Gilles & Boissier Capture Their Elegant Vision in a New York Showroom Apartment

Gilles & Boissier’s interiors abound with nods to French decorative traditions, yet the studio’s connections to New York run nearly as deep as they do to their home base of Paris. Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier first crossed paths while working at Liaigre, and their earliest projects remain fixtures of Manhattan’s cultural sphere. Buddakan, the sprawling Meatpacking District restaurant they completed two decades ago, still draws crowds; the Baccarat Hotel opposite MoMA marked the crystal maker’s foray into hospitality. Since then, the husband-wife duo has steadily expanded their presence across the city with two striking Moncler boutiques and a spate of high-profile residences, each fusing their affinity for European craftsmanship with the energy and scale that first captivated Boissier during her teenage visits to Manhattan. 

So it may come as no surprise that the duo has opened a showroom-apartment where it all started in New York, affording stateside designers and clients the chance to experience their furnishings, objects, and interiors in one place. Located within the East Tower at One High Line, the twisting residential development by Bjarke Ingels Group that also houses Faena New York, the setting carries particular resonance. The studio conceived the tower’s lavishly appointed amenity spaces and residences, so they were already well-versed with every minute detail down to the door pulls. “Choosing this location felt entirely natural to us,” Boissier says. “In many ways, the foundations of our universe were already present throughout the building.” 

That familiarity afforded the duo confidence to transform a 3,200-square-foot apartment into a total expression of their sensibilities. Each room abounds with stylish furnishings developed for private commissions and hospitality projects, from sculptural seating to handcrafted objects, set against a refined vocabulary of European oak herringbone flooring, Saint Laurent marble, and Calacatta gold surfaces. “Visitors will feel like they’re stepping into our home,” Boissier says. 

Throughout, recurring motifs forge unexpected connections between the objects, furniture, and artwork, creating the sense of a collection assembled gradually rather than all at once. Aged ash chairs surround a generously scaled dining table, its subtle veining echoed in the celadon-hued flecks of the living room’s cocktail table and the sumptuous gilded upholstery of nearby Dedar-clad lounge chairs. Opposite, a slipcovered sofa adds gentle curvature that resurfaces in side tables, whose wood tops rest upon patinated bronze bases resembling gnarled branches. That motif continues in candlesticks created with artist François Houtin, their silhouettes recalling the fantastical trees of his intricate etchings. Nearby, an Armarinhos Teixeira sculpture cascades down the wall in thick loops of rust-hued fiber, lending more tactile intrigue.

Although materials, colors, and motifs all weave together, Boissier insists the ensemble wasn’t conceived as a singular statement. “Each furnishing and object was created at a different moment in time, often in response to a particular project, a specific need, or a meaningful encounter,” she says. Instead, it charts the studio’s evolution through collaborations with artisans and ongoing explorations into French savoir-faire. “Every piece carries the memory of a collaboration with an artisan, the discovery of a new technique, or the exploration of a particular material. It has evolved organically over the years, much in the same way one furnishes a home, adding objects gradually and allowing the space to grow and add depth over time.”

So if a French art de vivre feels palpable, that is by design. Gilles & Boissier situated their own creations alongside works by artists they admire, such as Christian Astuguevieille’s totemic figures covered in hand-drawn markings and Christophe Charbonnel’s rough-hewn plaster and bronze busts, whose weathered surfaces recall ancient statuary. (Both artists occupy a place in the couple’s personal collection.) Additional works arrive via New York and Paris gallerist Amélie du Chalard. In the primary bedroom, two Bruno Mallart pigment prints depict imagined gardens that flank the bedframe while opposite, a dreamlike pond scene by Bonnie Colin layers celadon, cream, and pale blue washes. Elsewhere, pieces by the prestigious likes of Paul Bik, Francis Limerat, Guido de Zan, and Ludovic Philippon reflect the designers’ affinity for monochrome. 

Ultimately, the apartment presents the Gilles & Boissier approach in its most complete form. Within a residence they conceived, the duo has brought together their furniture, lighting, decorative objects, and a carefully assembled selection of art, revealing how each element contributes to a larger whole. “Ultimately, these pieces become the actors within an interior and bring a place to life,” says Boissier, citing a longstanding passion for opera, theatre, and cinema, particularly Madama Butterfly, as expressions of total art they set out to recreate. “This way of thinking has always guided Patrick and me.” 

The Gilles & Boissier apartment showroom will be on view by appointment through January 2027.