Although the rooms all have ostensible functions, most are rarely used; their raisons d’être are visual, not practical. The most conventionally domestic section of the house is an inner sanctum that Lutens calls “the apartment,” which he once planned to inhabit, though he could never quite bring himself to move in. “So there’s an office with no purpose, a bedroom where I’ve never slept, a bathtub where I’ve never, ever taken a bath,” he says. There’s also a small TV room, but you can guess how many World Cup matches Lutens has watched in it. He has flipped on the TV only once, for a few seconds, to make sure it worked.
— From Casbah Confidential, an article in the June issue of W Magazine about the house in Marrakech that Serge Lutens has been renovating for the last 35 years. Lutens apparently goes there in the afternoons, but sleeps elsewhere. The article is not online, but you can see the (wonderful) pictures by Patrice Nagel here. (via press release)
*picks jaw up off the floor after looking at pics* I wonder, is there a contact address for Monsieur Lutens so that I may let him know that I’m available for house sitting?
Isn’t that gorgeous??
I was hoping I might interest him in a house swap, I’d make my flat in Oslo available for him…
Wow, I got floored by those pictures.
The story about him not wanting to move in makes sense… It is not a livable space! Where is the TV room? How does one make to eat doritos and guacamole without having a heart attack whenever someone spills salsa on the carpet?? 🙂
Also it reminds me of “The war of the roses” where the marriage falls appart as soon as Kathleen Turner finishes the house after many years.
They look like the sets on a Tarsem Singh movie…
Robin I am sure you don’t know him 😉 so to spare you the Googling….
He directed The Cell (with Jennifer Lopez, about going into the mind of a serial killer… pretty strong stuff) The Fall ( a nice picture, but dark too)
Also on a more mainstream note he directed REM’s Losing my religion video and Deep Forest’s Lullaby (which I think you’ll love 🙂 )
I have no apologies for my long post today.. it is a national holiday in Argentina (200 years from the revolution that sparked our independence just 6 years later) so I am celebrating and going to the parade tomorrow.. Yipeee! 🙂
The link to Tarsem’s video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqPK88PA8aE
I love Tarsem Singh’s work! I was wondering if he’d done anything new recently? Happy Independence Day! Viva la Revolution! (Sorry I don’t know Portuguese! :O)
Thank you Lamaroc …
We actually speak spanish, but the intention is what counts!! 😉
Tarsem is directing a high profile action film based in Mythology…
I am looking forward to it!!
*smacks forehead* Duh! lol Will look out for the new project by Tarsem. I love mythology of all kinds, so this sounds too perfect!
I keep doing that same Brazil-Argentina thing, and I don’t know why… so you’re not alone. 🙂
Thanks for the comments and the link, kaos.geo! I have that CD somewhere but had never seen the video. Hope you’ve had a wonderful 24 de Mayo!
Oh, enjoy your holiday!
Love the video, thanks. Will have to go listen to more of their music.
Thanks for posting the link, Robin.
I’m struck by this: “his friend Anjelika Huston”; I don’t know why, but I’d never have come up with her name had I been asked to suggest people with whom the famous recluse might be acquainted. I’m also disappointed that, in writing about such a splendid place, on which so much money and care has been lavished, they couldn’t research the correct spelling of one of the 3 plants mentioned: it’s “Brugmansia” – with a U, not an I. But maybe I’m just being picky. Sorry!
Of course, I went and mis-spelled Ms Huston’s name, didn’t I? Hoist by my own petard! My excuse: I’m used to spelling it the way I did as I have a German friend called Angelika, with whom I’m very often in email contact, thus I find myself writing it like that over and over again. Am I forgiven?
LOL…you were not working with an editor. You are forgiven.
Muphry’s Law strikes again!
Tommasina, do you know the plant (the Brugmansia)?
How does it smell lie?
Since it is mentioned together with tuberose and datura, my antennae rose up!
Hi Zazie. Here’s what I can tell you (quoting from an online source!):
Fragrance varies considerably (…) with intensity ranging from none (B. sanguinea) to overpowering. The intoxicating scents are variously described as musk, lemon, mint, lily, hyacinth, citrus, jasmine, gardenia, and more.
Hope this helps!
I grow brugs on my deck. They are tropical so they spend the winter in my garage, dormant. They grow like mad (and, as one of my favorite garden writers says, have the appetite of a teenage boy) and bloom usually about 2-3 times in the summer. They blooms are huge, down-hanging chalices and the smell (which comes out at night) is unique and impossible to describe. It’s sweet but not cloying and an unusual mix of other floral and fruity scents.
Good to know where my money is being spent!
I think I will print these out to tape to the cardboard box I’m destined to end my days in…
Seriously, amazingly beautiful and strange….
🙂
HA…it is good to see where the money goes, no? And that it’s as strange & beautiful as the perfumes.
wow, you’ll have the fanciest box under the bridge….all the rest of us will want to hang out with you (and your perfume collection and fancy wall paper) instead of in our own cardboard boxes.
