Maison--Christian Liaigre [Hardcover]

Herbert Ypma (Author), Christian Liaigre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2004

Christian Liaigre's epoch-defining interiors include the Mercer Hotel in New York, offices for Valentino Couture in Paris, and Selfridges department store in London, as well as private residences for Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld, and Kenzo.

His luxurious dark-wood minimalism and masculine palette of creams, browns, and grays have redefined modernism, supplanting the Scandinavian blond timbers on white that just a few years ago were the sine qua non of the modern interior. Working in close collaboration with Liaigre, Herbert Ypma set out to capture and document eight recent and previously unpublished residential projects. They are incredibly diverse: a modernist retreat on the Galician coast belonging to the family of Spanish fashion designer Adolfo Dominguez; a former artist's atelier in Montparnasse; Rupert Murdoch's capacious SoHo loft; an eighteenth-century Bavarian timber farmhouse owned by the proprietor and designer of Germany's fashion label Strenesse; and Liaigre's own fisherman's cottage retreat on the Ile de Re.

The integrity and pervasive calm of Liaigre's spaces reflect an instinctive aversion to the clamor of modern life. His materials are luxuriously authentic—exotic African timbers such as ebony; linen, silk, and wool; marble and natural stone; and his signature bronze hardware. And, as every project demonstrates, he makes deep connections with the tradition of each location, whether it be the industrial heritage of downtown Manhattan or the wild coastal landscape of Corsica. 500 color illustrations

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Arguably one of the most influential designers alive today, Christian Liaigre pioneered the use of leather sofas, dark woods and gray walls at a time when pine furniture and white plaster were considered the epitome of style—thousands of restaurants, hotels and homeowners around the world followed his lead. In this study of Liaigre’s most recent "domestic projects," Ypma presents eight houses that demonstrate "the way that Liaigre’s modern and uncomplicated signature is subtly adjusted and adapted to each specific property and location." A large family getaway in Galicia, Spain, for example, contains sliding screens made out of the same kind of woven willow that local fisherman use to make their nets. And in Soho, New York, an apartment’s master bathroom is constructed under a historic rainwater tank. Most surprising to Liaigre fans, however, may be the designer’s new affection for vivid color. Two of the houses depicted here are Liaigre’s own: both incorporate large swathes of deep red or mustard yellow into the otherwise restrained décor. Ypma’s explanatory texts are exceptionally well written: forceful, amusing and loaded with a wealth of art historical knowledge. (The introduction, for one, includes a concise summary of Louis XIV’s "hugely successful campaign to make France the dominant nation in luxury consumer goods.") "Luxe, calme and moderne," Ympa writes, are the hallmarks of Liaigre’s works; the same could be said of his book. 500 color photographs.
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Review

Possibly the most important—certainly the most copied—designer of our time. -- Financial Times

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (May 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500511624
• ISBN-13: 978-0500511626
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Luxe, Calme, Moderne: The Quiet Richness of Christian Liaigre, August 1, 2005

By 

David C. Rive Jr. (New Orleans, Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maison--Christian Liaigre (Hardcover)

Christian Liaigre. If the name is unfamiliar, the French designer's style-or at least a popularized version of it-is ubiquitous. His palette of warm browns, rich creams, and calmly varied neutrals is the color scheme of a thousand-and-one stylish hotel lobbies, and his sexy low-slung furnishings have been copied for mass consumption by furniture makers worldwide. Yet, if you think you know the man by the knock-offs, you've got another thought coming.

Herbert Ypma's sumptuous MAISON: CHRISTIAN LIAIGRE is here to set the record straight. Weighing in at 256-pages, and featuring 550 color and black & white illustrations, the book quite eloquently makes a case for Liaigre as "possibly the most important-certainly the most copied-designer of our time."

Author Ypma--he of Thames & Hudson's stylish Hip Hotel and World Design series--co-designed the lavish volume with frequent collaborator, Maggi Smith, and the book features the pair's now signature blend of breathtaking one- and two-page spreads of interiors and landscapes, punctuated by checkerboard layouts of myriad architectural details and textures.

These design elements have never been employed more effectively as in this book, and they convey the quiet majestic sweep of a room or garden on one page, while focusing on the smallest of details on the next, all combining to present a vivid and comprehensive representation of each Liaigre's diverse residential projects.

Ypma, a worldly and witty writer, as well as a sensitive and skilled photographer, is responsible for all of the shots documenting eight of Liaigre's recent domestic design projects featured herein. This lends the book a pictorial consistency rare in design literature, and affords the author/photographer opportunity to focus on the formal integrity and quiet constancy of Liaigre's design ethos, as well as its diversity and adaptability. After reading this book, you'll never again think of Liaigre as a "minimalist."

The photos, layout and text quietly conspire to transport the reader from a sunny beach house in Galicia, to a picturesque Bavarian retreat in Tegnersee, to an unconventional pied-a-terre in the quintessentially bohemian Montparnasse district of Paris, as well as to other intriguingly beautiful rooms in other intriguingly beautiful places.

The book is unconventional in many ways: it doesn't attempt a career-long survey of its subject's oeuvre, and neither does it focus on his celebrated commercial projects. It lists no honors, awards, timeline or bio. Moreover, it contains not a single photo of Liaigre. Yet, the book and its richly evocative photos and amusing and insightful text offer as sophisticated and sensitive a portrait as its subject could ever hope for.

In a neat twist on Matisse's aesthetic of "luxe, calme, volupte," Ypma expresses the "luxe, calme, moderne" quality of the work of this quietest and most authoritative of contemporary designers.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars reviewing a view of Christian Liagre, January 3, 2007

By 

E. S. Klein (Philadelphia Pa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maison--Christian Liaigre (Hardcover)

Christian Liagre is an artist beyond the usual confines of space filling. He always considers the architecture and site before anything else. And even though his work is immediately recognizable, he never repeats himself- there is nothing formulaic.

Nothing ever screams money. The finishes, the light, the mix are always beautiful and comfortable.

So while I got the book hoping to see a substansial review of his work, I was dissappointed in the chopiness and lack of ability to "see" the house and rooms shown. The designers work saves the book, because it is so complex and interesting. Poor choices in views and cutting off of vistas and lack of detail make the book fail.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous and comprehensive, September 3, 2009

By 

dragonness (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maison--Christian Liaigre (Hardcover)

I read this book cover to cover in one sitting. Liaigre has been a big inspiration to me ever since I stayed at Le Sereno at St Barth's, a sublime hotel he designed. Much of the furniture and stylistic elements featured in the book were also used at Le Sereno, and I could appreciate how practical and comfortable this design is in the real world, in addition to being incredibly evocative and atmospheric. The book shows several of Liaigre's residential projects in great detail and the common threads of Liaigre's design principles are obvious throughout. It is quite impressive how fresh the spaces look more than five years later.