AD Intérieurs Métamorphose: conceptual curiosity

all photos Le style et la matière

Since 2009 AD magazine France has been showcasing some of France's best interior designers with thematic exhibition in an exceptional location. This year's event was in the Enclos des Bernardins,  a 17th century hôtel particulier, a building ordinarily closed to the public. The theme, metamorphosis, encouraged some very artistic demonstrations. That, along with the high level of craftsmanship and creativity displayed made an irrepressible if hackneyed association surface - this is haute couture for the interior!  More show cases that real spaces, but still it was impossible to be indifferent to these rooms often designed to play with the senses and the mind.  Conceptual, sometimes flamboyant or even verging on the weird, each room was highly personal  in this year's event close to an aesthetic experiment. 

Are the stakes getting higher and higher for very high-end decoration with the plethora of mid-range productions?  If we are to come away with a lesson here, it might be that Luxury now demands the 

extra-extraordinary in concept as well as in craftsmanship. 

Above, Pierre Yovanovitch started the whirl by inviting us into his music room. 

The sensuous charred wood piano Maarten Baas

Piano stool tapestry by Galerie Robert Four

Rug Galerie Robert Four, Growth chair Mathias Bengtsson

Studio Alberto Pinto under a sculpted tent

Futurist curiosity cabinet by Christian Biecher

Maria Pergay's flamboyant salon and study were over-the-top --and believe me,
that was the appropriate expression  because I don't usually use it.

Mutant object: Louis XV/crate desk

Draped steel, spotted wood and a furry armrest

Notice the unusual treatment of metal once again as curling  ribbons under the console.
Painting by Thierry Bruet gives a wink to artist Yue Minjun.

Above Pergay's console we glimpse of the vestiges of 17th century decoration.

Claude Zana provides sleek optical effect in his saloon-kitchen. Textured velvet (Pierre Frey)
 Le Manach (now a part of the P.Frey Group) covered pillows, and once again the appealing burnt wood material is used  in a cluster of trunk-like tables.

Sculpture by X and dip-dyed curtains

Yes, that is a bull (Deyrolle) roaming near the nest-like sofa. This is a mythological dining room; convives may dine à la Romaine, reclining on the banquette covered in a fabric Création Métaphores by Ateliers Charles Jouffre.

A beautiful X wood table plays peek-a-boo with the rug by ICE.

Hubert de Malherbe's very photogenic Surrealist den was like a happening with a Dorleans sofa that inflates and deflates like lungs...

This winged textile form with feathers and embroidery by Bordadoas Barber was filled with a real live breathing person and balanced out the rounded shapes on the wall  nicely with the head that came out of the top! 

I didn't see anyone sitting here. Too bad.

Straw marquetry Lison de Caunes for the top of this console whose support was a sculpted human figure terminating in the bouquet as a head.
I admit to not having noticed it. I was watching to sofa breathe.

Elegant salon de companie by Elliott Barnes

Francois-Joseph Graf's rust and bone dining room: abundant pattern is stabilized by rounded tones of brown that are sharpened with a jolt of electric blue.

Fabrics Holland and Sherry

Très fou -- somehow I really liked this Bureau of Power by Ramy Fischler. The subjet is weighty and the balance of power is held in place with heavy-duty cables.  Notice the floor...

approach the desk, the marble tiles become a thick, soft carpet. Tai Ping inserted marble tile into one side for a rug with two very different surfaces.

The desk (with integrated computer on the left) is the counter-weight, but it reminds me of scaffolding,
also an interesting for a work site.

Antichambre d'une élégante by Thierry Lemaire

The garden patio by Chahan Minassian seen from above

and  for views of a bedroom for a little prince by Vincent Darré  with a special fabric collection at St Tyl

for more general information and photos see AD France

ALSO at St Tyl:  Jean-Paul Gaultier's latest fabrics for interiors
                                   &        Halloween Glamour