Entirely free

I can’t remember the last time I looked at a series of photographs that actually made my hairs stand on end. This latest project from architect royalty Joseph Dirand is his version of the ideal – a limitless expression of his design point of view.

Constraints can be addicting – we construct elaborate ways to convince our clients to do it our way but they also focus us and are healthy to the success of a project, imagine being entirely free from this push and pull.

This installation or perhaps even a concept of what a dwelling is – is a Pied-à-terre in the 8th arrondissement of Paris flanked by the lavish boutiques of the world’s most famous fashion labels. Not typically where you would find a person living, but that’s not really the point. It is an uncompromised narrative with no boundaries. The point here is about creating art. The owner, an elderly heiress instructed Dirand “to achieve you dream; that will be my dream”. Incredible.

Originally two apartments in a 19th Century Haussmannian edifice, the two year transformation shows where contemporary Minimalism design is headed, and it’s unreasonably perfect.

Photographs: Martin Morell