{"id":394280,"date":"2026-03-20T02:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T02:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/394280\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T02:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T02:59:16","slug":"this-laura-gonzalez-designed-paris-apartment-is-the-definition-of-french-taste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/394280\/","title":{"rendered":"This Laura Gonzalez-Designed Paris Apartment Is the Definition of French Taste"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated5 min read<\/p>\n

Above: In the living room of a Paris apartment designed by Laura Gonzalez, a custom sectional, a pair of armchairs by Berga M\u00f6bler, and a daybed from Svensk Tenn surround a cocktail table by Objet Insolite. Rug by Marguerite Le Maire; pendant by Cox London; artworks by Fernand L\u00e9ger (left) and Serge Poliakoff (right).<\/p>\n

Designer Laura Gonzalez is sitting in the living room of her latest completed project, a three-bedroom apartment in a classic Belle Epoque building in Paris\u2019s 7th Arrondissement, a block from the bustling cobblestone markets on picturesque Rue Cler. It\u2019s a sunny January afternoon, and out the window the gold dome of Les Invalides peeks above the neighboring rooftops. Gonzalez, 43, is perched on a vintage 1940s Berga M\u00f6bler oak armchair, sharing her definition of French taste.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t one style. It\u2019s about the mixing of cultures. Look at me: I\u2019m from the South of France, but my mother is Spanish and my father is Algerian and a quarter German. That\u2019s the French flair. And that\u2019s what I do, mixing centuries, cultures, artistic movements, materials\u2026\u201d In this apartment alone, a traditional English kitchen is accented with a French floor, Parisian moldings, and Venetian glassware. If aesthetic diversity is the hallmark of French taste, two decades into her career Gonzalez has come to define it.<\/p>\n

\"DiningMatteo Verzini<\/p>\n

The Mawu dining chairs and Rainbow Mainneville table were both designed by Gonzalez. Rug by Casa Lopez; chandelier by Thibault Perrigne; woven chair by Christian Astuguevieille; wallcovering and curtains by Iksel.<\/p>\n

Back in the early 2000s, when Gonzalez was a student in Paris studying architecture, the dominant style was far less polyphonous. A strain of purist, white-walled minimalism had overtaken the design world. Gonzalez, a renegade fresh out of university, began to take on small word-of-mouth projects with designs that reveled in color, mixed patterns, and an explosion of tactile materials. \u201cIt was really a manifesto against boringness,\u201d she says. The young designer didn\u2019t have deep pockets, but she did have energy and a great eye, so she scoured flea markets for design accents and even took the Eurostar to London to carry back rolls of wallpaper.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI\u2019m from the South of France, but my mother is Spanish and my father is Algerian and a quarter German. That\u2019s the French Flair.\u201d\u2014Laura Gonzalez<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Soon her playful, sophisticated decor schemes attracted an in-the-know following, and she was tasked with revamping the interiors of two iconic Paris nightclubs, Bus Palladium and Chez R\u00e9gine. \u201cI\u2019m a yes girl,\u201d Gonzalez says of those times. \u201cWhen some people start a business, they say no to everything, which is very French. I said yes, yes, yes.\u201d As the yesses grew, so did the size, scope, and budgets of the commissions. In no time, Gonzalez was spinning out hotels, spas, and restaurants such as L\u2019Alcazar, Manko, and, eventually, the ultimate Parisian den of decadence, the historic Lap\u00e9rouse.<\/p>\n

\"AMatteo Verzini<\/p>\n

Gonzalez in Prada. Custom straw marquetry credenza; bronze sculptures by Aristide Maillol.<\/p>\n

