Today, AD is welcomed by Lenny Kravitz to tour his regal home in Paris. The superstar musician has loved Paris since he first visited in 1989 but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that he decided it was time to get a place in the city. With a small apartment on the Seine in mind, Kravitz's vision deviated a little when he ended up viewing the grand mansion of Countess Anne d’Ornano. Having started his AD100 studio, Kravitz Design, Lenny spearheaded the design of his home. Soulful elegance was Kravitz’s design philosophy, filling his home with photographs, artwork, and artifacts connecting him to his ancestors and influential figures from throughout his life. However, the true heart and soul of the house lies downstairs in the boiler room Kravitz converted into his own speakeasy-style club.
Artwork © Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Artwork © Nathaniel Mary Quinn
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00A.D. Welcome to Hotel de Roxy.
00:07Come on in.
00:08Well, first of all, this place is called Hotel de Roxy.
00:32It's named after my mother because it was her dream to come live in Paris.
00:38She wanted to retire after doing 11 seasons of The Jeffersons, and she never got to do
00:44it.
00:45So, I'm doing it for both of us, and this place is a real gift.
00:53I've been in this house for 22 years now, but I've been in Paris my whole career.
00:58When my first album, Let Love Rule, came out in 89, they weren't quite sure how to market
01:06me in America because I didn't fit in a box.
01:10So, they sent me to Paris.
01:12It's my favorite city in the world.
01:14It's just an inspiring place culturally, music, art, fashion, cuisine, it's got it all.
01:22I love Paris, but I love this house.
01:25And I walked through the front door into this entry, and I knew I was at home.
01:33This place was made to make music in.
01:36It's got the most beautiful reverb.
01:41As you can hear, I got the opportunity to work with Steinway.
01:47And I designed this grand piano a few years ago.
01:51And it's a piece that I'm really proud of.
01:55I wanted to use an African form for the piano and blend the two styles of European design
02:02and African design.
02:04And I designed it for this space.
02:06The legs, as you can see, are hand-carved.
02:11And all of the design started with the design of the legs.
02:16And all of the bronze work is all hand-done.
02:22And the petals are the same.
02:26This house continually pays tribute to my ancestors.
02:31And as you'll see as we walk through the house, there's photographs of them everywhere.
02:36All of this photography tells a story throughout the house, through Black history, American,
02:43and African.
02:44It's all African.
02:45But that's Gordon Parks, who's one of my favorite photographers and artists.
02:49And I had the pleasure of getting to know him before he passed.
02:54And this photograph is taken by Ouija.
02:58It reminded me of my family, of my grandparents, when they used to take me out in New York City.
03:03And you would get dressed.
03:04You'd put on, as we would say, your Sunday best and go out on the town.
03:14This is the Petit Salon.
03:26It's called the Roxy Room.
03:27And it's dedicated to my mother, as she was the love of my life as a mama's boy.
03:34I found a bunch of photographs that my father had taken of my mother in the late 60s and got
03:40them framed by the same framer that does a lot of framing for the Louvre.
03:44I just wanted to have a room where I was surrounded by her image.
03:48This is my favorite photograph of my mother.
03:51It's just a moment.
03:53And I love the composition, the hat, the look on her face.
03:58And that photograph, one of the major ways that I remember her is in the late 60s, she
04:03would read poetry in Central Park.
04:06And this guy, he used to play the guitar.
04:09And she would sit like that and read Langston Hughes and other poets.
04:15It's one of the deepest impressions I have of her.
04:18For me, soul is the most essential element, putting yourself into it, whatever your soul
04:27is.
04:28You know, people ask, well, how do you define your design?
04:32I call it soulful elegance.
04:34You know, it's being elegant, sophisticated, but with soul, you know, with your heart, with
04:42your spirit, because design and elegance without that feeling is just designer names and, you
04:52know, stuff.
04:53But when you're collecting and it really reflects who you are, what you are, where you've been,
04:59it's beautiful, you know, whatever your style is, just being authentic to who you are.
05:07We all have to tell our story.
05:18This is the Grand Salon.
05:21And this is where I receive folks.
05:25This is where we hang out.
05:26We all sit around and sit on the floor and play music.
05:30It's got a lot of art in here that I love.
05:32The whole room is built around Muhammad Ali, his legacy and his message captured by Andy
05:40Warhol.
05:41I love Andy Warhol, but I love Muhammad Ali.
05:45And yes, he was the greatest boxer.
05:47But what I love about Muhammad Ali is the humanitarian work, the civil rights work.
05:53He was a freedom fighter.
05:55And that is so important.
05:56If you think about the things he was saying at that time in the sixties, he said some very
06:02challenging things, but he was so intelligent and he had a great wit and strength, and he
06:08knew how to balance that all together.
06:10This room is about that.
06:17Another thing that I love about this room is this is the first chandelier that I designed,
06:22that Kravitz Design did, this chandelier was made for Swarovski, and it was in one of the
06:29art fairs years ago.
06:32It's called the Hotel de Roxy.
06:34Some of the articles in here that are giving me so much vibe are these African sculptures that
06:39I got from Church Boutique, which is one of my favorite boutiques in the world.
06:42It's run by my good friend Rodney Burns, and he has curated quite a few things in the house.
06:50Yeah, these chairs were done by Kravitz Design many, many years ago.
06:54I love when you do something years ago and you have no idea where they're going to end up,
07:00but when they end up where they are, it looks like they were designed for that space.
