Property from the collection of Robert Couturier: ‘I love the life of objects and their stories, but I have never wanted to be limited by them’

The Paris-born, New York-based interior designer Robert Couturier is known for blending traditional French elegance and imaginative colours, textures and materials to create sumptuous yet timeless interiors. Over the course of his lengthy career, Couturier has collaborated with clients all over the world, and his work has been featured in The World of Interiors, Vogue and Town & Country. He has been added to Architectural Digest’s AD100 Hall of Fame and Elle Decor’s A-List of Titans.

Couturier’s sources of inspiration are wide-ranging, from the palaces of Rajasthan to 18th-century French decorative arts. He has a deep appreciation for the architecture and setting of a space, he says, but believes, above all else, that interiors should reflect the interests, taste and personality of those living in them. His 17th-century manor house in Normandy in France is a case in point.

The interiors combined an eclectic mix of pieces from all over the world, most notably from his native France. The formal salon, for instance, was richly furnished with 18th-century French furniture and decorative arts, including a pair of Louis XVI bergères and a Louis XV daybed upholstered in green silk. Central to the display of pictures was a full-length portrait, believed to be of Elizabeth Dormer, by a follower of Sir Anthony van Dyck.

The informal sitting room also featured pieces spanning periods and styles. Complementing the 18th-century French furniture was an assorted collection of European and English pictures and 20th-century lamps, chairs and tables. Couturier’s private suite was decorated in the same vein. In the intimate library, for instance, a mirror in the Louis XVI style hung above a stone fireplace, in front of which stood a straw marquetry four-leaf folding screen by Jean-Michel Frank dating from around 1930.

Couturier is now parting with the 17th-century property and all its contents. Offered online in Collections: Including the Property of International Interior Designer Robert Couturier (16-29 October 2024) will be more than 150 pieces from the decorator’s Normandy home, including French furniture, Old Master paintings, 20th-century design and European decorative arts. The objects represent some of the great artists and designers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, from Etienne Doirat and Jean Gourdin to Jean-Michel Frank.

Notable lots offered for sale include a Régence ormolu-mounted rosewood commode attributed to Etienne Doirat, and a pair of Louis XV armchairs stamped by Jean Gourdin from around 1755. Paintings include a portrait of Eleanor Gordon by the American artist Gilbert Stuart and a George Romney portrait of Ann Morley née Barlow.

Ahead of the sale, we spoke to Robert Couturier about his inspirations, his philosophy and his approach to decorating his Normandy home.

How would you describe your design philosophy?

I don’t like repeating anything, so for each new client I try to create something that is personal to them and reflects their tastes and interests. I aim to create something that is exclusively theirs and often something that they are not expecting. I always ask my clients for inspiration images, which can be taken from books or magazines, and often ask them to circle what they don’t like. What one doesn’t like is more telling than what one does like.

What makes a house a home?

Only the person living in the house can tell you what makes it a home. What makes a house a home for you, for example, may not be what makes it a home for me, because what you like may be different from what I like. People worry so much about what others will say that they often limit themselves to what is the accepted norm of good taste. That’s why so many houses look the same and as if nobody lives in them.

Where did you train to become an interior designer?

I was trained at the Ecole Camondo in Paris, but I have always had a great interest in decoration, architecture and the decorative arts, specifically those from 18th-century France. I am particularly drawn to the inventive freedom and spirit of the age. I still remember the great exhibition organised in Paris on the style of Louis XV [Louis XV, un moment de perfection de l’art français at the Hôtel de la Monnaie in 1974], which was accompanied by a remarkable catalogue covered in blue Morocco leather. I still have the book and always look at it with the same pleasure.

What are your major sources of inspiration?

When I was growing up, I would often go to museums alone, and I also looked with great curiosity at the private worlds in which my friends lived. I was lucky enough to travel a lot, which is why my inspirations are so varied, from the palaces of India to the splendid hôtels particuliers in Paris, including of course the Hôtel de Camondo and the Petit Trianon in Versailles, which remain for me absolute perfection.

You have spent your professional life decorating the homes of your clients and sometimes those of your friends. Is that different from decorating your own home?

All my clients have become friends, and many of my friends have become clients. No project is ever easy, and working for yourself can be even harder, because there is no harsher critic than yourself. That said, I take the same pleasure in working for others as for myself.

Why did you choose to purchase this 17th-century manor in Normandy?

I fell in love with the manor and its garden as soon as I saw it. I later discovered that my grandmother’s house was just a few kilometres away, which shows that fate and chance play a part in our actions and decision-making.

When you began furnishing and decorating the manor, what was the guiding principle?

I restored and decorated it instinctively, drawing on all my previous experience. I used all the furniture and paintings that were in my previous house. Everything fell into place effortlessly. Maybe the best decoration is instinctive!

What is the key to successful decor?

There is no key to successful decor. The scale and proportion of certain objects mean that they work in some places better than others. But overall, you have to let yourself go and enjoy the process of creating a place in which you will be happy for as long or as short a time as that may be.

The decor of this house is classic. Does the location of the collection determine, in your opinion, the choice of works inside it?

Collections can go wherever you want them to go, whether that be in a castle or a cottage. Collections are ephemeral — they will live where they are loved, and then elsewhere once dispersed. I love the life of objects and their stories, but I have never wanted to be limited by them… an object is just an object.

What role can classic furniture and decorative arts play in interior design today?

I like to mix objects from all eras and origins. For me, the memory of the past and its history are essential to understanding the present. I would like antique objects and period furniture to find a place of honour in all collections.

Collections: Including the Property of International Interior Designer Robert Couturier will be live for bidding online from 16 to 29 October 2024, and on view at Christie’s in Paris from 24 to 29 October

Until 29 October 2024, Christie’s global auction series Collections, featuring decorative arts from distinguished private houses and estates, will be offered online alongside pre-sale views in New York, London and Paris