Kenzo House: Parisian urban haven comes on the market
Kenzo House in Paris comes on the market, offering a slice of Zen within the heart of the French capital
Kenzo House is one of Paris' better kept secrets. The home of legendary fashion designer Kenzo Takada, it sits in the French capital’s 11th arrondissement, and while it was initially created by Takada himself in 1988, it was redesigned thoroughly by Japanese architecture master Kengo Kuma in 2017, which brought the property to its current iteration: an architectural slice of Zen within Paris' bustling metropolis. Now, following Takada's passing in 2020, it has come on the market via the property specialists at Christie's.
Stepping inside Kenzo House in Paris
'Kenzo House is without rival in Paris,' said Marie-Hélène Lundgreen of Belles Demeures de France, which is the international subsidiary of Daniel Féau Conseil Immobilier, Christie’s International Real Estate’s exclusive affiliate in Paris. 'Built 35 years ago by Kenzo Takada and masterfully updated for the 21st century by architect Kengo Kuma, it is a world apart.'
Kenzo's work mixed Eastern and Western influences, as well as a passion for colour, light and nature. Kuma kept this spirit when reworking the house, blending in the Parisian setting traditional Japanese building materials, such as ceramic, stone, bamboo, and wood. 'With it, we can experience nature more deeply and more intimately,' Kuma said. 'Transparency is a characteristic of Japanese architecture; I try to use light and natural materials to get a new kind of transparency.'
Spanning four bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a Japanese suite opening onto a lush, serene garden, Kenzo House is expansive, but its carefully curated, human-scale design ensures it remains cosy, textured and warm. It also includes two reception rooms, two dining rooms, two kitchens, a music room, study, fitness room, elevator, and a wine cellar, as well as three self-contained studio apartments for staff.
Kenzo House is offered for sale, price upon request.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
The wait is over: Matthieu Blazy is Chanel’s new creative director
Matthieu Blazy has been appointed as the new artistic director at Chanel, after a critically lauded and commercially successful tenure as creative director of Bottega Veneta
By Jack Moss Published
-
Alaïa’s secret new London café and bookstore is inspired by the art of hosting
Housed on the third floor of Alaïa’s London flagship, the intimate space – inspired by Azzedine Alaïa’s famed hospitality – includes a Violet Cakes bakery and a bookstore by Claire de Rouen
By Jack Moss Published
-
Is it really possible to stage a Shakespeare play inside the game Grand Theft Auto?
Grand Theft Hamlet, a documentary debut written and directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane, is about two out-of-work actors attempting to mount a full production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, inside the violent world of Grand Theft Auto, shot entirely in game
By Billie Walker Published
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’
A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
By Amy Serafin Published
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreat
This overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resort
La Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel building
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French Riviera
Tempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Tsing-Tien Making's approach is rooted in its 'passion' for architecture
Tsing-Tien Making, a young Chinese practice, joins the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Gulbenkian Foundation's new art centre by Kengo Kuma is light and inviting
Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation reveals its redesign and new contemporary art museum, Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM), by Kengo Kuma with landscape architects VDLA
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams Published
-
At Lee Ufan Arles, tension and calm guide relationships between space and art
Lee Ufan Arles opens in the south of France, a collaboration between the famed Korean artist and Japanese architect Tadao Ando
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams Published