Legends of Design: Jean-Michel Frank

For this installation of Legends of Design, we look at an incredibly influential designer whose name is often spoken with reverence.

Jean-Michel Frank | Photo by Rogi André
CNAC/MNAM/Dist. RMN–Grand Palais Art Resource

Jean-Michel Frank, working primarily in Paris during the 1920s and ’30s, built a reputation on what might seem like a contradiction: quiet rooms that still feel deeply luxurious. Often associated with Art Deco, his work stripped away the ornament and excess typical of that movement, leaving behind spaces that felt calm, edited, and incredibly refined. He wasn’t formally trained, which probably contributed to his work feeling so instinctive—less about rules, more about perception and proportion. In fact, he believed that "perfect taste" was a blueprint for a soulless room. During his career, he collaborated with an impressive array of designers and artists such as Diego and Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dalí, Emilio Terry, and Christian Berard. And he counted Elsa Schiaparelli, the surrealist fashion designer (whose house has been successfully resurrected by Daniel Roseberry) as a close friend.

Frank is often described as a minimalist, but that word doesn't tell the full story. Yes, his spaces were restrained—pared down to essential forms, softened palettes, and an almost architectural sense of proportion. But layered into that restraint was an unexpected richness. What really set Frank apart was his obsession with materials. He had a marvelous ability to combine both humble and rare finishes and elevate them through context; he was clearly ahead of his time with this talent. Straw marquetry, plaster, and sandblasted oak might sit alongside shagreen, parchment, rock crystal, or mica—each chosen not for hierarchy, but for how it contributed to the overall composition. There’s a lesson here that still resonates: good design comes down to the care and intent with which materials are selected and brought together.

His interiors were intentionally spare (thus his "minimalist" label), but not cold. Frank understood that emptiness, when done well, creates presence. Rooms were often reduced to their essential elements—strong silhouettes, neutral palettes, and tactile surfaces—allowing art, light, and proportion to do the heavy lifting. It’s the kind of restraint that feels especially relevant now, as we continue to move away from over-designed spaces toward something more grounded and enduring. In 1936, while working with this idea of pared-down elegance, he designed what became the Parsons table. Today it feels almost everywhere—so simple it’s easy to take for granted—but his original concept was more nuanced: a clean, almost skeletal form meant to be wrapped in something unexpected and luxurious, like ivory, and the afore-mentioned mica, or shagreen.

Another aspect of his work that feels surprisingly current is how seamlessly he blended eras. Frank frequently paired modern, simplified forms with references to 18th-century French design, creating interiors that felt both timeless and quietly forward-thinking. "I believe that a less severe principle can be found — the mixing of styles," Frank wrote in 1935, "The noble frames that came to us from the past can receive today’s creations [paintings]. The house that we build now can welcome ancient things of beauty." His signature look was termed as "luxe pauvre," literally "poor luxury" in French. That mix—old and new, refined and raw—is something we return to again and again in contemporary design. And it is an approach I strive for in my own design practice.

A distant cousin of the famed diarist Anne Frank, he fled France around 1940. As both a Jew and an out gay man at that time, he was wise to escape the coming Nazi occupation. He ended up working and traveling in South America and the United States--his last project was the 5th Avenue apartment for Nelson and Mary Rockefeller. A frail and slight man who suffered from depression and ill health his entire life, he killed himself by overdosing on barbiturates in 1941, at the too-young age of 46. I wonder if he knew how his work would ripple out, how influential he would become, and how he would take his place in the pantheon of legendary designers.

In the photos above, we see Frank's design for banking heir Templeton Crocker's living room in his San Francisco penthouse. The walls are covered with parchment squares. The fireplace is faced with mica in gilt bronze inlays. Seating is upholstered in ivory Moroccan leather, and table lamps are made of rose quartz and obsidian chunks, all arranged on a chocolate brown carpet.

