CHOPARD HOTEL VENDÔME
by PIERRE-YVES ROCHON

Paris 1, Place Vendôme © guillaume de Laubier

CHOPARD HOTEL VENDÔME
by PIERRE-YVES ROCHON

Swiss high jewellery and watchmaker, CHOPARD, has chosen a very discreet address located above the existing Chopard boutique in the famous ritzy Place Vendôme Square, to open its very first brand’s ever hotel project.

For those who seek exclusivity and privacy at 1 Place Vendôme, a semi-private hotel, you will feel like staying in a beautiful family residence.

« As a family, we decided that since we have an address that is so prestigious and storied, it would be a shame to stick a name on it.… and the idea wasn’t creating plenty of Chopard hotels and brand it to the hit. »
— Karl-Fritz Scheufele, third generation of the jeweller’s leading family and son of the co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.

PIERRE-YVES ROCHON
A MASTER OF DÉTOURNEMENT

As an internationally renowned interior designer, Pierre-Yves Rochon was the man behind the total refurbishment of the hotel, who worked with the family on the project.

Being a director, Pierre-Yves Rochon is used to act as for a movie: he develops a script, the project, with a design in mind, and it’s not just the décor that counts, but the final result — the place where customers and hotel professionals will come together. For him, in interior design as in film, you’re working with volumes and light.

Pierre-Yves Rochon is constantly calling things into question and embraces the challenges inherent to his work, plus an insatiable curiosity and a desire to do different things. This is how he revamped 1, Place Vendôme, nestled in an 18th-century hôtel particulier.

The renovation process, according to Rochon, involved meticulous attention to detail and the engagement of some of France’s finest artisans. This all culminated in a harmonious blend of tradition and modernity, where 18th-century elements like Versailles parquet flooring and sculpted panelling coexist with contemporary art and design.

1 PLACE VENDÔME, THE LUXURY HOSPITALITY PLACE TO BE

With only 15 suites and rooms (all unique) spread across 28,000 square feet, 1 Place Vendôme, despite the curling Cs on its wrought iron gate and the presence of the house’s Parisian flagship, is an hotel like no other.
The total renovation took almost five years, Covid oblige.

Rooms are named after gemstones and precious materials, as well as navigation instruments or even astronomy — both fields that led to watchmaking. The Jade room takes its cues from the mineral’s connection to East and South Asian ornamentation but also to the aesthetic that was imported to Europe through early exchanges with the region.
Tones of black and red nod to the codes of lacquerware, motifs of heron and flowers to the aesthetic glossary from across the Silk Road. Applied to classically French rooms, the result is evocative but not pastiche.

A host of artisans toiled on every detail, ranging from gold leaf patinated to look handsomely aged — and catch the light just so — and bespoke wallpapers or hand-painted frescoes by specialist De Gournay, to the sculpted wood panels of the Appartement Chopard, by Ateliers de la Chappelle, a noted millwork specialist located in western France.

All-day snacking plus an elaborate French cuisine offering can be served anywhere in the hotel.

THE WINTER GARDEN MAGIC

At the Winter Garden, guests are invited to reconnect with nature. Natural light floods the room through a glass roof, illuminating a massive mosaic mural inspired by Chopard’s Animal World collection of animal-themed high jewellery creations. A vibrant tribute to the plant and animal kingdom, this fresco of salamanders, monkeys, butterflies, toucans, and leopards is brought to life with thousands of brightly coloured cabochons.

A project overseen by artistic director and co-president of Chopard, Caroline Scheufele, and her teams, this tailor-made masterpiece is extended by a marble mosaic carpet in shades of green. This sanctuary, along with others like the Cigar Lounge with its Chinese-inspired decor, offers guests unique environments to relax and socialise.

Do not skip the maison’s haute horlogerie and high jewellery boutique, in three distinct, meticulously crafted spaces that were also custom-designed by Rochon.

Text by : Mário de Castro

www.1-placevendome.com
@1placevendome
www.pyr-design.com
@pyrdesign

1 place Vendome, Paris credits @raphaelmetivet – Paraiba 

1 place Vendome, Paris 1, © guillaume de Laubier