Bringing a French touch to luxury design

Have you been gripped by the ups and downs of the Parisian talent agency ASK in Call my Agent, the French comedy series that’s now a global hit? Or are you longing for the return later this year of Lupin, the first French drama series to crack the UK top ten?

Maybe you’re lamenting the finale of the gritty Parisian police drama Spiral (Engrenages, in its original French version), or perhaps the infinitely more rose-tinted Emily in Paris – also back soon, due to popular demand – was your guilty lockdown pleasure?

While travel to France has been all but impossible for much of the past year, France has been coming to us instead, largely thanks to Netflix. TV series that were a niche must-watch, pre-pandemic, among a small number of British francophiles have become cult hits enjoyed by millions. They may even have inspired famously foreign language-averse Brits to dust off the French books too. Ten percent of British people have been learning a new language in lockdown, according to Duolingo, and French is their top choice.

The appeal of France, and the French, is second nature to us at Rive Gauche London, of course. Nicolas Roux, our founder, grew up and worked alongside his father, a master joiner, in Lyon and trained as a designer in Paris. And now, a London resident for 15 years, he brings an innate sense of French style, design and precision to super-prime properties in the UK and worldwide.

Defining what that French essence is, exactly, is a difficult task when it’s an instinctive part of your make-up, and we don’t consciously bring a French touch to a project. But we do naturally bring a French sensibility to it, which is about spending a great deal of time considering every detail to make sure it has a harmony and an elegance to it.

We feel there’s a natural romance about French design, whether it’s classical and layered or highly minimal. And it’s something that comes naturally to Nicolas, who as a student in Paris immersed himself in different styles of architecture, art, fashion and cinema across the centuries, and was often sent out to sketch a specific building or furniture, studying its intricacies in great detail.

For a place that embodies the Parisian creative spirit, flair and history, we feel it’s hard to beat St Germain on the Left Bank, with its characterful backstreets of boutiques and galleries. But we also have a huge admiration for the artisans across France whose traditional and revered trades are a protected part of the patrimoine – the French heritage.

They are experts in centuries-old crafts, creating incredible, contemporary pieces in marble, glass, ironwork or fabric, using ancient techniques. And we collaborate with such artisans on many of our projects, whether it’s using textured artwork for walls by the Paris-based designer Pierre Bonnefille, intricate plasterwork by Rouveure Marquez in Lyon, or hand-blocked wallpaper by Atelier d’Offard in Tours.

The French touch, you see, is about far more than the Parisian touch. It’s about bringing the essence of France’s diverse regions to our design, from the Mediterranean influences of southern France and the chalet style of the Alps chalets, to country estates in the Loire Valley and Paris’s elegant Hausmann architecture.

And it’s about bringing the quintessential French glamour and sophistication to our projects. Our clients love the French savoir vivre – the appreciation of possibly the simplest but certainly the finest things in life.  

We don’t just bring the French touch to Britain. We go where our clients are, whether it’s Kensington, Kenya or the Cote d’Azur – where one recent project involved tunnelling through the rock to create a lift that would take the owner directly from his master suite to his swimming pool a few floors below.

Many of our clients have multiple homes and call on us to design them all. But if they have a house in Mayfair and a villa in St Tropez, they don’t want them to look the same. They want to feel a distinct sense of place, and they need a designer who understands the nuances of each location.

And that’s where we come in. Just don’t ask Nicolas about cult French TV. He’s too busy bringing the French touch to people’s beautiful homes.