MALMAISON
By Susanna Salk for 1stdibs

“You must sit on this leopard stool!” encourages dealer extraordinaire, Roger Prigent, not long after I enter his penthouse apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “It once belonged to Gary Cooper.” Prigent’s excitement is as fresh as though he just finished a feature film with Cooper and the two of them are up for Oscars.

The wood stool is indeed wonderful with its mirrored legs punctuated with a lion’s paw. It’s classic, yet unexpected, style aptly reflects Prigent’s dedication to the past but also to his commitment to the future and all the stylish surprises it may contain.

“I have always done something new,” says Prigent; this is true ever since he pioneered his 10th Street ode to Empire back in 1978 with his shop called Malmaison. “No one was collecting French pieces of 1800-1850's except for me. I had bought a lot from my earnings as a fashion photographer and I loved this time period.” It was inspired – if not guided – by the spirit of Josephine de Beauharnais. As a boy, Prigent lived in the Paris suburbs of Malmaison, near the castle Josephine bought for Napoleon; a bit later, when Prigent's family moved to Martinique, he discovered that it was Josephine’s birthplace. “The Emperess is the godmother of Malmaison Antiques for sure,” proclaims Prigent.

It wasn’t long before le tout New York was sharing his passion for all things Empire. Prigent and his devoted sister – and Malmaison manager – Yvonne Lacks, realized they needed more space. “I caught the collecting disease from Helena Rubenstein,” says Prigent, “she was a genius when it came to real estate who told me to 'be sure and buy the place where you work.’” Prigent bought a townhouse on East 74th Street and transformed the first two floors into the ideal space in which to sell to Malmaison’s international list of collectors, and then dedicated the top two floors to entertain his and his sister's eclectic group of friends. “Andy Warhol used to tell me that if anyone didn’t believe that I was once slim and good looking that he had proof with photographs,” remembers Prigent with a smile. But one doesn’t need proof positive that this man was once a dynamic force of hospitality and talent: it’s still omnipresent with his infectious energy and belief that, even if his sight has now failed him, looking ahead at the future is as exciting as ever – especially when it involves selling a whole new time period to his devoted following.

In 2005 Prigent announced he was retiring; his beloved townhouse was going to be torn down to make room for a high-rise tower. He filled his current modern apartment with his favorite Empire pieces and sold the rest of his treasured collection at Christies. One can now sit on a 1795 Jacob armchair and gaze at the drop dead modern city skyline, a dichotomy not lost on Prigent. "Funny how this Frenchman is now living in a modern high rise. But I am a true New Yorker, always have been."

After about five months of retirement, Prigent did something entirely foreign to him: he got bored. He called his sister and told her Malmaison was going to reopen, but this time, it was going to celebrate a new era: from the mid-Forties to the Seventies. "I barely got a vacation," jokes Lacks.

Prigent started collecting with a renewed passion and focus. “I decided to make Jansen famous,” says Prigent who believes that he must have the world's largest collection from the celebrated design firm. It took about two years for Prigent to fill up his warehouse on 130th Street and Park Avenue with treasures, which also include Serge Roche and a dash of Karl Springer. “As always, ” says Prigent, “I only buy quality.”

This bon vivant is definitely ready for the next act of his illustrious career, not to mention hosting another dinner party for twelve. When I ask him to assemble his dream list of dinner companions, the names are as eclectic as the host himself: “Mick Jagger, Julian Schnabel and Carla Bruni (She is one smart cookie, no?).” One feels that there is definitely room for anyone with unique talent and personality at Prigent’s table. “Just not Donald Trump,” he adds with a wink.