Taschen Élie Gharzouzi: Life in Images

Discovering the sublime interiors of mansions and palaces by Élie Gharzouzi. Élie Gharzouzi, the Lebanese architect and interior designer, is renowned for being one of the first people to initiate the Arab world to European decorative arts, in particular French and English, thus taking on the mantle of transmitter of cultures. His truly theatrical atmospheres are dialogues between his Parisian culture, his oriental sense of conviviality, and his Mediterranean sensuality. He takes pleasure in playing with styles and mixing them, in juggling with colours, always with discretion, creating a very personal mark by opening up the boundaries between centuries, years, trends, and fashions. A feature of his approach is a certain taste for solemnity. The interiors that he creates, be it for apartments, villas, palaces, or yachts, are at one and the same time intriguing, inspired, always a little intimidating, but highly refined.