English Summary
Editor’s letter
This issue of AD is dedicated to French style and design. Russians love France irrevocably and almost irrationally even since 18th century. Tatiana, heroine of the famous poem “Eugene Onegin”, addressed her passionate teenage love-letter to the hero in French. Even war with Napoléon didn’t cure Russians of our francophilia— we have taken Paris, that’s true, but we used the occasion toexplore the city better.
French decorative styles appeal to Russian taste — whenever we are talking of palatial classicism, avant-garde architecture such as Le Corbusier’s or vintage chic. Yet French furniture makers are rather a closed community and they are not too friendly towards the outside world. The French market is narrow; unlike their neighbours from Apennines French furniture makers don’t want international expansion. There are factories that today produce the same amount of fabric as in the 19th century — they work for the descendants of the same families that commissioned them drapes and upholstery 200 years ago. But this closed and deeply traditional community is paradoxically full of vibrant stylistic ideas. When I go to Paris, I always know that I will come back enlightened with fresh interior design trends and knowledge of where the decorating world is going. I advice you, our dear readers, to follow suit. And if you don’t have time and leisure to actually travel to France, then at least you can leaf through our French issue.
Ice palace
A new Dior boutique opened on New Bond Street in London — it fact, it was renovated and extended. The architect responsible for the job is Peter Marino, who does the majority of interior designs for the French fashion brand. Marino is a fellow with a drastically macho image, yet the design he did for Dior is very gentle. The interior of the new boutique resembles a fairy-tale palace — it is soft, airy, iridescent. All the shades of grey are present, as well as many mirrors, sculptured lights and numerous art pieces. All this ice-like fragility might have looked cold, but Marino warmed it up with lovely details such as Dior family photos scattered throughout the interior. The place is also fi lled with things Dior loved — LouisXVI furniture, for example. The renovation of the place meant that some contemporary buildings along the street were demolished, to be replaced by an atrium, which Marino covered with glass. This is were Dior Home Collection is displayed. Though the space was suffi ciently extended and now takes four fl oors, the actual shop is comparatively small (250 m2) — a lot of space is taken by company designers etc. The resulting interior looks very cosmopolitan— it is very French, yet it obviously belongs in London. A rare combination, indeed.
Made in heaven
Famous French designer JeanLouis Deniot created his fi rst furniture collection for American brand Baker. This looks like a marriage made in heaven. JeanLouis is an uncrowned king of contemporary decorators, with numerous covers and many lavish publications under his belt. Baker is also well-known to our readers — they were always present on our pages and in several occasions AD was a partner for Baker parties at which the brand presented their exclusive designer’s collections (done by Bill Sofi eld and Thomas Pheasant, for example). The collection created by Deniot took two years to design and was presented this spring in High Point. Itcontains around 90 pieces and is the biggest “Master’s” collection Baker produced so far. Deniot took great care with his design and is very enthusiastic about the result. “All the designs from my collection