François Catroux, an Homage to the Decorator of Aristocrats, Fashion Queens and Royals

Celebrity News | Nov 9, 2020

François Catroux, an Homage to the Decorator of Aristocrats, Fashion Queens and Royals – François Catroux has designed castle interiors for the Rothschilds, yacht interiors for Barry Diller, and an apartment for David Geffen. Today Celebrity Homes honors this interior design legend. Fançois Catroux has been the decorator of choice for aristocrats, moguls, fashion queens, royals, and oligarchs alike since 1968, when he opened his Paris office. His clients over the years have included Guy and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, Leslie and Abigail Wexner, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Princess Firyal of Jordan, and Roman Abramovich, to name a few.

François Catroux was a top French interior designer that displayed settings with the most amazing neutral and sophisticated tones. Today is a sad day for the industry because we lost this genius artist. He was able to transform a standard room into a warm, rich, and exquisite room, that perfectly fits his interior design identity. He’s recognized for naturally combining modern and vintage trends, giving an authentic touch.

David Geffen’s $54 million penthouse, a new Saudi royal palace, Barry Diller’s 305-foot yacht—all share the rarefied touch of designer François Catroux. With a major book on his work set to be published, James Reginato discovers the high-style life of Catroux and his wife, Betty Catroux. François Catroux has on that short list of interior designers who cater to the world’s super-rich, he has the one of that group whose name is probably least known to the general public, even as he and his fashion-icon wife, Betty, have been fixtures in rarefied social circles. He never much bothered with self-promotion. This top French interior designer worked as a freelance editor at French Elle, for which he scouted out stylish houses for the magazine to photograph. It was after designing a friend’s palazzo in Milan, that François found his calling to the world of interior design. After long research, he achieved a minimalist and futuristic first project, that definitely made his career start.

In the ’70s, the designer was hired by Baroness Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, to design a magnificent château outside Paris, as well as portions of Hôtel Lambert, the 17th-century hôtel particulier that is one of the city’s most spectacular private residences. After that, he discovered a fabulous way of creating 18th-century neoclassicism in a modern and contemporary manner, reflecting it on two apartments, in 1975. The projects that this designer embraced, quickly established a reputation for this designer that always looked to create the most breathtaking settings. Strong and graphic objects, highly structured spaces, fluid arrangements, soft tones and silky textures had become his seal, the mark of his style, the very essence. of his art. The interior designer focused on using the most over-the-top and eccentric pieces which are able to transform any room, from a living room to a study. Since 2000, his natural inspiration for the contemporary and even the avant-garde has taken over and opened up the projects of a new generation of clients. With a keen eye, experience and curiosity always present, he worked until the end of his life on exceptional sites, driven by his passion for timeless chic interiors.

Discover some of François Catroux’s designs: