The Grand Minimalist

Christian Liaigre doesn't think of himself as a furniture designer—though that is what he has become best known for in his 30 years in the business. No, he sees himself solely as an interior designer—someone who creates scenes, ambience, a sensual surrounding. Only then does he sit down and design furniture to fill those spaces.

This approach is nowhere more apparent than in Liaigre's new home on the Rue de Verneuil on the Left Bank in Paris. The soaring duplex is in an 18th-century hotel particulier, or city mansion, originally built by the Marquis d'Aubigne, who came from the same village in the Vendee as Liaigre—Les Herbiers—and who was guillotined during the French Revolution. The ground- and second-floor apartment had sat empty for the past decade, following the death of its last elderly owner, when Liaigre heard about it and showed it to a Chinese client. The client preferred a view of the Seine, so Liaigre took the place for himself.

"My favorite period of design is the 18th century," Liaigre says as he sits down on one of his own Mandarin chairs. This is a surprising admission, given that Liaigre made his reputation as an interiors minimalist—he effectively launched the movement in the 1990s with his sleek, dark, wenge-wood-heavy decor for the Mercer Hotel in New York City and the Hotel Montalembert in Paris. But, he explains, "the 18th century was the time when there was the most creation in jewelry, furniture, metal hardware—everything was modern. Versailles was the force—the motor. I find it amazing that they could do so much baroque and yet keep it coherent." He adds, "I feel it's coming back into fashion."

The 68-year-old Liaigre has managed to seamlessly blend these two extremes—the rococo 18th century and his modern sparseness—to create a unified design and a comfortable atmosphere in his home. He filled it with a mix of contemporary pieces from his showroom collections, such as the Mandarin chairs and a long, low Don Juan sofa, and some he custom designed, including a large, rectangular table of a dark, Jamaican dogwood and ash, finished in a thick, solid gloss, and matching ash chairs for the dining room. Yet when working at home, he sits in the Versailles-like gold-leaf-trimmed salon at a Louis XV desk that he restored and painted black. "I love Louis XV desks," he says. "It's a design that crosses centuries."

Liaigre's art choices are as minimalist and pure as his design; he particularly loves black-and-white photography, and his collection includes works by Paolo Roversi, Kurt Markus, Jacques-Henri Lartigue and Liaigre's friend and fellow Left Bank resident Peter Lindbergh. Throughout the flat there are deer antlers and other hunting trophies, some of them remnants of Liaigre's rides with the hunt for game in the French countryside of his youth. "We dressed in 18th-century period costume, and when we cornered the animal, we would get down off the horse, salute the animal and then kill it with a spear-like sword," he says. "I still have a few scars from it."

The new home, with its light, airy ambience, reflects a renaissance of a sort for Liaigre. Two years ago, Liaigre sold a substantial stake of his company to Edmond de Rothschild Capital Partners, a Paris-based investment fund that manages $667 million in assets and focuses on midsize French companies to nurture and grow. One of its successes is Bonpoint, the high-end children's clothing company, which it took global.