From designing famous nightclubs to sketching new looks for private residences, Miami’s ‘king of interiors’ gets the job done
The statuesque, silver-haired and impeccably dressed French gentleman walks into the conference room of his very own two-story office building. His magnificently designed offices are simply a slight representation of the large scale work this talent with an inherent je ne sais quoi is responsible for — both locally and internationally.
François Fossard has been an integral part of Miami’s nightlife for the last two decades. He is very aware of what led him to his success — after all, the proof is in the projects that he has flawlessly executed alongside a roster of major nightlife and hotel industry bigwigs.
After years spent designing a slew of lofty projects including a slew of nightclubs, the Anatomy gym locations and even the legendary St. Tropez hotspot Les Caves du Roy at the Byblos Hotel, Frossard made the decision to continue his love affair with Miami but leave the banging bass of the nightclubs behind. Now, he would focus on the cities hottest grabs for acclaimed interior designers: hospitality projects and residential properties.
THE LURE OF NEON LIGHTS
This French Alps-born guru was educated in Switzerland and Paris, where he studied design, engineering and dabbled in architecture. In the late 1980s, Frossard moved to Chicago, where he developed close relationships in the design world. Fourteen years later, he was working at an agency that designed conceptual mega- clubs like Crobar in the MidWest. “When I worked on the project in Chicago,” Frossard explains, “they saw my skill. This all spiraled into meeting the who’s who of nightlife in Miami.”
Coinciding with a wave of modeling agency openings and Gianni Versace’s move toSouth Beach, Miami’s nightlife was booming. Through introductions, Frossard was referred to top-tier nightlife powerhouses of the 1990s like Eric Milon and Roman Jones. He was soon and unexpectedly hired as the lead designer on Crobar’s second outpost at the old Cameo theater on Washington Avenue. This led to an eventual big — and permanent — move to Miami. “I saw it as potential to bring my talent to Miami,” he says, “there is nothing like it in the world.”
Frossard’s career accelerated as he retained Opium Group as his client and in the early stages of the Millennium, designing what would come to be defined as the city’s most exclusive clubs like Privé at Opium Garden, Mansion, Set and Louis. Frossard worked closely with Chris Paciello on celebrity- favorite Rockwell and the modern spaces of Anatomy, a chain of luxury gyms in South Florida. He is even responsible for the French Riviera-style vibe at the glamorous South Beach establishment Villa Azure. When Shareef Malnik needed to revamp The Forge, he too called Frossard, as did Dave Grutman, who recruited him to design Arcadia at the legendary Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The latest Pubbelly restaurants in Brickell City Centre and Aventura Mall? Yep. Those are Frossard’s, too.
DESIGNING DREAM SPACES
While working with Grutman on the Hard Rock Hotel project in Punta Cana, Frossard connected with the Chapur family. For the past seven years, he has been working as the exclusive designer for the group’s high-brow international properties located in Cabo San Lucas, Cancun and Jamaica. He is currently working on a 2,150-room hotel in Punta Cana. He has also just designed two private residences, one on North Bay Road and one in Cocoplum.
While enticing for the eye to behold, beautifully designed interior spaces function best when they create a relaxed vibe for the people who are surrounded by them day-to- day. Relaxed vibes are what is on Frossard’s mind when he is not sketching away or meeting with clients. Along with a proclivity for travel, the avid boater just purchased a waterfront home in Miami Shores, which will allow him to kick his legs up and enjoy his version of the simple life, in the city whose aesthetic he had a hand in creating.