Liaigre

Liaigre’s spare, Zen-meets-luxury aesthetic is instantly recognizable in these six sumptuously designed locations. The first spreads are of a house in Orense, Spain: cue lots of dark wood, deep reds and rich leathers, with such Iberian flourishes as a sofa embroidered with motifs drawn from toreadors’ costumes. The rest of the book takes a romp through five similarly lush interiors, including a 184-foot yacht, an island sanctuary in Bora Bora and homes in Geneva, Toronto and the Côte d’Azur. Part of the pleasure of the book lies in the material voyeurism it provides; it’s always fun to see how the other half lives. The risk of having such a distinctive style as Liaigre, however, is that after a while it starts to look a little dated, and for all the clean lines and pleasing textures, these interiors look like they were created as sets for lifestyle magazines—something ultimately antihuman and contrived lingers. No matter: the designer has plenty of fans, and for those who want just a touch of “Liaigrism,” there will no doubt soon be plenty of mainstream knockoff versions of his oft-imitated look. (Sept.)