Hotel Felicien opens its doors for the first time this week in Paris’ chic 16th arrondissement. French couture designer Olivier Lapidus tells Chérie City all about his design process behind the sleek new boutique hotel…
Why were you particularly drawn to this project?
In my career as a fashion designer, I have always enjoyed combining new, high-tech materials with more traditional fabrics, and using innovative methods with age-old crafts. When I was approached to design Hotel Felicien, I saw the opportunity as a way to continue this approach; I was able to use innovative materials such as optic fibre fabrics and light panels with traditional materials such as leathers, metals, ceramics and wool.
For me, interior design was a natural progression from fashion design, and I was able to apply a lot of my experience as a fashion designer to designing Hotel Felicien; the optical fibre fabrics I used in my illuminated couture dresses have become the optical fibre curtains in the Hotel Felicien, the hand painted silk materials I used to create unique bespoke clothing, have become artworks on the hotel walls.
Do you approach hotel design in a similar way to couture?
Fashion and interior design have many things in common; there is a craftsmanship, a tradition, a history as well as a technological element to both. I was able to use my experience working with textiles when designing the interiors of Hotel Felicien; the curtains, rugs, carpets, drapes, fabric panels on the walls; interior design is like the cousin of fashion design!
Designing furniture was a new challenge; but as with handbags or luggage, there is a harmony between metal and leather/fabric, so I found that interior and fashion design go hand in hand.
What is the personality of Hotel Felicien?
Hotel Felicien is like a whole other world. I think it’s different to other hotels because it stems from the world of fashion and couture, so has a strong focus on quality materials and textiles, shapes and colours. I think Hotel Felicien will appeal to people with a love for great design and quality materials.
Lovers or art and fashion will feel at home at the Felicien. The couture designers with whom I have worked for the last 20 years have created the embellished hand-painted silk art works in the rooms, each work is exclusive. Each painting, each ambiance has been created with an obsessive attention to detail to ensure that the client receives the upmost in quality and comfort.
How can guests expect to feel during a stay at Hotel Felicien?
Pure comfort. My background in textiles has given me an appreciation for the way fabrics and materials can make you feel in your surroundings. The fabric wall panels in the bedrooms ensure a peaceful stay; all excess noise is absorbed, the leather flooring on the ground floor means you can kick off your shoes and feel luxury underfoot, whilst the pure wool rugs in the bedrooms mean you can hop straight out of bed and feel as if you’ve slipped on your favorite pair of slippers.
Guests can expect to feel consistently stimulated by their surroundings; the décor of the hotel evolves from floor to floor. Each floor has its own identity and specific colour palette, but the consistent attention to detail and quality materials in each room creates coherence throughout the hotel. I always say, after staying at the Felicien, there’s no need to try out another hotel, just head to a different floor!
How important is functionality when designing a hotel?
Every detail has been designed with the client in mind; from the softness of the lighting in the showers to the height of the bed side tables, everything has been calculated to ensure you are as comfortable and relaxed as possible at all times. The materials used for the furniture and carpets have been selected from around Europe to ensure they are of the highest quality; upholstery from the South of France, pure wool rugs from Ulster, Ireland. Each visual, tactile detail has been calculated precisely for the well being of the client.
Did you experience any difficulties or set-backs when applying your vision to the building?
The design of the hotel has taken three years to complete, from the original conception of the design, to sourcing the materials and installing the fittings and furniture. Interior design has had a lot in common with the process of creating a couture piece; understanding the customer, finding the highest quality materials, being specific and paying attention to every detail. For this reason, I found the actual designing and creation of the hotel exciting, rather than difficult.
The main difficulties came in the practicalities of applying my vision to the building that we had chosen to be transformed into Hotel Felicien. Constructing a swimming pool underground in the basement, under the level of the Seine, was a real challenge, but luckily Vincent Bastie, the architect in charge of the product, has been excellent in finding solutions to these logistical problems.
What do you like most about the experience of staying in a hotel?
I’ve spent much of my professional life in hotels, but my passion for travelling and hotels began when I was just ten years old, when I accompanied my father on his travels around Asia.
I love the effect a hotel can have on your experience of a new place. When you are away from home, every detail in a hotel counts; the atmosphere, the first contact with the hotel staff, the reception, the smile, the lift, the curtains, the feeling of the floor beneath your bare feet, the comfortable bed. I love that hotels bring all these details together, like a puzzle, to create one atmosphere and feeling. Like an impressionist painting made up of tiny details, but creating one picture, the details in a hotel are essential in creating an atmosphere that welcomes and stimulates the customer.
Finally, where are your favourite places in Paris to…
Eat:
Le Stresa – 7 Rue Chambiges, 75008 Paris
Drink:
Carette – 4 Place du Trocadéro, 75016 Paris
Shop:
Colette – 212 Rue Saint Honoré, 75001 Paris
See Art and Culture:
Grand Palais – 21 Avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 75008 Paris
Petit Palais – Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris
Relax:
The Felicien of course!
Hotel Felicien, an Elegancia Hotel, is now open. Double rooms start from €199 per night; for further information or to book a room, visit: www.hotelfelicienparis.com or call +33 1 55 74 00 00.
Hotel Felicien – 21 rue Felicien David, 75016 Paris, France.
