Christian Liaigre
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Christian Liaigre, the French interior design legend, and entrepreneur died at the age of 77. Born in La Rochelle, a small coastal town in the West of France, the interior design Hall-of-Famer honed his skills at the Beaux art and then at the Arts décoratifs.
His designs were known for having simple, sincere, and fluid lines, allowing the beauty and balance of the design to speak of itself. An expert of modern minimalism, Christian Liaigre rose to prominence in the design industry during the 1980s with his perfectly proportioned designs.
Designed and built in the image of the residential projects that Liaigre carries out around the world, 77 Faubourg Saint-Honoré is a unique place open to professionals and the public alike.
Liaigre has been collaborating for many years on interior design projects in Belgium and is opening a showroom at Obumex in Knokke le Zoute.
The two companies share the same vision of refined living and discreet luxury, as well as a sense of beauty based on the highest quality and most beautiful materials while giving up nothing to functionality and comfort.
This opening also marks the opening of the first partnered showroom in Europe for Liaigre.
INSPIRED BY THE LOOK
It was a beautiful garden that Liaigre wanted to preserve that was the starting point for this project.
The original house, a 1950s building, was torn down. The new construction had to strictly adhere to local constraints that require building on the footprint without being able to expand either horizontally or in height.
This contemporary home features jack-mounted solar visors that filter light and close in a storm. Behind the owner’s suite, a garden-side exterior hallway rests on teak pillars, a nod to colonial style, and leads to a covered terrace.
Nantucket is an island in the North Atlantic, once dedicated to whaling, whose former inhabitants inspired Herman Melville for Moby Dick. Today, it is jealously protected by norms that impose to build identically.
The project had met a double challenge: find a way to avoid the ban on expansion, and transform a dune beaten by the winds into a garden that seems to have always existed. To make up for the missing space, the solution was to build several houses. They are connected by a landscape, designed by the Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudlof. This garden of flowers and tall grasses, which respects the local biotope and in which a pond has been installed, seems to be part of nature.
The interiors are treated with simplicity in perfect harmony with the site.
This townhouse on the heights of Athens has the charm and freshness of a resort.
With the help of his architect friend Thassos, Liaigre did not hesitate to destroy the entire interior of the house to reconfigure the spaces, enlarging the openings to bring in light and freshness.
The simple but spacious volumes open widely to the outside, with views of the garden, the pool and the city. A wood and stone staircase with sculptural lines distributes the different levels of the house.
The whole is modern, the house stands out as a haven of peace in the heart of the city.
INSPIRED BY THE LOOK
It is the singular softness of the northern light that served as the guiding thread for the design of this penthouse in the seaside resort of Knokke Le Zoute. A sumptuous “place with a view” located between the sea and a nature reserve, in which Liaigre has tried to express the poetic atmosphere of the North Sea.
A score of subtle light and dark on which play the infinite variations of light, a choice of gray, brown, milky or incandescent whites punctuated by a beautiful touch of green leather bronze that dresses the chairs, this palette bringing back to the landscape of which it is like the perfect echo.
A painter’s work that evokes the peaceful interiors of Flemish painting.
Liaigre has endeavored to express the poetic atmosphere of the North Sea.
Formerly owned by French explorer Paul Emile Victor, Motu Tane had been devastated by a violent cyclone.
The landscape designer Pascal Cribier and the new owner have recreated a tree barrier installing a thousand coconut trees facing the ocean, to protect the island from strong winds and hide the new constructions.
Liaigre immersed himself in the local culture.
Anxious to blend into this natural environment and to meet a large number of constraints, Liaigre immersed himself in the local culture, adopting traditional construction techniques, such as concrete.
Fifteen rooms, large rest or reception areas, all the buildings have been fitted out in a natural spirit, to make the most of the softness of the place, the breath of the trade winds and the perfume of the tiare flowers floating in the air.
Respecting the dimensions of the building and the character of the neighborhood, the three levels were fitted out with the desire to privilege space (notably by avoiding clutter of furniture and objects), and to express a refinement without ostentation. This sobriety or restraint, which qualifies the Liaigre style, emphasizes the modernity without fuss that emerges from the place.
INSPIRED BY THE LOOK
Liaigre wanted to make this giant of the seas, combining technology and elegance, a rare and sober object.
Interior curves revealed, portholes framing the sea. The yacht features a palette of luxurious but unostentatious materials: blackened and waxed oak, white leather-covered doors, mahogany and stainless steel for the sinks.
A 800 m2 villa with its contemporary lines and majestic volumes, that combines reflection on the interior and exterior to create a space for family living.
The furniture and the choice of finishes are natural in a dialogue with contemporary and classical artworks.
The house has five outdoor areas, also designed by the Decoration and Design department, which has created custom-made furniture for outdoor use.
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