Arbiters of Style (2026): The New Wave of French Interior Design
Eugenia Santiesteban Soto
From the discerning editors of FREDERIC and the creative minds at Schumacher, a beautifully photographed and written exploration of an exciting new movement in French interior design and architecture, featuring visionary talents
Something extraordinary is happening in French interior design. Like the cinematic sea change that gave us the New Wave, the next generation of designers and architects is breaking with the past to forge something entirely fresh - a movement that feels as significant as it is seductive, as trailblazing as it is sensually refined.
From rising stars like Hugo Toro and Marine Bonnefoy to established names like Jacques Grange and Jean-Louis Deniot, the twenty-one French designers in Arbiters of Style are leading a bold new charge in the decorative arts: fluent in architecture, but fluent in feeling, too; refreshingly unafraid of color; obsessed with sculptural form; and confident enough to let a single perfect gesture speak volumes. They are proving that the most profound luxury isn’t about having more - it's about knowing exactly what to leave out.
Lushly illustrated with nearly 200 color photographs, this stunning survey showcases inspiring interiors in private residences across France, from Paris and Ormesson-sur-Marne to far-flung holiday locales such as Cap Ferret, the Pyrenees, Biarritz, Île de Ré, and Saint-Tropez.
This is more than a snapshot of French style - it is elegance and sophistication reimagined by interior designers and architects who think like artists and artists who understand structure, it is a cadre of talent rewriting the rules. In an era when design feels caught between maximalist excess and beige-washed banality, these spaces represent an aesthetic reawakening, a burst of creativity that seems light-years ahead of everything else, reminding us that true style isn’t about following rules - it’s about having the vision to shatter them beautifully.
Eugenia Santiesteban Soto is the style director at FREDERIC magazine. A veteran design and lifestyle editor, she previously held staff positions at publications including Domino, Veranda, Elle Décor, and Better Homes and Gardens. Originally from Miami, she currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Alice Cavanagh is a Paris-based freelance journalist and editor. She is a contributing editor to The Financial Times' How to Spend It and also writes for the newspaper's Life and Style section, as well as for Vogue, The New York Times’s T Magazine, Cultured, and Architectural Digest.
Lindsey Tramuta is a Paris-based journalist and the author of several books about Paris, including The New Parisienne. She reports on French culture, travel, design, and business for The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Bloomberg, and Eater, and regularly leads talks on the evolving capital. She lives in the 11th arrondissement with her husband and two cats.
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