AD Intérieurs 2019

An exhibition at Paris’ famed Hotel des Coulanges highlights how transformative and dynamic design are currently impacting the scene: continuously evolving yet timeless in their appeal.

The Exquisite Art of Evolution

Staged last September, Metamorphoses – the tenth run of Architectural Digest’s annual AD Intérieurs exhibitions – ran for two weeks at the historic Hotel des Coulanges. 

As an interior consultant, I am always on the lookout for inspirations that can transform my clients' spaces into areas that come alive and truly embody beauty, functionality, and timelessness all at once. That said, I looked forward to what the Metamorphoses exhibition would impart to me: fresh ideas and concepts to suit the diverse tastes of my clients.

Metamorphoses featured 13 designers: Hannes Peer, Laura Gonzalez, Bismut & Bismut, Humbert & Poyet, Atelier Tristan Auer / Wilson Associates, Fabrizio Casiraghi, Festen, Anne-Sophie Pailleret, Stéphane Parmentier, Thierry Lemaire, Pierre Gonalons, Pierre-Yves Rochon, and Pierre Bonnefille.

In my personal opinion, three designers certainly captured the exhibition’s concept of timeless transformation.

Hannes Peer: The Italian Gallery

It has been said that what one first encounters when entering someone’s home is a taste of the owner’s personality based on the aesthetic. In which case, Dutch architect/designer Hannes Peer’s three-part scene moving from the anteroom to the living room may be considered an homage to Italy, his adopted homeland.

Stepping into this Italian Gallery felt like I’d been ushered into the foyer of a most exquisite museum: gold and bronze accents were very much in use and I felt a sense of awe as I entered the space.

For his display, Peer played up a warm, earthy palette characterised by tiled floors in deep brown and lighter terracotta shades that call to mind the colours of old frescoes found in Etruria or Pompeii. This is paired with furniture that juxtaposes the rustic with the starkly modern, as seen in a Roman-style arm chair on one side of the room positioned diagonally from funky vintage pieces that would not be out of place in the fashionable salons of the 1960s and ‘70s – which are, interestingly, accented by a bronze sculpture that calls to mind the fertility idols of the Etruscan period. Taken as a whole, it exudes a somewhat refined sense of decadence: as if Peer toned down the excesses of the Imperial period into a more subtle, tasteful form.

The walls and lighting, on the other hand, are modern in their form and texture. The walls are textured and coloured like corrugated steel, but the industrial feel is softened by touches of green, gold, and bronze in the form of art pieces or lighting fixtures. Having done so, Peer has successfully melded the richness of Ancient Rome with the powerful modern lines of the Brutalist movement into rooms that capture a sense of the pride and beauty that have long been the hallmarks of Italian art and culture.

Humbert & Poyet: The Neo-classical Bathroom

Refined, restrained, yet ineffably sensual is how many have described the Neo-classical bathroom presented by Humbert & Poyet, easily my favourite room in the entire exhibition because of the excellence of its craftsmanship and the quality of the materials used in the layout. Likewise, the attention to detail involved – from the moulding of the arches to the elegant serpentine sconces crafted by Maison Pouenat – was something I found breathtaking.

Partners Emile Humbert and Christophe Poyet have transformed the humble bath into a pleasure palace that has a somewhat Palladian sensibility though touched with strong Art Deco-inspired lines.

In the centre, the very heart of the room, the unusually shaped shower takes centre stage: the bather finds himself or herself enclosed in an exquisitely sculpted brass cage with water spilling forth from the orb-like showerhead above.

At the back of the room, a tub sculpted from a single solid block of dark green marble blurs the line between art and functionality: intimidating and inviting all at once. To be honest, I found the use of the marble hauntingly reminiscent of the portoro (It; a golden-veined black marble, considered one of the most prestigious building materials in the world) from which our brand takes its name and of the high-quality marble we use in many of our own design projects.

I particularly liked the interplay of contrasts here: how the cool marble works with the warm tones of the brass; the way Humbert and Poyet evoke both the masculine and the feminine by playing strong lines rendered in sturdy materials against delicate-looking bas-reliefs and frescoes rendered in soft pastels. The juxtaposition between the old and the new is given a timeless quality thanks to both a keen attention to detail, the use of materials of exceptional quality, and the masterly craftsmanship of skilled artisans.

Tristan Auer/Wilson Associates: A Wagon-bar for the Orient Express

Whenever I think of the Orient Express, my mind is almost immediately drawn towards how this legendary locomotive revolutionised luxury travel through well-appointed cabins, a dining car to rival most Michelin-starred restaurants, and a bar that exuded a thrilling mix of divine decadence and international intrigue. For me, the Orient Express – an innovative venture in its time – brought together the almost decadent luxury of the past and modern technology to become something that is timeless in its appeal to the imagination.

For this project, Tristan Auer uses sheet metal panels for the walls as a way of evoking the metallic exterior of fin de siècle (Fr; “turn of the century”) railway carriages. Rather than the usual built-in cupboards, Auer has kept his shelving areas open and these square or rectangular niches have rounded corners reminiscent of train windows.

He continues to play up the mystique of the Golden Age of railway travel through the furniture and accents used in the room: plush bar chairs dating from the 1920s, fringed desk lamps that would not be out of place on a railroad baron’s desk, soft lighting that gives the space a hint of mystery, and a signed Suzanne Lalique carpet on the floor. One can easily sit up at the bar, sip champagne from old-fashioned coupes (Fr; also known as a “champagne saucer, a stemmed glass with a shallow bowl at the top) whilst the music of jazz legends like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington play in the background – easily disappearing into the past because of the ambience the space evokes.

But this does not mean that Auer is stuck in the Roaring ‘20s – far from it as a matter, of fact. Modernity can be seen in the incursion of Asian influences – evidence of how modern travel has blurred the lines between nations and how it had encouraged multiculturalism – within the space: unusual lamps made of indigenous fibres cast soft light into the room, while colourful Asian silks are a tongue-in-cheek reminder that the Orient Express is set to be reborn as soon as a global hospitality brand. Indeed, the King Power Mahanakhon, the OE brand’s first hotel – also designed by Auer – is set to open in Bangkok, Thailand by the first quarter of 2021.

Speaking as an interior consultant, I feel that what unites these three showrooms along with those of the other designers is the overwhelming sense that any – and perhaps all – of these rooms would not be out of place in any era of history. As with our own work where we carefully balance elements – antiques, furniture, decorative accents – to create tasteful yet welcoming spaces, each space plays up a mix of the old and the new that will not easily lose its appeal over time. In fact, I feel that each one is a testament to the old adage that fashion may be fleeting, but design is eternal.

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