Elliott Barnes, Harmonies virtuoso

Architect Elliott Barnes is also, unsurprisingly a genuine musician, interested in striking the right note. He recently unearthed a piece of fabric inspired, 12 years earlier, by a seaweed in a Japanese restaurant, that perfectly complemented a current project. After studying in Los Angeles and New York, this selfstyled control freak joined Arthur Erickson Architects. In 1987, he met Andrée Putman and followed her to Écart S.A. in Paris, where he also taught a course at the Arts-Déco for several years. After a stint at Andrée Putman SARL from 1997 to 2003, he launched his own agency, EBI (Elliott Barnes Interiors), in 2004, specialising his interior design from Paris to Tokyo. En 2008, he breathed new life into the famous Duc des Lombards jazz club and has now signed Ruinart HQ in Reims and the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Wolfsburg. His evolutionist style respects people and places, striving to turn “what is hidden” into assets. “Our ambition is to ease the living style of our customers rather than exist on our own.”