In the world of luxury architecture and interior design, it’s the details that build the legend. Rare materials, handcrafted finishes, and narrative-driven spaces create atmospheres that linger long after one has left. But Tristan Auer surpasses even the loftiest expectations, blurring the lines between interior and experience, and crafting environments designed to hold memory.
Stepping into a room by Tristan Auer feels like entering a story already in motion. He has long insisted that his inspiration doesn’t come from fleeting trends, but from deep personal experience. As he puts it: “I’m never really inspired by any magazines or movies anymore… I try to constitute creation from myself, and design from what is coming from deep inside of me. Everything inspires me, all the details, even the most insignificant. My childhood… serves as a primary resource.”
Born in southern France and educated at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Auer began his career in the ateliers of Christian Liaigre and Philippe Starck, two minimalist masters who instilled in him a reverence for interiors as narrative architecture. When he launched his own Paris studio in 2002, Auer started out on the creative journey to decorate unique spaces.
From the hushed palaces of Paris to the shimmering skylines of Dubai, Auer’s portfolio is as far-reaching as it is refined. What follows is a look at some of his most significant architectural and interior works, each one a world of its own.
Auer in the Gulf: Crafting Modern Heritage
Tristan Auer’s entry into the Dubai landscape brings something altogether more nuanced, especially in a city known for its dramatic designs.
Eden House Za’abeel, Dubai
Rising quietly beside the buzz of DIFC and Downtown Dubai, Eden House Za’abeel isn’t a typical residential tower, and that’s precisely the point. Designed in collaboration with DXB Lab and H&H Development, the project is a masterclass in calm geometry and natural elegance.
Auer’s interiors speak in hushed tones: pale woods, stone surfaces, and soft textiles lend the spaces a distinctly European serenity. Yet there’s a subtle nod to its desert setting too, the curved façade takes inspiration from the Ghaf tree, a symbol of resilience and grace in the UAE.
Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab
Eden House was all about quiet elegance and subtlety, but Marsa Al Arab is a more poetic, lavish, or dream-like experience. Here, Auer partnered with Wilson Associates to reimagine the interiors of a hotel shaped like a superyacht, with all curves, brass, and maritime glamour.
A fusion of vintage European Art Deco with Gulf shores designs, creating panoramic staircases and nautical detailing, Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab carries an unmistakable air of Riviera nonchalance. Every suite feels like a private vessel, floating just off the shores of Jumeirah Beach. Meanwhile, the guest rooms are explicitly styled after Italy’s classic Riva yachts, with sleek wood accents and flowing lines that echo marine elegance and bring a true slice of Mediterranean-inspired simplicity to Dubai’s lively waterfront.
The Parisian Stage: Defining a Global Legacy
While Auer's Gulf commissions have introduced his name to new skylines, it’s in Paris that his legend was born.
Hôtel de Crillon, Paris
No designer takes on a palace without nerves. But when Auer was chosen to lead the renovation of Hôtel de Crillon, one of the most storied addresses in France, he approached it like a conductor with a favourite score. The 18th-century architecture was preserved, but under his hand, it took on a new life.
Velvet-lined reading nooks, hand-carved panelling, and low-lit corridors rich in patina, this was a revival of spirit and stone. The project won global acclaim and remains one of the finest examples of historic luxury reinterpreted for a modern guest.
Les Bains-Douches, Paris
As the Crillon was about heritage, Les Bains-Douches is a pure pleasure and revelry. Once the wildest nightclub in 1980s Paris, the space was reborn under Auer as a boutique hotel, and a love letter to the avant-garde.
Tiles inspired by Roman baths, scarlet lighting, and echoes of its rock’n’roll past give this hotel a cinematic sensuality. It’s Auer at his most provocative.
Hôtel Sinner, Paris
Just when his style seems defined, he shifts course once more. Hôtel Sinner is proof. Hidden in the Marais, it is both ecclesiastical and indulgent, stained-glass windows sit beside velvet banquettes, and corridors glow like cathedrals after dark.
Guests are greeted by the scent of incense drifting through the lobby, setting a mood as mysterious as the design itself.
Orient-Express Hotel, Bangkok
On more distant shores, Auer’s talents found new rhythm in Bangkok’s MahaNakhon Tower. Designing for the Orient-Express, a brand soaked in a nostalgic haze, he revived the elegance of old-world travel.
With rich, high-end materials and design details like lacquered panels, polished woods, and opulent flourishes, he brought the romance of vintage train-travel style into the modern skyline. It’s exoticism with elegance, showing how Tristan’s creativity crosses boundaries and cultures.
Conclusion: A Certain Quiet Magic
Tristan Auer designs rooms with a keen interest in creating ambiance. His work includes the whisper-quiet elegance of Eden House Za’abeel in Dubai as well as the cinematic flair of Bangkok’s MahaNakhon. What distinguishes Tristan’s projects is that they become a living extension of their surroundings, shaped as much by place as by people.
And the story continues. Auer is now setting his sights across the Atlantic, with a new hotel underway in Miami, promising a blend of tropical light and Parisian restraint. In Oman, a discreet, wellness-led boutique project is quietly taking form. He draws not from trend forecasts, but from memory, light, material, and emotion. That’s what keeps the world’s most discerning clients returning, because in a Tristan Auer space, you don’t just see the design. You feel it.
