TANGLED UP IN BLEU

Indebleu owner Arjun Rishi’s Ritz-Carlton condo
reflects his personal style
BY DEBORAHK.
DIETSCH PHOTOGRAPHED BY PAULSIMKIN

The azure dining chairs and dark teal walls in Arjun Rishi’s Georgetown condominium aren’t exactly surprising. Rishi, after all, is a partner of a company called Bleu, French for “blue.” Nor it is unexpected to see an oval bar and lowslung sofas in the living room with a clear view to the kitchen. Among the businesses in the Bleu portfolio is IndeBleu, a trendy eatery and cocktail lounge near the MCI Center that was praised by Condé Nast Traveler last year as one of the hottest new restaurants in the world.

Both Rishi’s home and restaurant are designed by architects Theo Adamstein and Olvia Demetriou, the husband-and-wife team known for their hip commercial interiors. “Arjun is a very elegant, well-traveled guy,” says Demetriou, who tackles only a few residential designs these days. “He is very adventurous in his taste.”

Reshaping Rishi’s apartment in the new Ritz- Carlton condominium overlooking the Whitehurst Freeway served as a warm-up act for creating IndeBleu, and both interiors refl ect the owner’s split personality when it comes to design. “He likes things to be cool, sleek, minimal,” Demetriou explains. “Then he has his wild side: reds, primary colors, organic curves. IndeBleu speaks to these two sides in its Indian and French cuisines, the upscale dining room and the hot club scene. We tried to refl ect that in playing off the austere with the sensual.”

The same fusion of seemingly contradictory elements is evident in the Indian-born entrepreneur’s home. Big, white sofas with bright red pillows in the living room are framed by softly lighted, seafoamgreen walls and blond wooden floors. Red and yellow vaseshaped stools by Philippe Starck are mixed with Isamu Noguchi’s classic modern coffee table and a stark black design from Apartment Zero. A gracefully arcing lamp and sculptural Le Corbusier leather chaise play against the fl at planes of the walls and tall windows.

“The basic vision of my business and home is contemporary design,” says Rishi, going on to explain that it must “have warmth to it, not too dark or all white.” Color is taken up a notch in the dining area where a paprika wall pops against bright blue chairs. Honey-colored pearwood cabinets warm up the kitchen’s stainless-steel surfaces.

In reconfi guring the apartment, Adamstein and Demetriou sought to create the laid-back feeling of a loft. Walls separating the living area, dining room and kitchen were removed and maple fl oors put down. Bedrooms and bathrooms are sequestered down the hall away from the wall of windows in a living area.

Rishi bought the condo in 2003 after renting in the Ritz-Carlton on M Street N.W., in Foggy Bottom. “I love the Georgetown location. It’s close to my offi ce and I like that the neighborhood is intimate.” A year earlier, he started Bleu with three partners after stepping down as CEO of Vastera, a business and trade software company. “I had grown tired of what I was doing,” he admits. “I traveled a lot with the software business and I was always trying to fi nd a better hotel to stay at and nicer places to eat. Bleu is about enjoying life.” His fi rst venture, Salon Bleu, also designed by Adamstein and Demetriou, opened at the Tysons Corner Galleria in 2003. It was followed by the Studio Bleu Dance Center in Ashburn, Va., and the restaurant IndeBleu, which began serving customers in December 2004.

On a tour of his four-bedroom condo, Rishi is quick to point out the terrace right off his living room with a south-facing view of the Potomac. Also visible are the vehicles speeding along the Whitehurst Freeway. “I thought it would bother me initially,” Rishi says, “but the windows have triple-paned glass so you don’t hear the traffi c. Even though the cars zoom by, I don’t feel like I’m in the city because you can see the trees and the river.”

During the rare times he isn’t busy at the offi ce or restaurant, the 42-year-old entrepreneur likes to entertain friends with a barbeque on the terrace or small sit-down dinners in the dining area. Hundreds fl ock to his Fourth of July parties. “The open fl oor plan is great for entertaining. Everyone loves hanging around the bar,” he says, noting that it was custom-designed by Demetriou in an oval shape. A multi-disc CD player conveniently hangs at the center of one living room wall, customized with built-in wooden and metal shelves, but no television. “TV kills conversation,” Rishi says. An avid soccer fan, he watches the World Cup and other matches on a fl atscreen TV in his bedroom.

Next to the kitchen is his pride and joy: a glassfronted “cellar” for his collection of French wines. “It’s the only thing I collect,” he says, noting a treasured 1947 Cheval Blanc purchased at a Christie’s auction. Down the hall is a pair of bedrooms for 13-year-old daughter Aarti and 11-year-old son Sandeep, who live most of the time with mom Ramona in Great Falls. A bachelor when he moved into his condo, Rishi recently married one of his business partners, Kimberly Walsh, in a ceremony held in St. Barts on July 14, Bastille Day. Will his new wife be changing the decor of his colorful, contemporary digs? “We haven’t talked about it,” Rishi replies. “Her furniture is still in storage.”