Designer Luke Edward Hall used antique and custom-made furniture, trompe l’oeil marble and hessian wallpaper to make visitors “feel very at home” at the Deux Gares Express restaurant in Paris.
Located next to the Les Deux Gares hotel, also designed by Hall, the space was intended to have a different feel from the hotel’s existing in-house restaurant.
While the design of the other eatery drew on French bistros and art deco, Deux Gares Express instead has a 1960s and 70s feeling.
“The sofas and armchairs hint at this, as does the hessian wallpaper,” Hall told Dezeen.
“Still, I always love an eclectic mix! I wanted to make a really warm and inviting space, somewhere for hotel guests and passing visitors alike to relax and while away time over a jambon beurre or ice cream sundae.”
The restaurant is helmed by the same restaurateurs as the one in Les Deux Gares, Jonathan Schweizer and Frédéric Lesire, and focuses on classic French food.
The interior, however, is an eclectic blend of British and French styles, with the British side represented by a custom-made dresser filled with charming clutter.
“I think British design is all about the mix – a mix of colours, patterns, and an electric approach to collecting,” Hall said.
“Think also of the dresser we had made for the cafe – this feels very English, and it is in fact based on an antique piece of English furniture,” he added.
“We’ve filled it with books and board games, plates and pots. Clutter. Clutter feels very British! But to me, clutter makes a house a home. And as I say, I want visitors to feel very at home at Deux Gares Express.”
The French side is also represented by furniture, with the restaurant centred around an antique table that Hall sourced from a French monastery.
“Over the years, I have always made it a priority to include French antiques and pieces at the hotel,” Hall explained.
“The wallpaper in the WC at Deux Gares Express is a favourite French design, originally dating from 1803,” he added.
“My interior design projects always need to combine a feeling of magic with a sense that they are rooted in their locations.”
As well as the hessian wallpaper, which gives the restaurant an inviting, tactile feel, Hall played around with materials for the ceiling, which was painted by artist Pauline Leyravaud to resemble yellow marble.
“I love trompe-l’oeil,” Hall said. “Why use real marble when you can paint it and make a much better and bolder impression? It’s about doing things that are unexpected, unusual and, of course, fun.”
Hall used a sunny colour palette for the interior of Deux Gares Express, with the bar painted a striking sunflower yellow.
Its faux marble ceiling contrasts with the vivid geometric pattern of the floor, which has a green, brown and yellow palette.
“Green and yellow for me are very good friends, and I threw lots of brown into the mix to ground these colours,” Hall said. “I really love brown – it’s a wonderful neutral, a million times warmer and easier on the eye than the much more popular grey.”
Overall, the designer hoped that Deux Gares Express would end up feeling like a second home to its visitors as they gather around its central table.
“For me, restaurants are all about conviviality,” he concluded. “Friendliness and liveliness. I love the idea of friends and family gathering around this table, like they would at home!”
Other recent hospitality openings in Paris include a Seoul-inspired cafe by Uchronia and a bar that draws on tobacconists from the 1930s.
The photography is by Bastien Lattanzio.
