With a deep understanding of the classical and a dash of his trademark wit, internationally acclaimed architect and interior designer Robert Couturier creates adventurous rooms that effortlessly combine eras. His name has become synonymous with continental and international style and he remains at the top of his profession executing grand-scale commissions in the U.S., Europe, and South America.
I’m thrilled that Robert took the time to catch up with me to talk about living with portraits, listening to clients, and relocating from Connecticut. Simply read on to find out more….
Robert Couturiers home with gardens by Miranda Brooks. Image by Francis York.
Where is home and what does home mean to you?
Well I am in a state of flux. I have sold my house in CT, bought a house in France and gotten an apartment in NY, so I really don’t know where home really is. Maybe NY no matter what …and anyway, home is where my dogs are!
What took you to New York and what kept you there?
My father’s family had lived in the US since the 30’s, my grandmother had a place in NY that we used to visit so I have been coming here for ever. What kept me here was a sense of opportunities, liberties and fun! NY was free, anonymous, available, young and attractive, and challenging, exciting, decaying and new!
Image by Ambroise Tezenas/ Flammarion.
How connected do you still feel to France?
French culture is all encompassing I was raised and bathed in it by my grandparents who admired it so very deeply that they shared it with me and made me love it passionately from Racine to Saint Simon, Voltaire, Manet to her history, her kings and her intellectual influence upon the world. French culture was the beacon we lived by. So I am still extremely connected to France, I keep revisiting the same museums and places and getting the same thrill and joy now… that I did then!
How did growing up in Paris influence your style?
I don’t think it influenced me, it made me! Most things that I see and like are through the prism of French culture, it defines in many ways what I like and don’t like. That said, recognising that influence has helped me free myself from it and broaden my visions and fields of interest. Leaving Paris and France is what made me take stock of my French culture, recognise what is important for me as well as its shortcomings and its beauty, and of course, what within it that I loved and should keep with me on this journey. To answer your question, I don’t know if it influenced my style or if it made my style.
Eduard Manet Dans la Serre/In the Conservatory 1879. Image The Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin.
Landlocked in the pandemic, what were your escapes and diversions?
My mind is all at once the best escape and sometimes the most perilous… and I had my beloved dogs with me there wasn’t a minute that I felt like a prisoner!
What does luxury mean to you now?
In many ways luxury is what appears to be normal to you/me and exceptional to most. Without wanting to sound like a terrible snob, the truth is I don’t really think about it until I don’t have it, when the cook isn’t around or my sheets are not ironed and my suits not impeccable, my shoes unpolished, the dogs unkempt or the gardens untidy. The first time I saw a hole in the sole of a shoe I was really flabbergasted it never occurred to me that shoes could really get used to that point…
Robert Couturier’s dinning room - Image Robert Couturier
We all enjoy seeing images of your home and art collection on instagram. What is it about portraits that speaks to you specifically?
Thank you! Portraits are to me, a perfect link to the past. I have conversations with the people whose portraits I own. I imagine their lives their surroundings and their world gets animated under my eyes…it is endlessly entertaining!
What are the essential elements that help to create a Paradise?
Everything that you are supposed to get when you are dead! Perfect love, perfect peace, perfect dogs and perfect friends!!
Robert Couturier’s sitting room - Image Robert Couturier
How has interior decoration has changed in the internet age?
Honestly not that profoundly as we are the same people, with the same worries and the same insecurities. People aside the internet has made access to information immediate and zooming has made traveling less pressing, meetings in person are not totally necessary or not as often as they were before. Strangely all this efficiency has not translated into the realm of construction, as things take two or three times longer to build!
A Salzburg House - Robert Couturier.
A SoHo Loft - Robert Couturier.
What is the best decorating advice you can offer someone?
Be modest and listen to your clients! What they want is what you want, decorating isn’t an ego trip it is working for someone!
Robert Couturier at home with his canine companions.
Nick Cox / Period Portraits April 2022.