Christian Liaigre doesn’t think of himself as a furniture designer – thought that is what he has become best know for in his 30 years in the business. No, he sees himself solely as an interior designer – someone who creates scenes, ambience, a sensual surrounding. Only then does he sit down and design furniture to fill those spaces. He set the standard in minimalist chic. Now his elegant vision is experiencing a renaissance, in his airy Left Bank duplex and the vigorous expansion of his business

The 68-year-old Liaigre has managed to seamlessly blend these two extremes—the rococo 18th century and his modern sparseness—to create a unified design and a comfortable atmosphere in his home. He filled it with a mix of contemporary pieces from his showroom collections, such as the Mandarin chairs and a long, low Don Juan sofa, and some he custom designed, including a large, rectangular table of a dark, Jamaican dogwood and ash, finished in a thick, solid gloss, and matching ash chairs for the dining room. Yet when working at home, he sits in the Versailles-like gold-leaf-trimmed salon at a Louis XV desk that he restored and painted black. “I love Louis XV desks,” he says. “It’s a design that crosses centuries.”