Maison: Christian Liaigre

‘Possibly the most important – certainly the most copied – designer of our time’ Financial Times The Financial Times did not exaggerate. Christian Liaigre’s luxurious dark-wood minimalism and masculine palette of creams, browns and greys have done nothing less than redefine modernism, supplanting the Scandinavian blonde 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 a number of his epoch-defining residential projects. They are incredibly diverse: a modernist retreat on the Galician coast; an atelier in Montparnasse; Rupert Murdoch’s capacious SoHo loft; an eighteenth-century Bavarian 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 Ré. The integrity and pervasive calm of Liaigre’s spaces reflect an instinctive aversion to the clamour of modern life. His materials are luxuriously authentic – exotic African timbers such as wenge and ebony; linen, silk and wool; marble and natural stone; and his signature bronze hardware. As every project demonstrates, he makes deep connections with the tradition of each location, whether the industrial heritage of downtown Manhattan or the wild coastal landscape of Corsica.