My Favoriet Rooms

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Posted February 10, 2015. Filed in Juan Montoya, Moderne, My Favorite Rooms

Juan Montoya-Paris Apt-British House & Garden June 2012-Eric Laignel

I have always dreamed of having an apartment in Paris that captures the curiosity of a collector and artist … a cabinet d’amateur!  It wouldn’t have to be large, but the perfect dwelling would possess the spirit of my favorite era, the 1920’s. It needn’t be grand at all, either. Character and atmosphere are all I really require. It could even possess its fair share idiosyncrasies. Good natural light, a fireplace or two, French windows and doors opening onto a terrace, wood floors polished to a patina by years of use, and hot water – with good pressure!

A favorite room of mine for several years counting is the living area of interior designer Juan Montoya’s Paris piéd-a-terre in the Saint-Germnain-des-Prés. It is a modern evocation of his mentor Jean-Michel Frank, whose warm modernist style remains as relevant today as it did ninety-five years ago. Walls and furniture are washed in subdued shades of white, cream and beige to allow the small space to breath and for curated objects and art rendered in black, bronze and brown to take notice. A fireplace wall divided into a grid pattern, and a shagreen-covered cabinet designed by India Mahdavi, are a nod to Frank. What I find seductive is the insouciant mix of styles and periods – from a slate-topped cocktail table of his own design to white painted cane-seat dining chairs he purchased from the Rodin museum surrounding a dark wood country dining table, to a modernist aluminum chair designed by Mathias Bengtsson. For a small room there is a comfortable balance of the antique and the modern, the conventional and the haute, the gutsy and the refined. In fact, I can’t imagine the tableau he created on the fireplace mantel without the feminine addition of prettily potted flowers amongst the masculine forms. And none of it is pretentious; in fact, it is all quite humble in its appearance. Yet it oozes style and confidence.  It’s the kind of room that spurs one’s curiosity. It’s the kind of room that incites creative pursuits.

Yes, I would be quite happy here. Perhaps one day I will have a place of my own, à Paris. Here are more photos of the designer’s Paris apartment which was featured in the June, 2012, issue of British House & Garden. Photography by Eric Laignel.

Juan Montoya-Paris Apt-British House & Garden June 2012-Eric Laignel

Juan Montoya-Paris Apt-British House & Garden June 2012-Eric Laignel

Juan Montoya-Paris Apt-British House & Garden June 2012-Eric Laignel

Juan Montoya-Paris Apt-British House & Garden June 2012-Eric Laignel

Juan Montoya-Paris Apt-British House & Garden June 2012-Eric Laignel

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