Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/575200
130 BAL HARBOUR rom Jean-Michel Frank to Maison Jansen to Andrée Putman, France has a reputation for producing interior designers and architects capable of pushing the creative envelope while maintaining a sense of supreme, knowing elegance. The latest talent to continue this tradition, while giving it a new twist, is Jean-Louis Deniot. In recent years, whispers about a Paris-based designer who masterfully mixed decorative periods and styles, while creating rooms layered with luxuriously textured materials and a subdued palette of greys and off-whites, grew ever louder. Following the publication of his first book with Rizzoli last year, "Jean-Louis Deniot: Interiors," that attention has become a full-blast roar— Deniot is a leader of contemporary French style, and has emerged as one of the most in-demand designers working today. "I like to experiment with juxtapositions of styles, periods and textures in a constant effort to create excitement and magic," Deniot says of his eclectic approach to design. "I spend a great deal of time dreaming, and have the capacity to visualize finished spaces." That skill is a blessing for a designer who's no stranger to making unlikely arrangements of objects feel perfectly natural, such as a living room that mixes classical sculpture, mid-century modern furniture and contemporary photography. To gauge whether such risks will pay off, Deniot relies on instinct. "I know instantly whether or not something is working," he says. When images of the designer's own Paris apartment were first released three years ago, they created a sensation, turning up on hundreds of design blogs and Pinterest boards. The home reflects a rich materiality that's rare for today, evoking a touch of traditional French grandeur, but filtered through 21st century restraint. Kitchen cabinet doors are covered with hammered silver. A striped guest bathroom floor inspired by conceptual artist Daniel Buren is formed by alternating strips of light and dark limestone. The living room is organized around a low fireplace, featuring a thick Turkish marble mantel, while the walls and ceiling are painted with subtle, gauzy clouds. Taken together, the home offers unapologetic luxury, but never oversteps into the realm of being overbearing or garish. Deniot's busy office is presently at work on some 30 residential projects spanning 15 countries and 20 cities. They include period castles in France's countryside, a palace outside Moscow, two compounds in India, two houses in Hong Kong and three in London and a host of homes across the United States, including his own pied-à- terre in West Hollywood. In Miami Beach, he is at work on two houses on Flamingo Drive and a penthouse on Collins Avenue. He's also designing Elysee Residences, a high-rise on Biscayne Bay in Miami. At the same time, the designer's wizardry with furniture and lighting has led to collaborations with a number of top-tier showrooms—sculptural casegoods and F PORTRAIT COURTESY OF JEAN-LOUIS DENIOT