Juan Pablo Molyneux

Juan Pablo Morales de Molyneux was born in Chile.[2][1] He grew up in Santiago,[3] and vacationed in Europe.[2] His father was a banker and a sports car collector.[2] He grew up speaking Spanish, French and English, and playing rugby.[2]

He graduated from the Catholic University of Chile, where he studied architecture.[2][1] He later attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Ecole du Louvre in Paris.[1]

Molyneux is a maximalist interior designer.[2] However, Molyneux himself prefers not to be constrained by such a limited description: " . . . don’t call him a 'maximalist.' A journalist affixed that label a few years back, and much to Molyneux’s dismay, it has stuck. 'I’ve never called myself anything,' he insists, professing to enjoy a pared-down, modern approach as much as a classical one."[4] He started his career in Santiago, and later moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina.[2] Later, he moved to New York City.[2]

Molyneux has designed private residences in South America, North America, Europe, and the Middle East. In 2004, he designed the interior of the Cercle de l'Union interalliée, a private members' club in Paris.[3][1] He designed the interior of the Pavilion of Treaties in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[2] Providing a grand yet intimate setting for diplomatic negotiations, Molyneux designed the rooms for the Russian Federation in the Palais des Nations, the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, giving the two salons both presence and a sense of history.[5] In Doha, he designed a 40,000-square-foot palace for Sheikh Mohamed Bin Suhaim Al-Thani of the House of Thani, the ruling family of Qatar.[2]

Molyneux serves on the Boards of Trustees of the American Friends of Versailles, the World Monuments Fund, and the French Heritage Society.[1][6] He was honored by the French Heritage Society at their gala dinner dance in November, 2015.[7][8]

Molyneux is a naturalized American citizen.[1] He is married to Pilar Valdivieso, whom he met when they were both teenagers.[2][3] They reside in a townhouse on East 69th Street in Lenox Hill on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City,[3] and in a hôtel particulier in Le Marais, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris.[2][9] They also own the historic Château de Pouy-sur-Vannes in Pouy-sur-Vannes, outside Paris.[2] Several rescue dogs adopted from the French ASPCA reside at the château, and they are seen lounging on the sofas in the salon in a video produced for the FHS Gala in 2015. He drives a Rolls Royce.[2] An avid tennis player, Juan Pablo Molyneux has both grass and clay courts at the château, so that he can play year-round.[10]

6. Alain Jourdan http://www.tdg.ch/news/standard/ici-serguei-lavrov/story/31082600?track

7. Julie D. Belcove, Don't call Juan Pablo Molyneux a Maximalist, 1stdibs http://www.1stdibs.com/introspective-magazine/juan-pablo-molyneux/