07:07At the end of the day, it's all about comfort, creating an ambiance where you can feel relaxed,
07:12a space that opens communication. The lines, the silhouettes, the fabrics, the lighting,
07:20the art, you know, all of it. It all matters, but at the end of the day, if the room is not comfortable,
07:24then it's not working.
07:37This is the dining room. I like to have dinner parties and invite interesting people from all different
07:43backgrounds to sit and enjoy a meal and conversation. This room is centered around
07:51this photograph of my grandfather, who was the head of the family and such an inspirational figure
07:57to me. This photograph was taken by Reuven Afanador years ago in Nassau, Bahamas.
08:03I love that he's here looking over the table, still blessing everyone who comes in here.
08:10I feel his presence and I love seeing him every day. This room's all about the nighttime. I never have
08:16lights on very bright. People come in here and they think it's quite dark. So the lights are always on
08:21very dimly and it just feels rich and warm and vibey. And that's the way I like it.
08:29This is by one of my favorite artists in the furniture world. I have several pieces of his
08:36and I've been collecting him for a long time. This is Paul Evans. He was an absolutely incredible
08:41artist and I'm just drawn to his work. How brutal, how elegant. This table is designed by Carl Springer
08:49and I've had this for many years. I love it. The lacquer is just worn. It's got a lot of character.
08:55These are Africa chairs. Scarpa had these for a very long time. They just made their way to Paris.
09:00And the two chairs at the end, I found at the Paris Lee market at Les Pouces, where I go every week.
09:08One of my favorite things to do in Paris, looking for furniture and art from all these wonderful
09:13vendors that really curate well. We're in the library and this library probably means the most to me
09:30because my mother, she kept speaking about learning French and reading books and that she wanted to have
09:37a library. And it was something that stuck with me and it's actually filled with a lot of books
09:42that she had. A lot of the African art books were hers and a lot of the literature was hers.
09:48Those are James Brown's boots. James Brown is it. James Brown is the funk. James Brown is the rhythm.
09:54James Brown taught me so much and gave the world so much joy and full of powerful messages.
10:04Say it loud. I'm black and I'm proud.
10:11Downstairs is the work floor. That's where the studio is. I collect pieces that have great meaning
10:16and inspiration to me. People that changed my life, that inspired me, that educated me. And all of the
10:22the things I have down there came to me different ways. Some personally, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown,
10:30Prince, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, John Lennon. On my birthday many years ago, I was at Yoko Ono's place in
10:40the Dakota. And she said, today's your birthday. I said, yeah. And she said, come here. She took me into the room
10:46where there was a set of drawers that still had John's clothes in it. And she pulled out this
10:52beautiful shirt. She said, this was one of his favorites. Happy birthday.
10:57We're in the bedroom. It's a gift to be able to sleep peacefully every night. The word recreation is
11:14re-creation. When you're an artist, to be able to continually be inspired, you have to continually
11:20recreate so that you can be vibrating at the frequency you need to be able to pick up the things that
11:32you're being transmitted. I'm just an antenna. You know, I don't do this. It comes to me. This room
11:39provides that space for me to be able to close the doors and recreate myself on a daily basis.
11:47It's such a luxury to have a room with this kind of volume. And the oval shape is just extraordinary.
11:57And very few pieces. Really, it's just the bed and two chairs, two tables and two lamps and a console.
12:04But they're all very substantial and hold weight. And so you're able to put very few things in the room,
12:13but they're all very bold and give a lot of energy. And of course, the Moroccan rugs, which I've always
12:20loved. You know, I sleep on the floor sometimes. This portrait that you see on the wall is the first
12:28thing I ever got at the flea market here in Paris. Back in the early 90s, Vanessa Paradis turned me on to
12:35the flea market. We used to go together all the time to buy furniture. And I saw this beautiful
12:41charcoal drawing of Leontine Price, who I love. One of the best opera singers ever. I bought it just
12:49like that, came in that frame. That portrait has been with me since then. I just love the elegance and
12:55the strength of her image, you know. And she was just an incredibly gifted singer. Music is essential.
13:05You know, I have Bang & Olsen all throughout the house. I love their products. I love their design.
13:10I did not want to have a television in the bedroom. I have this room next door where I can watch films.
13:15And there's a guest room where my special guests stay. And then you have the landing, the area out there
13:23where I sit sometime. That's it on this floor. So now I'm going to take you down to the basement
13:30so you can experience the heart and soul of this house. Come on.
14:00Eco le went down.
14:00따� 훌
14:03Go le went
14:08Go le went
14:10Ki- сог
14:13Go le went
14:13Go le went
14:17Go te
14:19Go le ruled
14:20Go le
14:20Go le
14:23Go le
14:25Go le
14:27Go le
14:27Go le
14:28Go le
14:30The design of this house.
14:31It's been an evolution because I moved in here
14:34when it was empty, did work on the place,
14:37put it together in the way I felt at the time.
14:39But I've evolved over the last 22 years.
14:44And so the house has just been completed
14:47to where it's at the place that I am now.
14:51And I know that this will last.
14:54I won't need to touch it again in my lifetime.
14:57It represents so many parts of my history,
15:01my story, my evolution.
15:04And, you know, Zoey will take it from here.
15:16AD, thanks for coming by.
15:19I hope you enjoyed yourself.
15:20And next time you're in Paris, ring the bell.
15:25Doors always open.
15:27Peace.