Jean-Louis Deniot
Featured on lists of the world’s preeminent talents in architecture and interior design, Jean-Louis Deniot has long been in the business of creating atmospheres.
His décors are his playground, spaces where spontaneity and magic are de rigueur.
Recognized for his eclectic and emblematic interiors, Jean-Louis Deniot plays in a multiplicity of repertoires, letting his academic training translate into a vocabulary that is both informal and bold.
Minimalism is not for Jean-Louis Deniot, nor is excess. Balance and osmosis is what he creates, offsetting the sometimes rigid facet of architecture with an inmost vision of refinement, comfort and openness making his creations around the world havens to revel in.
For him, style equates lifestyle – it must promote harmony and wellbeing. A great enthusiast of iconic designs, his decors feature no shortage of arresting materials and textures tempered with subtle color palettes, muted tones and impeccable lighting. At the crossroads between classical terminology and contemporary aesthetics, Jean-Louis Deniot’s interiors are serene, elegant and dramatic as awash with nods to other time periods, yet never typical or literal.
Jean-Louis Deniot is regularly featured in international publications making him one of the most published designers of today.
With an ambitious list of locales that resembles the index of an atlas, a few current Jean-Louis Deniot projects include private homes in Beverly Hills, townhouses on New York’s Upper East Side, the Waldorf Astoria New York residencies and amenities, a 57 story residential tower on Biscayne Bay in Miami, a residential tower including extended amenities in Palm Beach, private historical townhouses on Belgravia Square and Wilton Crescent, Cambridge House (In & Out Club) Hotel, restaurants and private club, houses on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar in Tarifa and Tangiers, a spacious country home in Moscow, private homes in New Delhi and Chandigarh India, family residences on Hong Kong Bay and in Bangkok.
Jean-Louis Deniot has also earned recognition for the furniture and lighting collections, with Baker Furniture, and Jean de Merry, George Smith, Collection Pierre, Pouenat and Marc de Berny.
Adventurous by nature, Jean-Louis Deniot undertakes each project with the vigor and inquisitive nature particular to true visionaries, conceiving and defining novel design aesthetics with nuance and confidence.
QUESTIONS and ANSWERS with JEAN-LOUIS :
Define timeless design
- “Timeless, for me, means that you cannot define if the interior is located in the past present or future. Good design must be timeless.”
How would you define your design ?
- “I am systematically inspired by the country and location of the worksite. I like my work take into consideration all the local aspects; local materials; local vibes; local flavors and traditions as well as the client(s)’ expectations enabling the work to be legitimate and contextual/giving the work its legitimacy and context/ contextual legitimacy.”
Do you work with a budget ?
- “We systematically have specific budgets per each job predefined early on by the client. Those guidelines help considerably to keep each project efficient and on the right track limiting any major surprises. Good design doesn’t cost more, but last longer.”
When consulting your clients, how do they participate ?
- “I request all members of the family to come up with a minimum of 20 images of interior designs they like to illustrate their personal choices and preferences. I always work with each person in mind, to make them discover their own timeless tastes, so I can be sure that what I’m delivering, is beyond each person’s specific expectations.”
What is breadth of your services ?
- “I often say our services are from breaking ground all the way to the teaspoon. I enjoy every segment of a project. It’s like building a fashion collection. You start by defining the theme, you perfect the skeleton so it’s ready for perfect fitting. I always focus first on the structure to correct the flaws, by turning any default into qualities. Well planned and flawless architecture background is the core of my work. "
- "After that, I apply the desired decorating furnishing schemes on top. Some clients hire us to build a house from scratch all the way to full completion, some others hire us to renovate existing structure all the way to completion, and others such as professional hire us to fully design multi residential spaces and amenities for commercial real estate market.”
How do you work with the existing ?
- “I have a long experience in any type of renovations including historical. My work is to push the limit of the existing to transform the aesthetic and functionality to it is optimum result. My goal is always to achieve timeless design which serves every property value.”
What defines an atmosphere ?
- “For me, the atmosphere is the sensory amplification of the ambiance, the clients’ personalities and their art of living in order to obtain a very specific and unique atmosphere for each project.”
Functionality & Design, thoughts ?
- “My designs are done systematically to ensure it fully respects personal preferences and reflects each member of the family’s individuality and expectations. The space(s)’ functionality has to be equally specific to the kind of activities they do; social entertaining, family events, small get togethers; etc.”
How do you manage it all ?
- “My work is my passion. I live with my passion 24/7. With experience, I developed my own style of efficiency in order to create, produce, and refine a maximum of ideas in a minimum amount of time.”
What are the deadlines for your projects ?
- “Our design studies are elaborated in 2 phases. One is interior architecture producing all set of detailed drawings, elevations, and specifications. The second phase is interior design furniture, lighting, art, and accessories content. Both studies generally are taking 6 months’ time to get simultaneously completed.”
Are you personally involved in each project or do you delegate ?
- “I get to personally decide and design every single aspect and every single element of each project. Because of that personal design dedication, all completed jobs reach such level of osmosis. Because I’m writing such specific stories each time, I must be personally involved in all details as we never repeat design twice, we do not use a design formula. Being this detail oriented creates a variety and intricacy that keeps me design passionate.”
Can you really work anywhere in the world ?
- “Absolutely, I really enjoy the experience of adapting to each country’s systems. In each location, I like having access to a pile of wood, a pile of plaster, a pile of cement, and a pile of marble to bring my design to life.”
