The colors of Liaigre
It is rare to consider Liaigre’s style from a color point of view.
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It is rare to consider Liaigre’s style from a color point of view. It is however, one of the determining factors. Color is an essential part of the harmony and feeling of well-being that emerges from the interiors signed by the house. It is also a powerful element of language fully inscribed in the aesthetics of Liaigre, which it has significantly helped to shape. This chromatic vocabulary is owed to Christian Liaigre’s first creations in the mid-1980s. From the beginning, Liaigre traces the contours of a singular sensitivity to color that reflects his taste for the sobriety of a universe with masculine accents.
However, the range of black, grey, brown, beige and white considered characteristic, is often punctuated by more or less intense notes placed like «accents»: particularly reds, blues and greens. This initial reflection has grown considerably richer over time. Color at Liaigre is closely linked to the specific approach to each project. It is a visual and sensitive tool that has a key part in contributing to the affirmation of an immediately identifiable style.
Texts : Françoise Claire Prodhon
Credits: Mark Seelen, Ambroise Tezenas, Eric Morin, Hugo Comte, Claire Israel.
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Style at Liaigre comes from a simplicity that is only an appearance and which hides a deep reflection on contexts and environments. Nature, whether near or far away, is part of every project. This obvious link when it comes to working on a house by the sea, in the mountains or in the countryside, is systematically taken into account by the design studio when it comes to planning a townhouse (with or without a garden), or an apartment…
The natural or urban environment inspires or responds to a palette that reflects the characteristics of the place and its atmosphere. In addition to the chromatic bias dictated by the context, there is a range of tones specific to the natural materials used by the studio. We can take as an example the different wood species (whose shades can be slightly modified by a finish (varnished wood, oiled), or those of marble, onyx, lava stones.
The studio, basing itself on the choice of materials, composes a whole range of shades in order to create harmony, emphasized by a few contrasts that allow to structure the space and affirm its identity.
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It is the projects carried out all around the world that introduced colors rooted in local cultures into Liaigre’s vocabulary.
Once again, these choices are dictated by both research and the sensitive approach to each new location. It is also a question of an echo or resonance of an environment.
These cultural colors, which belong to a historiated and vernacular style, are reinterpreted according to the aesthetic codes of the house.
It is in this way that vermilion red or Japanese and Chinese black lacquers, are invited to decorate the surface of a piece of furniture or an accessory… or that the white marble evoking the princely homes of the Maharadjas adorns an Indian house of today.
The chalet in the mountain brings its own range of light or dark woods, local granite and the inspiration of the studio’s ultimate fantasy – a copper cooker hood, whose shape evokes the bells of the cows in the near-by pastures. To speak of cultural colors however, is also to underline the importance that the team attaches to the customs of each country, taking into account the fact that certain colors are popular or on the contrary avoided.
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The installation of the Liaigre showroom on the right bank in the spacious building of rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré has allowed to affirm a style that whilst relying on the strength of its DNA, is enriched by new proposals.
In a contemporary perspective, strong colors came to be part of Liaigre’s universe, challenging ideas. A bench upholstered in bright orange leather in the window, seats or sofas covered with fabrics of deep colors in ranges of blue and red, but also touches of mauve, fuchsia, and accessories (plaids, carpets, vases) whose colors are just as varied.
These surprising ranges which contradict the preconceived ideas of Liaigre’s style mark a greater sensitivity to the spirit of the times and a will to closely match the expectations of a new generation of buyers throughout the world. Let us not forget that the Liaigre showrooms have always proposed custom models and numerous finishes, upholstery and colors for each piece of furniture.
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What is remarkable about the connection with color, is obvious and must be emphasized.
The iconic palette which goes from black to white, on through gray, brown, taupe, beige and ecru, offers a large number of shades, for each color. The subtlety of these shades is linked to the materials and how they take light depending on whether they reflect it or absorb it.
The studio is used to choosing different versions in the light of day. The approach is thoughtful and the objective is always the same, seeking harmony and the right balance. It is a feeling, a quest for perfection and elegance that has been manifesting itself for almost four decades.
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