Francois Catroux Biography
François Catroux was born on 5 December 1936 in Mascara, French Algeria, and was an authoritative self-taught designer. He was a great friend of Yves Saint Laurent, so much so that the two shared childhoods, attending the same school and achieving spectacular and influential careers throughout the world. Catroux's first project, a minimalist showroom in the Milanese palace of designer Mila Schon, landed him the cover of L'Oeil magazine, beginning a long and significant legacy. In the Seventies, Catroux was called upon to decorate the apartments of some prestigious families, such as that of the Rothschilds, but also of the tycoon Antenor Patiño, Hélène Rochas and Diane von Furstenberg and her husband Barry Diller, for whom he created the interiors of a luxury yacht. His design talent ranged from creating space-age boutiques to elegant apartments that drew on Art Deco and modern design, to chic, mirror-adorned residences full of glamor and elegance located in Hong Kong, New York and London. His spaces might surprise with the introduction of unusual elements, such as an elk antler chandelier or pink fluorescent lighting in a hallway, but his distinctive sensibility combined the magnificence and grandeur of high ceilings and elegant moldings with elements that evoked comfort and elegant understated opulence. Catroux passed away on November 8, 2020.
