巴黎大酒店

Who could guess that a discreet building in a narrow, nondescript Parisian street could hide such eclecticism? Protean English designer-artist Luke Edward Hall has applied his signature aesthetic—an exquisite yet mischievous sense of mismatch—to his first hospitality project, of which he oversaw every detail. Hotel Les Deux Gares, located halfway between Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est in the 10th arrondissement, feels like a cinema set piece conjuring

The hotel encompasses 40 petite bedrooms, divided into three cheery color schemes. Each features striped headboards, velvet fringed armchairs, and boldly tiled bathrooms. Luke scaled the palette and embellishments to fit these “little jewel boxes—lots of color can work very well in small spaces!” he says. There are homages to cultural greats in the hallways, from Jean Cocteau to Angela Davis to Queen Elizabeth II, which Luke himself drew by hand. The basement houses a compact gym with a startlingly charming decor: floral wallpaper by Svenskt Tenn and a red-and-white checkered floor.

The strikingly fun contrast between the floral wallpaper and a red-and-white checkered floor makes this one of the more exciting fitness centers we've ever seen.

Luke’s personal design sensibility, which he shares regularly on Instagram, translates smoothly into a warm hospitality welcome. He consulted books on grand railway hotels and excavated his personal collection of

and

. Moreover, he looked to French designer Madeleine Castaing and English decorator David Hicks, as well as to Wes Anderson’s film sets, for aesthetic stimulation.

Luke vocally embraces the anti-modern: His favorite hotels, internationally, are “places with history and stories attached, completely authentic and full of magic.” He’s partial to venues like Deetjen’s, a cluster of lodges situated amid the redwoods on California State Route 1, and Casa Cuseni in Taormina, Sicily, a historic museum that also greets guests (past lodgers have included Tennessee Williams, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso). “I like places that feel totally unique and right in their locations,” he says.

We spoke with the designer about how he lands on his experimental color selection and his approach to sourcing.

The bedside tables had to be tiny, so Luke based these new versions on spindly antique French Empire nightstands.

The violet room gets a littler more serious with its dark furniture and woodwork.

The bathrooms carry the same exquisite yet mischievous sense of mismatch.

Juxtapose striking tonal combinations

“My aim is to provoke joy with my color selections,” Luke says. To land on the “right” contrasts for creating his unusual palette, he plays with fabric swatches and painting sheets of paper. He’s influenced by historic interiors and natural settings. (Regarding the latter, Luke himself shifted his main residence from polished London to an idyll in the Cotswolds with a lush garden.) He is partial to pairings like emerald green and pale blue, pale pink and burgundy, violet and toffee. “I like bright, strong colors, but to keep things looking elegant, often you have to mix them with darker elements—black or white or wood or similar,” he advises.

This is Luke’s favorite bedroom design with its olive green walls, pale pink woodwork, and a toffee-colored ceiling. The bright orange curtains were inspired by David Hicks.

The electric pea green lobby is full of life. Luke designed and hand-decorated the William Kent–inspired mirror.

Respect the history of a place—to a degree

“I was slightly rebelling against a lot of the new hotels I see—lots of white, everything new.… I was determined to reference the past,” Luke notes. His favorite preexisting detail in the building was the staircase, and he kept the reception desk from the hotel’s previous life—but painted it, wallpapered it with an Ottoline design, and added a pair of columns. (“When in doubt, always add columns,” he notes on Instagram.) Taking inspiration from localized surroundings is key: “I spent a long time sourcing Parisian travel, club, and exhibition posters for the walls,” he says. Trusting his English-bred eye, he wasn’t afraid to stray: “The hotel is my take on Parisian style, which often one thinks of as being chic and perhaps quite serious. My work is not so serious!” he counters.

Velvet with fringe, stripy silk and zigzags, bright green and toile—the patterns and color never stop!

The pair of 1940s lounge chairs in cherry and blond wood by Paolo Buffa are upholstered in Dedar Milano fabric. The artwork is by the designer himself, Luke Edward Hall.

Couple vintage pieces with artisanal expertise

Luke furnished the hotel’s ground floor with antiques. In the sitting room, a plush cobalt couch accompanies a pair of 1940s lounge chairs covered in Dedar Milano fabric and a drinks trolley scooped up at a Parisian market; these all face a table scattered with Blue Crow Media urban maps and old issues of

. But to adapt to the volume of furniture needed for the bedrooms, Luke commissioned new pieces, notably cane-fronted wardrobes and French Empire-inspired nightstands. These had to be articulated in different sizes, as the bedrooms are not uniformly proportioned. Of the produced pieces, Luke says, “They take their design cues from antiques, but they have a contemporary feeling about them at the same time.” He also enlisted Wilton Carpets, a historic U.K. manufacturer founded in 1741, to create the graphic carpets outfitting all the bedrooms and corridors.

语言：English