reinterprets, combines and  stylizes in neutral tones patterns borrowed from the paintings of Bernard Frize, Sol LeWitt and Peter Zimmermann for murals, printed carpets and wall fabrics as wispy graphics.

 The decorator. Deniot  is second to none since 2000 to relax the French classicism.  At his best  in the total look, this thirty graduate of the Ecole Camondo prefer the mix of styles in muted silky  shades.

The Porcelain Office-Dining-room by Laurent Buttazzoni & Associés

The project. The cubicles of BSM office furniture welcome a collection of china – pieces by contemporary artists like Klara Kristalova, as well as chinoiserie of the eighteenth century. In the center of the room, a flesh pink banquet table drawn close, the seats high time. Curtains and portieres in buttercup provide the key to the pop scene.

The Decorators. Colorists Fins, Laurent and Frederic Lavaud Buttazzoni boost their rigorous architectures shots by keeping solids alive. The pair met on the banks of ESAG Penninghen before collaborating with Andree Putman, and in 1995 founded their agency, known for its retro-modern achievements.

Austrian architecture firm hertl architekten recently finished this project- ‘aichinger house’, a multi-story apartment building consisting of two flats in Kronstorf, Austria. The structure, which once housed a restaurant, is treated to a textile skin which lends the building a light, curtain effect by applying a material which is normally reserved for the indoors. The project inspired by today’s use of skins for everything from phones to website design, it explores the flexibility of facades and skins.

The facade appears almost metallic from a distance, the design wraps the whole exterior of the building in the light grey fabric, rendering the layout and form of the interior hidden from the outside viewer. 

Iron embraces strategically placed part the curtain at the window to allow daylight into the apartments. Much like interior draperies,  the skin can be drawn closed to provide shade and diffusion of light. During the night, the fabric provides a paper lantern effect, distributing the glow from the building to the exterior.

I have to say this gives new meaning to tab tops or even rod pocket tops and bottoms!

With a humoristic touch, Edouard François manages to put across essential messages. His architecture, easily described as ecological, is a response reinvented by its context. Architecture that cultivates the art of being seen while remaining concealed- focusing on simple forms, natural materials and poetic creativity.

“If in 20 or 30 years time, we observe our era and become aware of the major evolutions of these times, I want to be part of it.I would find it terrible not to have noticed, not seen, certain trends. I want to live at the heart of the present moment.”

St. Cloud

Francois  is a multidisciplinary master whose  work is hailed by the most prestigious cultural institutions. This year is has been named M&O’s Designer of the Year and an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects  for his decisive contribution to “green architecture”.

M6B2 in Paris

Francois’ creativity spans a wide range of contemporary topics: recycling and recyclable, usage and humanity, fair trading, economy as a means of accessibility to all, health and well-being, the seasons and organic…

Born in Paris in 1957, he is one of the major players in “green architecture” in the world. His work focuses on matter, context, usage, economy and ecology according to sustainable development principles.  

Renovation Fouquet Barriere

The architect’s breakout building was his Château de Lez in Montpellier (2000): “the building that grows”. The outside walls are covered with stones held with stainless steel mesh covered with plants and watered by an automatic irrigation system.

Tower Flower

He then designed the Tower Flower in Paris on the edge of a park. The tower is covered in white bamboo and perfectly characterizes his contextual approach to  architecture. The walls have been cast in a haphazard way: grey concrete then white concrete, in order to give the structure a misty feel. The balustrades are decorated with giant light concrete flower pots planted with bamboo.

 Each of his projects responds to its environment. The maze he designed in a corn field next to Colmar ,later became  the “moquette-maquette”: a carpet in the same style and color.

Edouard François has recently been chosen to design the first housing tower block since the 70’s: a vegetal building over 50 m high in the thirteenth arrondissement and for the conversion of the Sauvage building of La Samaritaine for the LVMH group.

Tomorrow: Bouroullec Brothers

Photos Courtesy of Maison et Objet

Plopp stool for Hay- two steel plates welded together and expanded under pressure

Architect Oscar Zieta has developed an incredible new technology (FIDU) that was used to create a series of inflated sheet steel furniture.. The pieces look more like balloon art than furniture, but in fact can take the weight of human.   One of those pieces- Plopp- is being marketed thru HAY. “We completely transformed the way material is processed. In architecture there is a great need for the facility of designing free forms – take blob architecture, for example. The engineers who have the job of constructing these organic forms designed by architects are always looking for the technology which will make this possible and which will give a completely new meaning to the term ’standard”,” says Zieta.