In 2016 Gonzalez began a fertile relationship with Cartier to overhaul their boutiques (including their flagships on Place Vend\u00f4me and on New York\u2019s Fifth Avenue), countering the standard image of a chilly jewelry showroom with the inviting, organic warmth of mosaics, marquetry, plush carpets, hand-painted frescoes, and silk wallpapers. \u201cMy approach isn\u2019t cookie-cutter,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m always looking for new materials and putting them together in an unexpected way.\u201d During the pandemic Gonzalez transformed a late-19th-century neoclassical chateau near Paris\u2019s Bois de Boulogne into the opulent 50-guestroom St. James Paris hotel. \u201cIt was a huge project,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to be trendy. Because of the building, I knew it had to feel timeless, a place you want to recognize from your memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just last year she reinvented the Paris department store Printemps for luxe New Yorkers with the brand\u2019s new Wall Street outpost. This summer her latest hotel venture opens its baronial doors in -Sicily, the sister to Belmond\u2019s classic Grand Hotel Timeo in Taormina. Restoring the sea-perched Villa Timeo was a challenge perfectly suited to the designer\u2019s love of synthesizing histories, cultures, and craft. \u201cSicily is amazing because it\u2019s a mix of Baroque and roughness. You have these rich patterns with this raw simplicity.\u201d The 21 suites are arrayed around a lush Mediterranean garden, and Gonzalez infused the spaces with sinuous organic forms and soft-colored woods and marbles.<\/p>\n

\"AMatteo Verzini<\/p>\n

In the reading room, birch burl wood shelves carry a selection of objects, including patterned vases by Alice Gavalet, bronze sculptures, and antique silver cups. Early-20th-century Moroccan chair; mosaic floor by Pierre Mesguich; rug by Les Editions de Tapis.<\/p>\n

She often partners with artisans of various kinds, including embroiderers, weavers, glassblowers, fresco artists, ceramicists, and woodworkers. \u201cIt\u2019s always a collaboration,\u201d she says. \u201cI go to them with an idea, and at first they say, \u2018Oh god, this is complicated,\u2019 and I\u2019ll say, \u2018Yes, but we are going to make something new.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Take, for example, Gonzalez\u2019s signature piece, the Rainbow Mainneville table, which the owners of the current Paris apartment liked so much they asked for the entire design scheme to be based on it. \u201cThe creation of that table was a very difficult process,\u201d says Gonzalez, who enlisted artisan Fabienne L\u2019Hostis to produce tabletops made of raku marquetry. \u201cWe had to do a lot of tests and invent a whole new process to make it work.\u201d Using the table as the leitmotif of the apartment allowed Gonzalez to include more of her own pieces. Surrounding the long table in the silk-wallpapered dining room are her floral-upholstered golden oak Mawu chairs. The adjoining living room features a one-of-a-kind painted wood cabinet that hides a flat-screen television.<\/p>\n

Look Inside This Laura Gonzalez-Designed Apartment\"DiningOpen Gallery\"\"<\/p>\n

To showcase her own evolving line, Gonzalez set up two galleries, one in Paris and the other in Tribeca, to serve as showrooms. This summer she\u2019ll launch her first perfume bottle with the Italian fragrance company Acqua di Parma. The bottle\u2019s shape is based on a shell-inspired ceramic vessel that was one of her first forays into design.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez has come a long way from her early days of staying up all night hanging wallpaper in basement clubs. \u201cI was definitely a party girl,\u201d she says of her Paris youth. \u201cAlways working, always going out, never sleeping. From 24 to 30 I was crazy. Then I got married and settled down.\u201d Her husband is former menswear designer Benjamin Memmi, who is now her business partner. Together they run an atelier with 60 employees in a townhouse near Bois de Boulogne. Their apartment, where they are raising their three sons, is a block away. Both spaces serve as a lab for new ideas, but no place feeds Gonzalez\u2019s inspiration more than their country home in Normandy. At their tucked-away maison de ma\u00eetre Gonzalez spends her time painting, just as she did in her youth. \u201cWhen I was 16 I won an art contest on the honor of France,\u201d she says. \u201cBernadette Chirac [the former president\u2019s wife] came down for the event, and I gave a painting to her.\u201d A childhood doesn\u2019t get more French than that. \u25fe<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of <\/strong>Elle Decor<\/strong>. <\/strong>SUBSCRIBE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5 min read Above: In the living room of a Paris apartment designed by Laura Gonzalez, a custom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,156423,1926,179672,366,343,18,117,19,17,590,178034,179671,156422],"class_list":{"0":"post-394280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-collection-exclusive-house-tours","13":"tag-content-type-feature","14":"tag-contentid-c2212a64-81be-4e99-b180-b972428c451b","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","17":"tag-eire","18":"tag-entertainment","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-locale-us","22":"tag-read_time-7","23":"tag-shorttitle-this-paris-apartment-epitomizes-french-taste","24":"tag-subsection-house-tours"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116259269224087889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}