{"id":3187,"date":"2024-06-11T22:43:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T14:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2024\/06\/11\/hotel-panache-the-power-of-jolie-laide-style\/"},"modified":"2024-06-11T22:43:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T14:43:02","slug":"hotel-panache-the-power-of-jolie-laide-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/th\/hotel-panache-the-power-of-jolie-laide-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotel Panache: The Power of Jolie Laide Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doroth\u00e9e Meilichzon is an inventive Paris designer who dares to explore the concept of jolie laide,<\/em> or unconventional beauty. \u201cI\u2019m not a gray-beige person,\u201d she tells us. \u201cI like layering colors, and finding\u2014and setting\u2014the limits of what is \u2018too much.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Trained as an industrial designer (who was an exchange student at RISD and received the Maison & Objet Designer of the Year Award in 2015), she runs her own firm, Chzon, specializing in hotels\u2014and to date has four Paris locations under her belt, including the neo-Deco Hotel Bachaumont. Her newest, the Hotel Panache owned by upstart hotelier Adrien Gloaguen, presented her with the challenge of working in a corner building with almost no right angles.<\/p>\n

Photography courtesy of Hotel Panache.<\/p>\n


Above: Located in the Ninth Arrondissement, near the Folies Berg\u00e8res cabaret, Hotel Panache is in a late-19th-century building on the corner of Rue Geoffroy Marie and Rue du Fauborg Montmartre that, says Meilichzon, \u201chas an unusual shape for Paris, it\u2019s an acute angle.\u201d <\/p>\n

The structure\u2019s proportions led it to be compared to New York\u2019s 1902 Flatiron building and inspired Meilichzon to reference that era. And to deploy geometric shapes and patterns throughout, starting with the angular marble lobby counter trimmed in black and white. On the floor, mosaic tiling \u201cshaped as open umbrellas\u201d meets ebonized oak in a chevron pattern.<\/p>\n


Above: The in-house bistro, Restaurant Le Panache, has custom velvet-upholstered banquettes detailed with brass banding.
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Above: Burnt orange meets navy in the dining room, where the walls are tiled in a diamond pattern. \u201cOrange and blue are complementary colors, so you don\u2019t expect to see them together,\u201d Meilichzon explains. \u201cBut they really help each other.\u201d
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Above: The sconces, here with diamond-shaped shades, are set off by charcoal backdrops and framed by moldings. The dining chairs are vintage and newly upholstered in a variety of textured fabrics in oranges and blues.
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Above: The hotel has seven floors. The winding stair is carpeted in a custom pattern inspired by old coats of arms.
Above: Statement beds are one of Meilichzon\u2019s specialities. There are 40 guest rooms and no two are designed exactly alike, but all have a custom iron-and-cane headboard modeled after Thonet bentwood chairs.,

Above: Each room has a different wallpaper pattern, some designed by Meilichzon, others from specialists such as Cole & Son. All rooms also have triangular mirrors hung from corners: \u201cThey were a good way to play with angles and reflect light,\u201d says the designer, who notes: \u201cJust about every piece of furniture, except the bed, is a triangle. It was very fun to do: There are so many angles, but you don\u2019t even notice them anymore.\u201d
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Above: The Malachite wallpaper is a Fornasetti pattern from Cole & Son. The in-house wall phones are replicas of the Ericsson 1931 and the light-switch covers are black ceramic (for sourcing ideas, see Switched On). <\/p>\n

Of her pattern play, Meilichzon explained in a Maison & Objet video: \u201cPrints enable me to give layers of personality to a place. It\u2019s a fun game to play: exploring the limits of vulgarity\u2014it\u2019s a kind of risk-taking and a challenge that I find interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n


Above: Meilichzon paired the wallpaper (her black-and-white arrow pattern is shown here) with two-toned walls in blue and white with a brass-trimmed wainscot. Many of the rooms have angular vanity tables. The brass pendant lights were made for the hotel by Atelier Areti (see 7 Favorites: Minimalist Brass Pendants and Avian-Inspired Lighting).,

Above: Tucked under the mansard roof on the top floor, a corner tub with a view.
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Above: Meilichzon told us she sourced the pedestal sinks from Imperial and Kohler and the mirrors from Objet de Curiosit\u00e9. She used stacked subway tile on the walls and tub and playfully planted a white tile triangle on the black-tiled floor.
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Above: None of the bathrooms are predictable: This one features stacked subway tile in a warm gray.
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Above: In a suite, a two-person sink in a minimalist marble vanity set off by herringbone-patterned subway tiles. For shaped mirrors, see Pottery Barn\u2019s Eleanor Frameless Mirrors.
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Above: A guest room sitting area is furnished with a vintage sofa, pointed mirror, and custom marble-topped table with an iron base, a companion design to the headboards. Meilichzon says she looked at old kilim when coming up with the black-and-white wall-to-wall carpeting pattern. \u201cThe triangle,\u201d she notes, \u201cis very present here.\u201d
Above: The building itself is black and white, and composed of a series of triangles. Rooms start at \u20ac130 ($137); go to Hotel Panache for more details. <\/p>\n

Planning a trip? Get ideas from our Design Travel guides.<\/p>\n

Here are three more Paris hotels filled with inspired design ideas:<\/p>\n