The room in picture No. 9 scares me, and that’s not easily done. Otherwise, I have to say I love the rest of it. I’ll live there for him. (I’ll just avoid room No. 9… I can use it for putting the cats in time-out.)
Always good to have a time-out room for the cats.
haha, ain’t that the truth! 😉
And I thought I was the only one with bad kitties!
My cats get separated from each other and put in time-outs multiple times a day!
I looked at those pics the other day and the sumptuousness astounded me. But to not dwell within the beauty is strange indeed. To each his own.
Robin, btw, I found Chuao yesterday-Coffee & Anise. Yum.
Oh, I’m so jealous!! Glad to hear it’s good, will get one eventually.
Two words – WOW and ECCENTRIC!
Okay, Serge. You take the afternoons and I’ll be there for mornings and evenings. Happy to do overnights too. 😉
MUCH more beautiful than the Winchester House, though almost as eccentric.
This is an amazing piece of work/project….it is however, not a home. Also, while it’s Serge’s money and he is welcome to spend it any way he wants—it seems a huge waste to me….unless he plans to turn it over to starving orphans or something. I’m hoping he puts something into charitable works too. I don’t begrudge anybody being wealthy I do however become annoyed with blatant waste and complete insouciance for the suffering in the world.
oh, and you all probably just figured out my level of general disdain for British (and other nations as well) Royalty…..
Daisy, although I agree with your thoughts about SL’s having wasted money that might have been much better spent on helping others, I don’t think one can assume that British (and other) Royalty is “completely insouciant for the suffering in the world” just because they have a ton of money. Think, for example, of Prince Charles’s trusts set up, and work done for, environmental issues: he’s actually now seen as a pioneering eco-farmer. I know that’s not directly dealing with issues of poverty, homelessness, etc.; it could nevertheless be seen fairly unequivocally as using power and wealth to do good.
yes, of course you are right and I should have just kept my mouth shut. sorry
Oh dear, I didn’t mean to cause offense or come across as snippy: sorry if I did!
🙁
Oh no, it’s quite alright…I shouldn’t have said anything of a political nature….I was in a discussion earlier about taxes and who is supported by taxes etc…and it sort of got me aggravated. This blog is certainly not the place to make political comments. My bad.
So I’m sorry to have offended anyone who holds the royal houses in esteem.
But then there was that whole Colonial Empire thing that Britain had going for hundreds of years…
Not arguing with that. I could say a whole lot about America, but shan’t
🙂
LOL –yeah, but then we’d have start in on the Spanish and French as well….and then my Native American SIL will have to chime in about how we of European descent stole their land and decimated their people…it’s really a can of worms. 😉
Oh, I’m not trying to single any empire out in particular, just pointing out that money=power=money – and to remind that the money of royals, which may or may not be donated to “good causes,” actually comes from long a history of the ravaging and exploitation of other peoples.
Hey guys, thanks to all of you for keeping this whole conversation on a nice tone! But before anybody decides to join in on a less than nice tone, I pronounce this particular thread closed 🙂
Hmmm, this place would be unlivable for me too; it seriously rubs up against my minimalist, open-airiness aesthetic. Allergic reaction happening here!
However, the gardens are stunning. And I just adore Serge’s comment about perfumers being nature’s “mixers.”
Thank you! Yes it’s all very pretty but gaaahhhhh! It’s so opposite of what I look for in a home (although he dosen’t seem to keen to call it home either). I would lose it if I had to live in a place like that.
I’m wondering whether Europeans reading that article would perceive it as elitist. This American certainly did. I sort of feel sorry for Serge; makes him sound shallow. Having been a fan of his scents for so many years, I really don’t want to believe that he would brag about building a house that he never uses. His tone may have been one of, “Gee, I’m a bit embarrassed that I built this opulent home and have never properly used it,” but the choice of words and framing in the article make him sound smug. I can see why Daisy had the reaction she did.
ITA about the elitism-factor.
I tend to view this as more of a work of art than a dwelling. He has put years into achieving a vision that he wants. If he were to die and leave it to the state as a museum, would you visit it? I sure would.
It would be glorious to see! but I don’t think I’d want to spend the night in there….in the dark…alone? eeek! too scary.
Did anybody play the computer games Myst and Riven years ago? It looks like the world in Riven. The lighting, the colors, the slightly creepy metal things hanging on the walls…
Right on! It totally looks like Myst…
Oh migosh! it does! it looks just like Myst!!! (remembering many moderately frustrating hours spent wracking my brain and then trying everything on the off chance that it’d work…….)
Oh I *so* would never have pegged you as a gamer…
not very often….and very few games have ever sucked me in….because when I get sucked in—I have a hard time pulling away.
Gorgeous….love his comment that the house ‘ran him off’ (or words to that effect). It’s not so much a home as a stage set, like one those architecture magazine spreads of living rooms you can’t imagine, you know, actually LIVING in. Unless you had staff, of course. But Serge does…a chief houseman! I need my husband to adopt that title.
Looks like Serge pumped plenty of $$ into the local economy! Maybe he’d like a house here in Florida next! 😉
On a vaguely related not…check out http://unhappyhipsters.com/
Wonderful link, thank you, Suzanne!
