EDITOR’S LETTER
Hemingway once said that if you are lucky enough to live in Paris in your youth, it stays with you wherever you go for the rest of your life. This has been true for me — my time living in the world’s most beautiful city continues to inspire me in myriad of ways.
French but particularly Parisian culture remains intimately entangled with the global design scene not only as inspiration but also as the source for some of the industry’s biggest players. Known as both the City of Light and the City of Love, Paris has long enticed creatives, artists and designers to its cobblestoned streets, Haussmannien buildings and open garden parks. Design, and an appreciation of it, is part of the very fabric of Paris. As Ian Phillips states in his opening essay for this issue (page 40), every day Parisians are “surrounded by architectural wonders”.
This issue, we take you on a journey through both the history of Paris and its renewed esprit as a global design mecca, from an exclusive tour of Coco Chanel’s apartment at 31 rue Cambon (page 88) and a celebration of Jean-Michel Frank’s enduring legacy (page 99) to a feature on the current wave of innovative Paris-based creatives making their mark on the industry (page 71).
We also take you inside some breathtaking Parisian interiors in some of the city’s most glamorous arrondissements. From the classic sophistication of a Beaux-Arts mansion in the 16th arrondissement (page 104) to one of the oldest and most historic hôtel particuliers in the 1st (page 156), there is quite literally something for every design lover.
For anyone planning or even just dreaming of an escape to Paris, we have our edit of the best hotels and restaurants in the city right now (page 169). Celebrated Australian actor Melissa George, who has spent large parts of her life in the City of Light and currently lives there with her two sons, teams up with acclaimed Paris-based architect Diego Delgado-Elias to take us on an insider’s tour of the city’s design hotspots (page 177).
Like Paris itself, this issue brims with elegance, luxury and inspiration as well as a certain joie de vie. Enjoy.