If You Can Make It HERE

Ambition meets reality in New York for designer Jean-Louis Deniot and his clients, who entrusted him with a double-wide townhouse, completed as he unveils his Waldorf Astoria renovations.

- IAN PHILLIPS

In the sitting room of an Upper East Side townhouse designed by Jean-Louis Deniot, with architecture by Anderson Kenny, an Ugo Rondinone wall sculpture hangs over a 19th-century French marble mantel. Custom sofa in Pollack and Dedar fabrics; vintage daybed and bird sculptures by Jacques Adnet; cocktail table and sconces by Ado Chale; 1950s armchair by Maxime Old; hand-painted wallcovering by Florence Girette; artwork by Donald Baechler (right).

A 17,000-square-foot triplex in Bangkok, a palace in Qatar, and a “farmhouse” in Delhi that looks more like a mini-Versailles than an agricultural holding. These are just a few of the projects Jean-Louis Deniot has taken on since the French interior designer set up his own firm in 2002. He’s currently putting the finishing touches on the Cambridge House Hotel on London’s Piccadilly, and he has residences on the drawing board in Athens, Hong Kong, and Paris.

In the entry, the Calacatta Oro marble staircase has a wrought iron handrail inspired by Jean Royère. Vintage armchair in a Pierre Frey fabric; 1940s side table by Jacques Adnet; artworks (from left) by Lee Krasner and Gregor Hildebrandt.

One city, however, has remained a sort of professional holy grail: New York. “It’s not easy to make your mark there,” Deniot says. “You really have to buckle down and persevere.” He has kept a pied-à-terre in Manhattan for the past 20 years, and he has received several residential commissions, including a grand apartment on Fifth Avenue and a duplex in a Chelsea condominium designed by Annabelle Selldorf.