This image is of Crocker's sunroom which occupied the upper floor in the 6,000 square foot San Francisco penthouse with views overlooking The City.

Above is a view of the salon in Nelson Rockefeller's New York City apartment designed by Jean-Michel Frank, showing a mix of eras, a custom Aubusson carpet, and prominently featuring artworks--by Fernand Léger, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Giacometti, and Henri Matisse's mural over the fireplace--all from Rockefeller's staggering collection.

The Comité Jean-Michel Frank has been initiated by the artist’s family to promote the work and legacy of the designer. The site has a list of some wonderful publications about Frank. And French furniture manufacturer ECART holds the rights to many Frank-designed pieces, so you can own your very own bit of design history.

Happy designing!

La Cornue by Martyn Lawrence Bullard

Celebrity interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard has collaborated with La Cornue, the venerable French company making high quality ranges since 1908, to create ten new colors in their Château series based on high performance race cars.

Bullard says, "The colors I chose for the collection, apart from being iconic racing car colors, are colors that bring such personality to a space. Color is really something that we can use to show our personalities in our interiors. So, for me, everything from our beautiful deep black, to our rich and sexy oranges and reds, are all colors that are so vibrant and so full of expression and personality. It adds such excitement into a kitchen in a way we haven't seen before."

I can see these working really well in kitchens of many different styles. The colors allow for varied directions of feeling and expression in a home remodel.

Happy designing!

An English-French Manor-Style Remodel by Fiorito Interior Design

It is sometimes a surprise what beauty can lurk under the surface of a room. A client with a 1970s kitchen and eat-in area cut up by an unwieldy peninsula was desperate for it to reflect her love of all things English-and-French-Manor-Home.

Working closely with my client, we removed the peninsula in favor of a lovely free-standing island that we painted a shade of French Blue. This is topped with Old World sink hardware (note the ceramic HOT and COLD medallions on the faucets!) and a gorgeous marble counter with a very special edge profile that evokes an antique French Boulangerie counter from the 1910s. Pendants with patinaed metal shades over the island further the charming Old World feel. Handmade white and blue tiles laid in a quilted diamond pattern cover the backsplash, and the remainder of the cabinetry at the perimeter is in a warm cream tone.

The eat-in area near the fireplace got a cozy treatment with custom seat cushions and window seat bench cushions in a classic blue-and-white Toile de Jouy matching the island stools.

The nearby living room got a similar treatment. We removed dark wood paneling and dark carpeting in favor of a light sky blue wall and lighter wood flooring. A new rug with the appearance of an heirloom, a new grand-scaled sofa, and some of my client’s precious antiques helped take the room from 70s rec room to English Sitting Room.

All photos by Bernardo Grijalva.

Happy designing!

History of Furniture: Empire

As we have seen over the last many posts in this ongoing series of The History of Furniture, no style or movement or shape happens in a vacuum. Everything in the decorative arts springs from a milieu...that is a very specific time and place that gives birth to something representative of that period: politically, socially, scientifically, and economically.

And this installment is a great example of this principle. The Empire style (pronounced ahm--PEER, as it is in French) is a product of layers of social and political upheaval that came right before it. After years of the excesses of late Baroque, King Louis XVI and the aristocracy were overthrown in the French Revolution. However, the Revolution was not a single event, but a series of events that took place over many years. Once the monarchy was no longer in power, the French First Republic was created, overseen by a five member committee called the Directory.

The style of decorative arts--including architecture, interiors, clothing, and painting--during this period is called Directoire which I wrote about in this post.

But the rise of Napoleon I and his power led to a coup d'etat which abolished the Directory. Napoleon then created the Consulate, and after enduring several years of counter-plots and assassination attempts, he created an imperial system of government based on the ancient Roman model.

And this is where the Empire style grew from...the Directoire style already borrowed classical silhouettes and motifs from ancient Rome (who had stolen their style from the ancient Greeks before them), and since Napoleon I was now Emperor, France dove head-first into ostentatious pomp. Self-aggrandizing Napoleon saw himself as a Caesar, and everything produced in France at that time was meant to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state.

