L
ACQUERWORK IS ONE OF VIETNAM’S OLDEST
art forms, dating back thousands of years. The
ancient technique is what initially brought
French interior architect and decorator Bruno
de Caumont to Vietnam, first as a visitor and
then as a permanent resident of Ho Chi Minh
City, where his luxe collection of vividly lac-
quered furniture—inspired by the 18th-century
Directoire period, a favorite of this former Pari-
sian antiques dealer—is still painstakingly fabri-
cated by local artisans.
In a lovely reversal of roles, as de Caumont looked to his
new home for inspiration and craftsmanship, several local
connoisseurs began to look to the debonair designer—a
descendant of Ange Jacques Gabriel, the architect of Par-
is’s Place de la Concorde—for his expertise in, of all things,In the music room,
the armchairs and the
lacquered side table
are custom. The lava-
stone floor tiles are by
Saigon River Factory.
The design of the
poolhouse was
inspired by a building
in the Forbidden City
in Hue, Vietnam.
Landscape design,
Sean Knibb.