Robert Couturier (architect)
Biography
A graduate the École Camondo in Paris with a degree in interior architecture and design, Robert Couturier moved to New York in 1981. He quickly established his own practice, which has been recognized in, among other media, Architectural Digest’s prestigious annual list of the best decorators and architectural firms in the world. In June 2012, Elle Decor included Mr. Couturier in its A-list Top 60 Designers and British House & Garden named him one of the top 10 foreign decorators. [2] [3]
In 1987 while still relatively inexperienced, Mr. Couturier was entrusted by the financier Sir James Goldsmith with what would amount to the single greatest private commission of modern times: the re-conception, execution, and continuous embellishment - down to the last gilded detail - of Goldsmith’s 20,000-acre kingdom on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Crowned by a 60,000-square-foot vaulted-and-tile-domed hilltop palace called La Loma, the estate came to encompass vast satellite villas and assorted guest pavilions. He later completed the picture by decorating Goldsmith’s Boeing 757 ("a flying carpet with a motor"), his double-width Manhattan townhouse, and his historic French chateau. Two and a half decades later, the New York-based Couturier continues to execute grand-scale commissions in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Russia. Today his name has become synonymous with continental and international style and elegance working with clients such as Anne Hearst and Jay McInerney, Cecile David Weil, Fred Iseman, Frederic Fekkai and Vanity Fair special correspondent Amy Fine Collins.
Couturier has contributed to major architecture and design books and, in October 2014, released his first monograph, Robert Couturier: Designing Paradises with Rizzoli New York, showcasing a beautiful range of multifaceted work, from Old World elegance to contemporary design.[4] In his introduction Couturier admits, "I’m completely addicted to luxury. I have no ability for anything else." He lectures widely at galleries and at arts and antique fairs, and participates in charitable and design-industry events. His work has been featured in publications such as Architectural Digest, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Town and Country, the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, House and Garden, The Robb Report, and Elle Décor and Wallstreet Journal.
He currently lives in Connecticut with his partner, Jeffrey Morgan.[5]
References
- "Robert Couturier — Biography". RobertCouturier.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
- "2014 AD100". Architectural Digest.
- Elle Decor Staff. "ELLE DECOR'S A-LIST". Elle Decor. Hearst Communications, Inc.
- "Robert Couturier: Designing Paradises". Rizzoli USA. Rizzoli USA.
- Ballen, Sian and Lesley Hauge. "NYSD House: Robert Couturier". New York Social Diary. Retrieved November 15, 2008.