The Artist Is Present

For a keen-eyed collector, architect Elliott Barnes carves out a Paris retreat that centers an impressive breadth of work

- Camille Okhio

For architect and designer Elliott Barnes, a minimalist approach to design can contain multitudes. Take, for instance, the Paris home he designed for veteran art collector and tech innovator Hélène Nguyen-Ban. "There was only one constraint," Barnes says. "She wanted to use one single material throughout the whole home." That material was the grayhued, porous, hard-wearing Vals quartzite that's been used in some of the world's most luxurious buildings, including Peter Zumthor's thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland. It covers two of the three floors in Nguyen-Ban's 8,000-square-foot home.

Here, the stone serves as the protagonist in a space designed to disappear. "My whole job was to provide Hélène the absence of presence," says Barnes, an ELLE DECOR A-List designer. "When a friend walks into a client's house, it's important to me that they feel it's a representation of that person. If they say, 'This is an Elliott Barnes space,' then I didn't get it right." Barnes's use of the stone served an overarching requirement: to afford the best environment for Nguyen-Ban's art collection, which includes contemporary pieces by Danh Vo, Thao Phan Nguyen, and Thu Van Tran.

"My art is part of my family," she says. "I wanted a space that would not only showcase my collection but enhance it.