Check out Architonic’s interview with Zieta.

 See more images of his work in the Inspiration and Innovation sidebar.

David Rockwell, founder of the Rockwell Group, an architecture and design form specializing in cultural, hospitality, retail, theater, and product design, and this year’s National Design Award winner in Interior design. Rockwell is best known for crafting unique narratives and immersive environments. His works range from the W Hotels, Kodiak Theater, Adour Alaian Ducasse and Nobu restaurants. Currently he is working on Canyon Ranch Miami and just opened the Nobu Dubai.

D.C.-You have what seems to be an infinite amount of creativity and ideas, How do you get inspired?

New challenges.  Any design…really what I love is invention and I am probably most interested in projects that have some communal aspect. My design practice is a great communal process. We’re nontraditional in the sense that we don’t believe in boundaries between architecture, interior design, theater, product design; it’s all part of the same endeavor and it all starts out very collaborative. The thing that always gets me going is – we just agreed to do the set design for the Oscars this year-  What get me going about that is that it’s thrilling and scary all at the same time.

D.C.- Are you the designer that goes to the supplier and forces the issues with innovative sources, finishes? How do you keep abreast? We actually have a lab that focuses only on innovation in both technology and handcraftsmanship. We are at the center in finding artisans and craftsman and that’s built into and an integral part of our process.

Nobu Dubai Dining Room with Abaca mesh panels

D.C.- I am interested in your comments about secret narratives in design- can you explain or talk to me about that. How do you design a narrative? Design a story?

 

 

Secret or non secret, I think design is most interesting when it’s based on a set of ideas that you put together with a client. Obviously you come to the client as a designer with a lifetime of ideas and throw them out. But we do a lot of listening early on and in some ways it’s like doing a portrait. You’re listening to the client; you’re hearing what’s important to them; you’re looking at the site; you’re finding all of the unique factors that go towards making a project special. It’s not unlike a script in a play. Where it’s different is that in a play you are given the script and in architecture you illicit the script and build it together with the client. Ultimately people sense if they are in a place where there is an underlying point of view – is it authentic? Have you created an authentic point of view for your project?

D.C.- So how do you design that narrative? How do you take an idea and POV and translate it into products or finishes?

 OK, Let’s take Canyon Ranch Miami that is going to open up in a couple of weeks. That’s a case where I knew Canyon Ranch really well and I knew Mel Zuckerman and I spent a lot of time out there with my team and we started to think about in designing a living environment for Canyon Ranch where we would focus a disproportionate amount  of our design efforts on those areas where you would be singularly changing your lifestyle. So, what do I mean by that? Well, in the rooms you walk into the kitchen with open shelving with all their herbal teas sitting right in front of you. It makes you rethink how you’ll use the kitchen right off the bat. In the spa, the juice bar which is the most social aspect with all the classes you’re going to take is very visible. We also over time evolved a story about someone who was looking for a healthy lifestyle in this very vertical and dense structure. (Unlike Tucson or the Berkshires which are low rise; these are high rises and they are quite dense.) We created a banyan tree and agate sculptural wall that cuts thru all of the public spaces; it’s almost like a host. So when you’re in a place were you’re changing habits by having this host wall that you recognize everywhere it gives you a sense of comfort and orientation.

Canyon Ranch Miami Dining Room

Canyon Ranch Bath

Well, I think people know more about design now; there is a higher level of design intelligence. There is less ability to amaze people just with a new service. You have to go deeper than that. The greatest luxury we now have is regaining time so in hospitality we create places that allow you to enjoy being with each other.

When Nobu opened 15 years ago, there were not a lot of 3 star restaurants that didn’t have tablecloths. It signaled a new way to think about luxury. We just did Alain Ducasses’ restaurant at the St. Regis – very high end luxury; however it’s also accessible. It’s not alienating. We’re in this global moment where we are so connect virtually; so that real time connections- restaurants, hotels, places to get together and socialize have more importance.

Adour Alain Ducasse