Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i ELLE DECOR

OUR HOMES SUPPORT THE STORIES WE TELL about ourselves. And if a strong narrative in a room is the goal, art is often the all-important punctuation. Take the New York City pied-à-terre on our newsstand cover, designed to perfection by ELLE DECOR A-List Titan Kelly Behun. The collection in this apartment includes a magnificent Nick Cave Soundsuit piece and an intricate tapestry by El Anatsui. Behun’s clients are comfortable living and entertaining alongside daring work—in fact, they thrive on it. That same fearlessness is on display in the other features in this issue, from two French estates with differing but equally enchanting takes on a life with art, to a painter’s residence in Rome that embraces a bold palette. I also want to highlight our special collector’s cover featuring a…

THE 26-YEAR-OLD PARIS-AND VENICE-BASED INTERIORS AND furniture designer Edgar Jayet was already itching to be in proximity to beautiful craftsmanship by the time he started a school program learning about press relations for the Swiss manufacturer Vitra, at 13. A rigorous education in interior architecture and design at École Camondo, a sister institution to the Musée Nissim de Camondo, in Paris, followed. While still a student, Jayet was awarded the Grand Prix Van Cleef & Arpels for his and artist Victor Fleury Ponsin’s design of a “bedroom for naps,” inspired by the writings of Albert Camus. His Unheimlichkeit collection, presented last year at Sofia Zevi gallery, in Milan, evolved this marriage of historical reference and reinterpretation: the mortise-and-tenon-joined pearwood furnishings feature cotton-canvas paneling by textile designer Chiarastella Cattana, woven as…

It’s no secret that fine art is an essential element in a well-decorated room. “It’s that final cherry on top that’s just crucial,” says New York–based ELLE DECOR A-List designer Danielle Colding. But an artwork has a different emotional and intellectual power than a sofa or a paint job—they are not the same. So the task is how to orchestrate a delicate dance between the two. As Billy Cotton of the eponymous ELLE DECOR A-List design firm puts it: “Art is so personal. It really doesn’t have any function aside from beauty.” Cotton’s method—let’s call it respectful distance—means being wary of designing around it too closely. “That turns the art into decoration,” he says. The solution for some big collectors is what Cotton calls billionaire beige, which recedes completely to…

Last fall, when the prestigious London gallery White Cube opened its first public space in New York City, it tapped a trailblazer with an unorthodox path in the industry. Growing up in Sri Lanka, Sukanya Rajaratnam didn’t consider art an obvious career choice. Instead, she studied finance at Cambridge and went to work in investment banking, specializing in underappreciated assets. Now, as global director of strategic market initiatives at White Cube New York, she’s leveraging her business background to shine the spotlight on unsung artists. Rajaratnam made the move from finance to the art world with an unpaid internship at Christie’s auction house, where she started by writing catalog copy for the evening sales. She went on to spend 15 years at New York’s Mnuchin Gallery, 10 as partner. “I…

1. Enheduana I’m reading Sophus Helle’s translations from the original Sumerian. My favorite poem is “Inana and Ebih.” yalebooks.yale.edu 2. Black Tea I always keep bags of Taylors on hand in the kitchen. taylorsofharrogate.com 3. Skate Decks My collaboration with the Skateroom showcases photography by Juergen Teller. theskateroom.com 4. Chateau Marmont This is my go-to hotel when I’m visiting Los Angeles. chateaumarmont.com 5. East-West/West-East Richard Serra’s masterpiece of sculpture in the Qatari desert is a must-visit. qm.org.qa 6. Bronze Plates I set my table with these plates by my partner Rick Owens, candles, and linen napkins. rickowens.eu 7. Hunrod Gold Rat Rings This series I designed with Loree Rodkin features signs of the Chinese zodiac. carpenters workshop gallery.com 8. Lavascar The words of Etel Adnan that are on the…

With its traditional beamed facade, the 17th-century manor house appears typical of the Pays d’Auge, a rural region in Normandy, France, filled with rolling hills, horse farms, and apple orchards. Step inside, however, and one enters a different world, where owner François Laffanour has created a minimalist backdrop for the modern furniture and contemporary art he collects. Meanwhile, the property now also boasts a midcentury addition: a prefab house by the iconic French designer Jean Prouvé. “I feel strongly that historic architecture enhances contemporary art [and design],” Laffanour says. “For me, it harmonizes perfectly.” In the 1980s, Laffanour was a furniture dealer at the Paris flea market when he opened his Downtown Gallery on the Left Bank. Quickly, he became one of the leading forces behind the international ascension of…

Robert Couturier’s eye for scale, color, and material is just as appropriate for modern living as it would have been in the ancien régime he so favors. The ELLE DECOR A-List Titan’s skill is such that a lifetime wouldn’t be long enough for most to achieve it. “I think I was born designing,” he says. “I had absolutely no inclination to do anything else.” Even in geometry class, for which Couturier had a noted aptitude, his mind traveled to aesthetics. “At college, when everyone else was rendering a cube, I chose to render the coronation carriage of King Philip of Spain,” he says. And now, after decades living in the United States, he has returned to the country that shaped his vision. Couturier calls it destiny that the perfect summer…

Items pictured but not listed are from private collections. HOUSE CALL Interior design: Valentin Goux, @vgoux. PAGE 50: Sofa: Rinck, rinck.fr. Sofa fabric: Thevenon, thevenon1908.com. Cocktail table: Rinck. PAGE 52: Light fixture: Sophia Taillet, sophiataillet.com. PAGE 53: Ceiling treatment: Morgane Guerry, @morganeguerry. Wallpaper: Fromental, fromental.co.uk. NO PLACE LIKE HOME Architecture: Donaldson + Partners, shubindonaldson.com. Interior design: Meg Joannides, mlkstudio.com. PAGES 64–65: Sofa: Nina Edwards Anker, neastudio.com. Chair: Campana Brothers, carpenters workshopgallery.com. Artwork: Anish Kapoor, anishkapoor.com. Fiber sculpture: Janet Echelman, echelman.com. PAGE 66: Barstools: Holly Hunt, hollyhunt.com. Table: Molteni&C, molteni.it. PAGE 67: Art installation: Tomás Saraceno, studiotomassaraceno.org. Island: Bulthaup, bulthaup.com. PAGE 68: Bed: Miller Woodworking, millerwoodworking.com. Rug: Christopher Farr, christopherfarr.com. Lighting: Anna Karlin, annakarlin.com. PAGE 69: Shower bench: Corian, corian.com. Fittings: Boffi, boffi.com. DEALER WINS Interior design: Jean de Piépape, jeandepiepape.com.…

Our homes are, at their cores, reflections of our deepest fascinations. For the trailblazing Trinidadian-born choreographer, dancer, actor, and collector Geoffrey Holder, his Manhattan residence was all that and more. In his downtown loft he displayed his abiding love for sculpture, puppetry, and religious paraphernalia with West African and Caribbean provenance. In our 1991 interview about his museum-caliber collection, Holder, who died in 2014, told writer John Beardsley that the aim of much of his work for stage and film was to create his own mythologies. “I am a blend of cultures,” he said. Embracing his own personal history also informed his eye as a collector and how he expressed that identity in his interiors. The result was a space as singular as the man himself. How very ELLE DECOR.…