It’s stunningly beautiful but frankly rather sad. He hasn’t created a house let alone a home, he’s created a museum. Call it that and get on with your life.
SL seems to have a sort of a fraught relationship with luxury, doesn’t he? He loves intensity in stimulation but it eventually drives him away. (I’m thinking of his comment, too, that he himself doesn’t wear perfume – didn’t we see that somewhere?) He creates these incredibly intense experiences but then can’t bear to subject himself to them night and day.
That house is a very intense experience. I would be exhausted trying to live in it for even a day!
He’s from a very modest background so it’s possible he does feel a bit guilty about his wealth.
Good points you make. I’d rather my own shabby living room.
How many sitting rooms does one person need? Lovely, yes – completely nuts to even think about living in? Definitely. It reminds me of when we would study the Middle Ages and all my kids would want to live in castles – until I disabused them of all their ideas of luxury and privacy… and running water.
yeah, now explain “garderobes” to them….no, not the modern version of garderobes that are like closets…but the medieval ones that were indoor “outhouses”. ewww
Loved this photospread and commented on it last night on Elena’s blog.
How dare he not live in that place.
I’ll say again I’d be happy if I could have a small, cozy room in Marrakech… and the vacation time and funds to fly there to spend a month every year!!!
Let’s see….. my lease is up in October…..hmmmm….
This is as stunning and as opulent as some of his perfumes, but it’s certainly not cozy, is it? Give me a hayloft and a bottle of Chergui…
The photographs look especially opulent because I believe they are what is called HDR – a process that takes 3 exposures of the same image and then layers them so you have every possible detail. Here is an example of a train carriage:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/l18daw/art/603117-8-empty
It is a lush home, though – good grief! Beautiful.
Wow! I knew there was something eerie about those photos but had no idea how it was done. Thanks for the explanation and link, Tama!
Hmm. How sad and wasteful to put all that effort into building such an opulent home only to leave it sit empty. It is rather spooky looking though – I myself would not want to live in it.
I don’t think it’s a waste or a shame he doesn’t live in that opulent house. He probably will turn it into a museum at some point. He could have spent all his money on perishable stuff or gorging himself with expensive food and drink, but he’s used it (some of it at least) to create something beautiful. And I expect he is giving employment to quite a few people too.
Or, like us, he could have spent all his money on… perfume!
If you’ll recall, Serge doesn’t wear perfume.
Oh, I so wish we could edit our posts. I’m always noticing stupid mistakes in my posts – too late. Aaaargh!
Gee, I hate it when I can’t bring myself to move into my palatial, extravagant, multi-million-dollar house! Seriously, though, I don’t mind people having any amount of money, or spending it any way they want, as long as the money was acquired and spent honestly and legally. No one has to buy any of Lutens’ fragrances, and his products are legal, so the money is rightfully his, to do with as he wishes. I get tired of the choruses of “Oh what a shame to waste money on (fill in the blank) when there are suffering children in the world”. The perfume-haters of the world could say the same thing about everyone here. Everyone on this site has spent money on perfume, which is not essential to survival, believe it or not–I understand some people have lived for years and years without it–and has nothing to do with feeding starving children. It has everything to do with the human emotional need for beauty and pleasure and fun in life. I don’t think it is wrong of Lutens to spend his money on the house–I just find it puzzling to spend so much money and time on something and then not use it. I just don’t get it.
Incidentally, I do NOT find the house creepy–I rather like it, and I LOVE the gardens and the stained glass. If Lutens is looking for anyone to occupy that empty, unused house for a few weeks, I know a certain couple who would love to celebrate the 20th anniversary in such a house. I just don’t know if we have the right wardrobe. It doesn’t look like a jeans and T-shirt kind of place.
I completely agree, although to be honest I might have had a problem with it if he’d built an Third-World-dictator-style palace of tackiness instead of this incredible feast for the eyes. And I, too, would be quite happy to live there — just let me know if you need a chief housewoman for your anniversary stay!
That would be “A” Third World dictator, not “AN.” (I changed it from “African” to “Third World” so I would seem like a plain old snob instead of a racist one!)
Nice! Hasn’t everyone got one of those carved folding side tables?? Most Aussies who did the big tour dragged one home! (Not me, but I see them everywhere…).
The use of lavish intricate usually abstract pattern is a feature of design in Muslim countries, partly because of the history of the banning of the ‘real’ image…
Serge is a great decorator…so he does not live there? I remember reading a couple of decades ago about his house in Morocco, this is very deja-vu…
I was going to be all up-in-arms about him not living there and then thought about art collectors who storage their collection and maybe just rotate a piece or two in and out. He spends his money on beauty. Nothing wrong with that.
Not to be a downer but I’m sort of repulsed by the gross opulence of it all. I realize as a fan of fragrances I’m sort of caught up in a rather decadent hobby by definition so there’s some irony there but.. ugh. Oh well. Some pretty stuff but it just feels so colonial imperial and such.