{"id":2618,"date":"2025-01-31T12:57:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T04:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2025\/01\/31\/kitchen-of-the-week-designer-gesa-hansens-restaurant-inspired-rustic-kitchen-in-the-french-countryside\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T12:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T04:57:01","slug":"kitchen-of-the-week-designer-gesa-hansens-restaurant-inspired-rustic-kitchen-in-the-french-countryside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/es\/kitchen-of-the-week-designer-gesa-hansens-restaurant-inspired-rustic-kitchen-in-the-french-countryside\/","title":{"rendered":"La cocina de la semana: La cocina r\u00fastica inspirada en un restaurante de la dise\u00f1adora Gesa Hansen en la campi\u00f1a francesa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Designer Gesa Hansen and restaurateur Charles Compagnon met eight years ago in one of his Paris establishments.  At the time, she was a single mother living a very urban life with her baby daughter\u2014see A Scandi Furniture Designer\u2019s Apartment on the Place de la R\u00e9publique\u2014and he was making a name for himself in the hospitality world (he currently owns three Paris restaurants, including Cafe Compagnon, the subject of 12 Ideas to Steal from a Gesa Hansen-Designed Cafe).<\/p>\n

Gesa and Charles now live with their young family of five in an idyllic 19th century stone compound an hour south of Paris in Courances, a village with a moated ch\u00e2teau and famous garden near the forest of Fontainebleau\u2014aka \u201cthe green lung of Paris.\u201d Gesa and two creative friends, all former committed Parisians now living in the same rural vicinity, recently teamed up to produce Coming Home to Nature, a just-published book celebrating \u201cthe French art of countryfication.\u201d In our July 4th Required Reading post, we featured Gesa and Charles\u2019s garden party from the book. Today, we\u2019ve moving inside to offer a look at the restaurant-inspired rustic kitchen and its surroundings, designed, of course, by Gesa.<\/p>\n

Photography by Stephanie F\u00fcssenich and Nathalie Mohadjer, unless noted, courtesy of Flammarion and Gesa Hansen from Coming Home to Nature<\/em>. Follow the book @countryfication.<\/p>\n


Above: Morning in the courtyard. Gesa is a furniture and interior designer who comes from a long line of Scandinavian and German designers. She studied in Japan and at the Bauhaus University in Germany, and in her early years in Paris worked for Jean Nouvel Atelier; she now runs her own studio, Gesa Hansen, from Courances, and works with The Hansen Family, her parents\u2019 furniture company. Photograph by Bellero.
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Above: Charles, Romy, and Finn prepare to make their homemade nutty granola (recipe on page 152 of
\nComing Home to Nature<\/em>). The kitchen came with its
\ngr\u00e8s c\u00e9rame<\/em> stoneware checked floor; all else is new.,

Above: \u201cSince Charles is used to restaurant kitchens, he always wants open storage, so that he knows where everything is,\u201d says Gesa, noting that the only tools left out in the open are the ones that get used and cleaned frequently: \u201cIf you cook as much as we do the grime doesn\u2019t have time to settle.\u201d <\/p>\n

The all-stainless range is by Smeg and has an induction cooktop\u2014Charles initially wanted gas, she notes, but induction is much more energy-efficient not to mention better for the environment, and the latest models are now so high-functioning that all of Charles\u2019s restaurants use induction. The backsplash tiles are zellige.<\/p>\n


Above: The cabinets are solid oak designed by Gesa in collaboration with cabinetmaker Emiliano Schmidt Fiori, who lives in nearby Barbizon and is married to stylist Charlotte Huguet, one of the co-authors of
\nComing Home to Nature\u2013<\/em>their hand-rebuilt family house starts the book. <\/p>\n

The fridge is at the left end of the counter and the sink and dishwasher are opposite the stove.<\/p>\n


Above: Dowels under the open shelves provide extra storage for key items, including enamelware mugs\u2014Gesa designed and had these made for the nearby Polo F\u00e9d\u00e9ral Courances, a club and school where she herself plays polo. The mugs hang from Japanese S-hooks sourced from Swiss \u201cworking goods\u201d emporium Fabrikat. Photograph by Momo Mexico Studio.,

Above: Gesa and Emiliano made the room feel much more spacious by removing the dropped ceiling and painting it Farrow & Ball\u2019s Strong White, Gesa\u2019s go-to white, : see it in Architects\u2019 10 Favorite Warm White Paints. The window is original and the table, chair, and stool are straight from Gesa\u2019s childhood home in the German countryside: \u201cmy father bought them; they came out of an old pub in Ireland.\u201d
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Above: For pastry making, Gesa inserted a counter section of Rojo Alicante, which she likes for its warmth and the fact that it\u2019s \u201cone of the more affordable marbles\u201d\u2014see her extensive use of it in Caf\u00e9 Compagnon.
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Above: The pub table gets paired with another table for piling with produce and treats: \u201ca cake under a glass dome makes me feel at home,\u201d says Gesa, adding that the family\u2019s au pairs, who help with the children, are often baking.,

Above: Inspired by a wall storage rack she spotted in a Japanese kitchen, Gesa enlisted Emiliano to build something like it out of oak. The brass S hooks are from Fabrikat.
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Above: The adjacent dining\/living room has its original built-in cabinet and is papered in Juicy Jute, a grasscloth from Philipp Jeffries that comes in 64 colors (this one is Arctic Blue).
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Above: The oak dining room and benches are a Gesa design from her Remix Collection made by The Hansen Family. The terracotta floor tiles are original. Note the daring indigo ceiling.
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Above: The foyer has its original stone floor and stucco walls\u2014and a laid-back vibe that Gesa carries throughout. See the outdoor biergarten table put to good use in our Required Reading post.
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Above: At home, Charles grows all of the herbs and roasts the coffee beans for his Paris restaurants, Caf\u00e9 Compagnon, Le 52, and Le Richer. His roastery is in a converted stone barn that Gesa outfitted with a matching counter and drawers. Photograph by Romain Ricard. <\/p>\n

Tour the rest of the house in our earlier feature Gesa Hansen\u2019s Country Style: The Scandinavian-German Designer\u2019s Family Quarters Outside of Paris.<\/p>\n

More modern-country kitchen inspiration:<\/p>\n