Eccentricity at the service of the classic

Laura Gonzalez is Designer of the Year at the September edition of Maison&Objet. For the occasion she has created Café Signature, in pavilion 7 at Paris Nord Villepinte

Just a few hours until the opening of the second 2019 edition of Maison&Objet, the Parisian fair on decoration and home interiors. One of the protagonists is Laura Gonzalez, a French architect of Spanish origin, selected as Designer of the Year. 37 years old, already with a remarkable curriculum vitae, including new projects and renovations like the restaurants 86 Champs, Manko and Noto, the Louboutin stores in Barcelona and Amsterdam, and the Cartier boutiques in Zurich, Stockholm and London.

Laura Gonzalez ©Ambroise Tezenas
Laura Gonzalez ©Ambroise Tezenas

From 6 to 10 September at pavilion 7 of the Paris Nord Villepinte fair facility, visitors can admire the installation created for the occasion by Laura Gonzalez. Café Signature sums up the designer’s style, marked by intense colors and interior furnishings of great personality, which bring eccentricity to a classical universe. All enhanced by the delicacies of the pastry chef Pierre Hermé.

Laura Gonzalez sets out to grant personality to every space, often in a return to the glories of the past. As in the case of the former station of Passy-La-Muette, in the 16th arrondissement, which now contains the restaurant La Gare. 1000 square meters, reinterpreted in colonial style, with vintage furnishings to welcome guests on the lower level of a restaurant that seats 250 (with 90 more on the terrace), and to the upper level of the café. Floral motifs, elegant and modern decoration, punctuated by large brass mirrors, make this is a unique, fascinating location.

The designer says she is “guided by the obsession with never repeating the same thing twice.” This is why her projects are all profoundly different, made with the help of renowned artisans, cabinetmakers and glassmakers. These collaborations reach a level of maximum expression in the restyling of one of the most iconic restaurants in Paris, Lapérouse, where works of art, objects in wood and period frescos have been carefully restored. Obviously with a touch of eccentricity and romance.