On a stray evening in Paris, designer Chahan Minassian is contemplating Miami Beach and the apartment he designed there for a client of a certain aesthetic calibration. The apartment — set in a Belle Isle building with epic views of Biscayne Bay, the — embodies Minassian’s long-distance love for Miami, mirroring the shifting color scheme of the sky and the ocean, bringing the great outdoors of Miami into one very tasty equation.
Minassian — of the late and very lamented Starfish restaurant on South Beach, countless private residences around the world, a string of Patrick Cox stores and the new Perrin Paris 1893 leather goods shop in Los Angeles — began with a complete gut job. That spectacular view was a stylistic backdrop that demanded the outdoors and indoors be joined together. “Originally, it was a two-bedroom place, but I stripped it out down to the bare concrete, and turned it into a one-bedroom suite,” he says, “Even from the kitchen, it’s possible to look out through a row of windows and glass doors, and the apartment feels as if you’re on a cruise ship.”
The space faces north, which means it never gets the brutal western sun, and unlike oceanfront apartments, which look over a dark blankness in the evenings, the color palate at night is also part of the aesthetic package. “It’s very fresh and soothing, with the water changing color throughout the day, and I’ve tried to incorporate that natural palette, that aqua and turquoise. In the evenings, rather than those bare, black, no-life ocean views, the twinkling lights of the skyline are very dynamic. Inside, the lighting is indirect, sexy and soft, a golden and warm light that complements the skyline. And everything — the textural quality of the limestone floors, the lightened maple wall paneling, the mirrors and floating Lucite shelves, the ivory-colored silk rugs, the solid glass 1930s chairs by Eileen Raaberg — is meant to bring that light and color inside.”
Minassian is serious about furniture, as the great arena of taste, his Chahan Gallery in Paris, shows. It features vintage furniture by such icons as Paul Lazlo and Don Shoemaker, as well as his own pieces and the work of assorted contemporary artists.
He is also serious about creating new aesthetic possibilities. As visitors enter the Miami Beach apartment, the open kitchen is on the right, employing the same maple paneling that covers the opposite wall: pull a sliver of Lucite back, and a hidden bathroom and laundry room is revealed, “The wall of paneling creates an architectural volume, and it’s handy to the front door, a easy place to take a shower when you come from the beach.”
To the left, in the main living area, floor-to-ceiling shelves — all bleached maple, Lucite, and white lacquer — contain an array of artwork, from Venetian glass to vintage glass vases by Venini and Daum to Harry Bertoia pieces. A bit of whimsy, a sculpture of a sheep (“It’s the pet of the apartment,”) found in a local thrift shop, is counter-posed with such high end items as rare Max Ingrand lights, Diego Giacometti desks, Fontana Arte pieces, and Minassian’s own furniture. Tucked into the corner is a large white day bed, “It’s perfect for lounging, watching the water, or taking a nap.”
Opposite is the dining area, dominated by a luminous Jason Martin painting and utilizing clay stools from Thailand. “Each one has calligraphy etched into the surface,” Minassian says, “and they don’t take up a lot of room: I didn’t want this apartment to have a lot of furniture and clutter.”
The entire left wall of the apartment is mirrored; on the opposite side, through a set of sliding mirrored panels recessed into the walls, is the bedroom. All the mirrors make the apartment feel more expansive and also refract the constant stream of light. Clustered around the glass doors leading to the terrace are the 1½” thick glass Raaberg chairs, a 1952 Vladimir Kagan couch, 1950 iron Jean Royere chairs covered in goat skin, a Harry Bertoia sculpture, and a decidedly unusual coffee table. At a charity auction, Minassian bought the pilot window from a decommissioned Concorde jet. “It’s very dense and strong turquoise glass, a color that works perfectly in this apartment,” says Minassian. “I had an iron gun metal base made, and with all the angles, it makes for an amusingly coordinated piece with the Kagan couch.”
The bedroom is dominated by a Nancy Lorenz lacquer wall installation: Minassian has designed exhibitions of her work, and is a devoted fan. “She’s studied in Japan, and the narrative of her color palette here is very natural and yet contemporary, using minerals and quartz pieces, with bits of abalone, dots of mother of pearl, and resin drops that suggest the perspective of water. It’s a very demanding process, endless coats of lacquer on wood panels, and a very tough surface when it’s finished.”
Art remains one of Minassian’s passions: “Miami has always had a great art scene — the piece by Ena Marrero in the corner of the living room, strips of nylon stockings knotted with glass stoppers, was bought on Lincoln Road at Regina Nuessle’s gallery — and Art Basel has brought even more creative buzz here. Now, an international crowd is coming to Miami to live, not just visit.”
Minassian’s journey to Miami has taken the usual path, a brief flirtation leading to a fitful but ultimately committed relationship,
”I used to work for Ralph Lauren, and would go to Miami for fashion shoots. I always liked Miami because it’s both a resort on the water and a real city: Europeans also like the newness and energy of Miami. In 1993, Debbie Ohanian saw my Paris apartment in a magazine, and hired me to do Starfish, which was meant to evoke a sophisticated 1940s Paris-meets-Hollywood glamour. And so my business, in part, began in Miami.”
Since then, Minassian has made good in design world: working with Mario Testino on Vogue ads; doing Tommy Hilfiger stores in London and grand villas in Mustique, Geneva, and Paris. But in the end, it’s always about sweet home Miami, he says: “The city has grown too fast, become too urban and built up, but there’s still a wonderful internationalism. And it’s still an accommodating and beautiful place, with all the palm trees and beaches. I live and travel all over the world, but whenever I go to Miami, my heart opens up.”
See more photos of Minassian's apartment in our photo gallery.
