The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘You can’t go wrong with pink and green’
Luke Edward Hall’s retina-pulling palette transforms a tired Paris hotel, says Rooksana Hossenally
Despite heavy rain, the streets are a hive of activity. Trucks deliver racks of raw meat, stacks of pink cakes and basmati rice, small clouds of starchy powder escaping as the sacks are piled up inside shops that sell coconut oil, curry powders and other Indian wares. I am in Little India, a pocket of Paris that saw an influx of South Indian and Sri Lankan Tamils move here in the 1980s following the outbreak of civil war.
I turn on to a quieter street scattered with Indian sweet shops. Suddenly, the buildings give way to rows of train tracks. Facing them stands a six-storey corner building that went by utterly unnoticed until very recently.
Formerly, it was the run-down Hotel Kuntz, which I remember had stained burgundy carpets, curtains imbued with cigarette smoke and mahogany furniture that lost its veneer a decade ago when the Kuntz family sold up.
However, neither the state of the building, the incongruous neighbourhood, nor the global pandemic marred one hotelier’s vision. Adrien Gloaguen, who already has three Parisian hotels under his Touriste brand, has opened a fourth: Les Deux Gares, meaning “The Two Stations” in French, is named for its location between Gare de l’Est and Gare du Nord (it is also the street name).
He brought on British designer Luke Edward Hall for the interiors. Trained as a menswear designer at Central St Martins, the 31-year old has collaborated with Burberry and Liberty, has a long list of residential projects and has his own line of ceramics (including for hotels, such as Le Sirenuse in Positano).
Stepping over the threshold is like walking on to the set of a Britishmeets-Gallic version of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. One could call it an audacious 1960s/70s take on art deco, with a retina-pulling palette of electric green, mustard yellow and dusky pink.
“I was given the green light to really go for it in terms of colour and pattern. I don’t think one always gets to be so free on a residential job,” says Hall.
“Luke loves everything typically Parisian – he loves the Café de Flore and Jean Cocteau. The result is his vision of what a Parisian hotel should look like,” says Gloaguen.
But the result is “even better than his moodboard”, says Gloaguen. And while Paris has seen a boutique hotel boom in recent years, the hotelier has reinvented the game through this design-forward property. “I like to work with designers who have never done hotels before. Their fresh focus, I find, brings something extra,” he adds.
Hall first came up with a story for the new hotel. “I wanted it to feel like the home of an eccentric Parisian bohemian who has amassed furniture and art from his travels, from various periods and countries,” says the designer. The result is a mix of decorative objects, from flea market finds to French Empire-style furniture custom made in Portugal. For the walls, Hall painted portraits of literary figures and activists from Oscar Wilde to Angela Davis. He also sourced a lot of old Parisian exhibition, travel and club posters online.
The lobby, wrapped in green walls and with a tiled black-and-white take on herringbone floorboards, flows into a breakfast nook where guests enjoy croissants and coffee. Streetside, there’s a homely corner with a leopard print sofa and brass coffee table, sourced by Hall from Brownrigg (one of his favourite dealers in the UK) and strewn with curated objects, that stand against a backdrop of toile de Jouy wallpaper and candy stripe curtains.
For the 40 guestrooms, Hall came up with three bold colourways. “You can’t really go wrong with pink and green,” Hall says of his favourite. The rooms are cosy with views of adjacent Hausmannian buildings.
The 1920s-inspired bathrooms – Hall’s favourite bit of the hotel – were ordered from the UK-based Bold Bathroom Company, which re-edits pastel hued vintage sinks and bathtubs.
The basement gym was designed with Hall’s grandmother in mind. Think lilac and lime green flowerprint wallpaper splashed across every surface, with a red-and-white chequerboard floor. There’s also a sauna and shower for a quick refresh before catching the Eurostar post-check out.
Across the street is the Café Les Deux Gares, where Jonathan Schweizer rustles up a menu of French staples with seasonal produce that changes daily: perhaps soft-cooked salmon and courgette or tender pork loin with beetroot. The three-course formule du midi at €23 (£21) is a steal.
The restaurant was formerly a bar with faded train seats and other SNCF paraphernalia. And while Hall totally transformed this spot, it looks like it’s always been here. Much, as I imagine, the colourful Hotel Les Deux Gares might do one day.
Double rooms from €120, including breakfast. 2 rue des Deux Gares,
Paris 75010. (0033 1 85 73 11 83; hoteldeuxgares.com) .
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