Who is responsible for my project, in the office & on-site ?
- “I allocate an architect and an interior designer to each project to produce all my ideas and integrate all spontaneous client desires.”
Who spearheads the project within the agency ?
- “I choose those duos out of my office crew depending on the client aesthetic expectation and the aesthetic sensibility of my collaborators creating the perfect style match.”
How do you work with local teams ?
- “I always have great interest of adapting to each work organization and local techniques. I don’t bring my own work protocol instead I prefer to learn how to function with each local persons and specificities, it makes each work and human experience unique. I truly enjoy being a citizen of the world and embrace every nationality with lots of motivation and interest.”
How do you maintain interest in ongoing projects while taking on new business ?
- “Each project I take on is as important as one is to another. In my mind, they all have equal priority. When I study a project, I isolate myself and fully dive into its specific study to create a tailor-made ideal answer. I’m very dedicated to each of my projects and have creatively a lot of room for more to come.”
What are the phases and the process of my project ?
- “I first get the maximum understanding possible of clients’ personal expectations by creating detailed lists of the client’s desires. Then, I assemble images of inspiration to illustrate the general vibe as it’s a great tool to share the newly customized style with the client. Then, I share my list and selected images with my crew to elaborate all initial concept design. Project layout design always come first, then furniture layout to reinforce scale and functions, then all room elevation’s drawing design including floor and ceiling drawings, electric and lighting plan. The next phase is development of all component and materials finishes references, 3D, if requested by the client, compiling all drawings study mentioned above. The interior architecture study takes generally 6 months.”
- “Concerning the decoration, a specific range of furniture, lighting, rug, design art and accessories get submitted to each client who then pick their favorite(s). We then build the decoration study component presentation accordingly. Generally, it is composed with 1/3 being catalogue pieces, 1/3 vintage and collectables and 1/3 of customed design pieces to create the link between all elements and accommodate specific scales and finishes. The full study answers all client’s specific requests and expectations and reaches a tailor-made aesthetic.”
Do you design exteriors too ?
- “I am far from being a landscape designer BUT, I do have landscaping expectations and ideas; it systematically compliments the interiors and acts as an aesthetic extension. In my mind, interior and exterior layouts should be understood as one."
- "In each country I tend to design the garden myself, as I consider it like a large outdoor floor plan. I like to include exterior lighting in continuity with the interior lighting; consider outdoor speakers, again as a continuation of the interior music system; exterior fireplaces, fountains, etc. In each location, I primarily need assistance in just selecting the indigenous plant species.”
How often do you site visits ?
- “Since most of our work is located abroad, and because we are so detailed in all our paperwork, we’re quite used to working from a distance. In our years of experience working on sites overseas, we find that being adaptable to the local crews and techniques and with technology we completely able to manage the site and communication from a distance. We then visit our projects to validate full scale samples and finishes as needed or requested by our clients’ and local team.”
OUR VISION AND OBJECTIVES
- We are committed to providing customer service that is exceptionally attentive, and through comprehensive client analysis, we are able to respond to their very specific needs.
- The initial structure design holds the most importance in our projects as it is the key to architecture and comfort, including elements such as: circulation planning, axis, symmetry, equilibrium of the spaces, natural light, etc. The plans are generally based on a neoclassical design, which is adjusted as necessary when adapted to different styles.
- The approach used when defining furnishings, material selections, woodwork designs, etc. is very architectural, with an emphasis on embellished shapes and proportions.
- A unifying architectural concept influences all elements of design, including house furnishings, selection of materials, wood craftsmanship, and all handmade objects. There is a visual emphasis on embellishment and proportions of shapes and creations.
- In renovation natural materials enhance or balance existing elements like styles of architecture, types of construction, materials, and clients circumstances.
- We use the reproductions of antique materials: parquet wood flooring, plaster, and wooden wall décor, crown molding, and other traditional arts.
- Our projects are customized to be as functional as they are aesthetically pleasing, with a special emphasis on technological improvements (custom audio, video and home electronics installations, House Automation systems).
OUR BUSINESS - ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN
- Creating Design Studies - plans, drawings, descriptions, tender file, etc. that serves as a guideline permitting the construction and/or renovation work to be accomplished, to optimize space and function, bring added value to structure, and to tailor and refurbish interiors..
- Project Management - coordination of the different participants, along with administrative and financial management.
- Designing the Decor. Design concept including : selections of materials, compiling of fabric groups (curtains, shades, wall fabric, furniture upholstery, decorative pillows, etc.), furniture selection (custom designed, vintage, or new editions), lighting (lamps, chandeliers, sconces, etc.) area rugs, buying and selling of decorative objects, and finally, projects installed and put into working service. Our antique gallery completes the decoration selection with furniture and accessories dating from the 17th century up to modern times.
- Designing of furnishings - plans, corresponding drawings and prototypes for all types of custom-designed furniture and accessories in order to have them manufactured.
- Our projects consist of private residences (apartments, homes, main residences, Pied-à-terre residences, etc.), as well as professional spaces (hotels, bars, restaurants, offices, boutiques, reception halls), in France and abroad, for an international clientele.
OUR TEAM
- For almost 20 years, our team has comprised of a diversity of talents from a variety of cultures, bringing together architects, interior architects, decorators, designers, 3D designers, illustrators as well as an accomplished sales management team.
- For each project, a dedicated team is formed according to the required expertise and style each team member possesses.
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