And perhaps no other location exemplifies this better than Chateau de Malmaison, the residence of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Josephine and the seat of the French government from 1800 to 1802. Located nearly 10 miles west of the center of Paris in Rueil-Malmaison, the chateau is full of the kind of Neoclassical bluster that inflated Napoleon's view of himself. Just take a look at this portrait by Ingres, Napoleon On His Imperial Throne.

Napoleon's bedroom is draped in fabric to recall the kind of tent he would have lived in during his war campaigns.

But Josephine's bedroom was even more resplendent, with a red and gold scheme and again, the tent-like structure but this one held aloft by Corinthian columns. Also note the swans, eagles, and sphinxes which reference ancient Roman design.

The Council Chamber at Malmaison also looks like a tent, draped in striped fabric used in actual campaigns. The entry doors are painted with trompe-l'œil trophies (gatherings of swords and helmets suspended by a cord) of war and topped with the Imperial Roman eagle. Notice the X-shaped stools based on the ancient Roman curule seat.

Here is an ancient Roman coin showing Emperor Tiberius seated on a curule seat!

And the library at Malmaison, featuring teak woodwork and a ceiling painted after the frescoes of Pompeii, held over 13,000 books in 1814.

You can take a marvelous virtual tour of the Chateau de Malmaison through the official website.

Happy designing!

Know Your Chairs: The Ribbon Chair

Since we just looked at French designer Pierre Paulin's Elysee sofa last month for the Know Your Sofas series here, let's look at his iconic Ribbon Chair.

The Ribbon Chair and accompanying ottoman were created in 1966 by Paulin and made from a metal frame with horizontal springs, covered with foam and stretch fabric. One look at the geometry and you can see why it is called the Ribbon Chair as it is a continuous run of a single narrow plane, indented to create the back.

And like so many modernist pieces, they work well with contemporary, transitional, or traditional elements.

The chair is also a television and film star in its own right, featuring heavily in the 1970s British sci-fi series "Space: 1999" (along with a slew of other iconic furniture pieces and lighting by Artemide). You can see it prominently below in the first still from the show, as well as peeking out from behind show star Martin Landau in the second image...

...and we just recently saw it in last year's extraordinary "Blade Runner 2049" too!

This amazing chair is still in production and available through Artifort.

Happy designing!

Know Your Sofas: Pierre Paulin's Élysée Sofa

French furniture and industrial designer Pierre Paulin did not get off to an auspicious start: after failing his Baccalauréat (the end of high school exams that determine whether or not a student goes on to university studies), he trained as a ceramist in Vallaurius and then as a stone-carver in Burgundy. But when he got into a fight that injured his right arm, his dreams of being a sculptor came to an end. Yet he found himself later working at Gascoin, then Thonet (previously here) and then Artifort where he gained international fame for the creation of his Mushroom chair in 1960 and his Ribbon chair in 1966 (this will be featured later in an installation of Know Your Chairs).

Then in 1969, he was commissioned by Jean Coural, head of the Mobilier National, an agency of the French Ministry of Culture, to redesign four rooms in President Georges Pompidou’s private apartment in the Élysée Palace. Paulin proceeded to cover the Napoléon III giltwood-paneled walls entirely in beige fabric and bring in newly designed pouf-style sofas and chairs, which became known as the Élysée collection. The sofas and chairs were molded from strips of wood wrapped in foam and upholstered in leather.

The sofa, alternatively called the Pumpkin (look at the shape) or the Alpha (after the Alpha manufacturing company that made the originals), was in brief production until 1973 but did not really gain a cult following until the early 2000s. The rarity of the originals makes them highly sought after for high price tags, but fear not, Ralph Pucci has brought the Alpha sofa back into production!

Happy designing!