Joseph Dirand describes his new Paris apartment as “Ornamental Minimalism”. As always in any Joseph Dirand’s creation, the craftmanship is front and center. Take a look at his previous apartment here. “I create space with equilibrium and a classic base.” Yet “there are details and compositions,” he told AD. The spacious apartment has breathtaking views of Paris while in the interior sumptuous stones and unique marbles embellish much of the surfaces.
The term less is more is intuitively connected to minimalist interior design. The reason is that it is a style which is purely based on form and function. It’s a design concept that focuses on notable functional design while emphasizing on facilitating a more simple way of living. Minimalist design is an interior design style which people either hate or love; some find the style cold, simple or stark, others find it ideally soothing and relaxing. If you find yourself between the two polarized corners of the style, you can find ways to benefit from a simple more paired down interior design. By cutting down furniture, accessories, and trinkets, rooms in your home can turn into minimalist retreats ideal for unwinding, relaxing and recharging.
Nate Berkus
If I was not an Interior Designer, Joseph Dirand would be the one designer who I would give complete authority to do my home. But of course I don’t own an apartment in a 19th-century Haussmannian building on Avenue Montaigne, nor am I heiress to an Eastern European
fortune, so I could never afford such a talent. Joseph Dirand’s latest project is a 6,500-square-foot abode with all the amazing details of French design such as perfectly restored moldings, parquet floors and 11-foot-high double doors. Details that the talented Architect knows how to enhance without letting them take center stage to create the ultra-modernist/minimalist designs he is well known for. Dirand was also in charge of assembling the art collection. Everyone of Joseph Dirand’s projects display refinement and sophistication in a very restrain way, a style characteristic of French Designers. As in this apartment can prove the attention to detail is in every space and furniture.
A Francois-Xavier Lalanne sculpture in front of the marble fireplace. The curves in the furniture harmonizes the square moldings and stone console and the soothing tones are elegant instead of chichi.
It should not take you by surprise the fact that Americans love to collect, thus their love for big kitchens with lots of cabinets. European kitchens, on the other hand, tend to be smaller for the reason that Europeans tend to buy only and mostly for current consumption, instead of purchasing and freezing food for weeks. Americans love functionality and comfort, Europeans love the simplicity and no hustle. Kitchens in America usually have big room pantries where they stack up on all kinds of food. On the aesthetic side, Europeans gravitate towards no upper cabinets perhaps as a reflection of their more simple lifestyle.
European Kitchens
A kitchen designed Studio Razavi
Joseph Dirand‘s home in the Seventh Arrondissement in Paris was recently renovated by the sought-after Architect and the result is a minimalist apartment with perfectly restored traditional French details. The furniture in Dirand’s home is all form and substance. In the living room, sofa and side chairs are Pierre Jeanneret, in the kitchen the family eats at a Ettore Sottsass table, in the bedroom an Oscar Niemeyer chair looks graciously at the bed. As most French, Joseph Dirand relies on excellent craftsmanship to restore the neglected into its past glory. For his home, Joseph decided on simple stucco walls, Versailles parquet floors and simple wall moldings inspired by 17th century Interior Architecture.
One thing is to decorate homes where families live but a whole different thing is to translate a Fashion brand into a commercial space. The fabulous Balmain store in Paris was designed by Architect Joseph Dirand and the space, besides being one that translates French perfect art craft in the best way possible is one that I’m sure will inspire its clients and make them feel like royals. The store design is impeccable and once again Dirand’s amazing Interior Design rests on pure architecture, symmetry, balance and neutral palette. Immaculate architectural details as wooden parquet floors, ornate wall moldings, elaborate French door pediments are some of the exquisite decorating features in the Balmain store in Paris.
