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      Villa Cavrois serves as backdrop to Muller Van Severen exhibition

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      Belgian design duo Muller Van Severen is exhibiting a selection of their furnishings amongst the rooms of Villa Cavrois, a modernist 20th-century villa near Lille, France.The exhibition, called Design! Muller Van Severen at Villa Cavrois, will see Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen present both new and old pieces from the oeuvre of their eponymous studio, which was founded in 2011.
      It comes as part of the year-long programme of events that Lille and the wider Lille Metropole area are hosting as the designated World Design Capital for 2020.

      Villa Cavrois is situated northeast of central Lille in the commune of Croix and was built between 1929 and 1932 by the French architect Robert Mallet-Stevens.

      The villa was originally designed as a family home for Paul Cavrois, a successful textile manufacturer, but during the second world war was occupied by German soldiers and turned into barracks.

      It was eventually abandoned and became subject to vandalisation, falling into such a severe state of neglect that it was threatened by demolition in the late 1980s.
      The French state ended up purchasing the villa in 2001 and carried out extensive renovation works to return the building to how it originally appeared in 1932. It then opened to the public in 2015.

      When it came to hosting their own exhibition at Villa Cavrois, Muller Van Severen wanted their furnishings to seamlessly fit in with the modernist grounds and interiors rather than appear as “strange entities”.
      “Time becomes irrelevant in this project,” the pair explained.
      “We want to create the poetic feeling that our objects could originate from the same time as the building. In the same way that the building itself feels very contemporary.”

      One room in the villa that’s lined with green-grey tiles of veiny marble is dressed with Sofa Cavrois, a furnishing that Muller Van Severen has designed specifically for the exhibition.
      The sofa – which is the first the duo has ever designed – curves upwards at two points, merging the shape of a standard chair and a chaise longue. To emphasise its sculptural form, the sofa is upholstered in bright sea-green linen.

      Muller Van Severen constructs Alltubes furniture series from rows of aluminium pipes

      A couple of the Muller Van Severen’s glossy, enamel-topped Emaille tables are also dotted throughout the room.

      Another mint-coloured room with wooden parquet flooring is dressed with the Strangled Rack from the duo’s Future Primitives collection, which comprises two intersecting shelves.
      Muller Van Severen’s Duo seat and lamp, which both boast red tubular framework, is presented just in front of the room’s huge marble-lined fireplace.

      One large maroon-red room displays shiny silver pieces from Muller Van Severen’s recent Alltubes collection, which is crafted from welded rows of aluminium pipes.
      Smaller spaces such as the villa’s kitchen, which features checkerboard floors, is decorated with a couple of brightly-hued Chair 2 models.

      The gridded wire daybeds and rocking chairs that Muller Van Severen originally created for Solo House, an architect-designed holiday home in Spain, are dotted across Villa Cavrois’ yellow-brick terraces outdoors.
      Some of the duo’s smaller homeware accessories are also included in the exhibition – for example, one office-like room features their stainless-steel Bended Mirror #3.

      Design! Muller Van Severen at Villa Cavrois will be showing until 31 October 2020.
      Villa Cavrois isn’t the only building by Robert Mallet-Stevens to become a public attraction. Villa Noailles in the French commune of Hyeres, which Mallet-Stevens designed in 1923, is now an arts centre.
      June of 2019 saw designer and Dezeen Awards judge Pierre Yovanovitch overhaul Villa Noailles’ gift shop, brightening up surfaces by painting them salmon pink, cobalt blue and buttery yellow.
      Photography is courtesy of Fien Muller.

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      Stéphanie Livée's interiors for Hotel Le Sud are an homage to the south of France

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      White walls, stripey furnishings and colourful ceramics feature in this hotel on France’s Côte d’Azur, which interior architect Stéphanie Livée has designed to reflect the region’s laid-back ambience.Hotel Le Sud is situated in Juan Les Pins, a charming town on the Côte d’Azur recognised for its sandy beaches and seafront promenades lined with eateries and boutiques.
      This setting became a key point of reference for Paris-based interior architect Stéphanie Lizée, who was tasked with designing the hotel’s 29 guest rooms, bar and terrace.

      “I am native to the region, southern blood runs in my veins,” Livée told Dezeen.

      “We have revisited the stylistic codes of the south with subtlety: the sandstone, the terracotta, the stripes, the rattan, interact with objects found in the surroundings and custom-designed furniture, mostly made by local craftsmen,” she continued.
      “The spirit of the South is here both revisited and modernized, without ostentation or caricature.”

      Paved flooring inlaid with jagged offcuts of stone has been paired with white-painted walls in the hotel’s bar.
      Wicker chairs run down one side of the room, while on the other is a series of ornate wire-frame seats dressed with floral yellow seat cushions.

      A stripey orange seating banquette has been set against one peripheral wall, where French artist Franck Lebraly has created a small mural.
      It depicts a trio of arched windows looking out across the ocean, with summer-themed paraphernalia like lemons, wine bottles and plant pots nestled on their ledges.

      Hoy hotel is designed to be a calming refuge at the heart of Paris

      Other surfaces in the bar have been punctuated with rounded niches which display an array of second-hand ceramics found in the local area.

      Stripey and cane furnishings appear again on the hotel’s outdoor terrace, where guests can sit and enjoy their breakfasts.
      A pair of chunky, orange-striped chairs also feature in the lobby, which is anchored by a grooved timber concierge counter.

      The colours applied in the guest rooms upstairs take cues from the wider cultural context of southern France.
      Stéphanie Livée became particularly interested in hues used by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, who spent several summers creating portraits and ceramics in French Riviera towns like Juan Les Pins, Antibes and Cannes.

      “The series of plates exhibited at the Picasso museum in Antibes guided me in choosing and matching the colours of the rooms – terracotta, Klein blue, pine green, yellow,” explained Livée.
      “The spirits of Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Jean Cocteau, Matisse and the ceramists of Vallauris are still very much present in this radiant and amazing part of the country, which has so inspired grand artists in the mid 20th century.”

      Bands of yellow, orange, emerald and pine-green paint have been created just beneath the rooms’ ceilings, matching the stripey throws that have been laid across the beds.
      Terracotta tiles have then been used to line the vaulted doorways that lead through to the rooms’ showers, which are screened off by blue-striped curtains.

      Paint-splattered or fish-print plates have been used as decor, as well as earth-toned vases. Some of the pieces in the rooms were designed by Livée herself, including the wavy-edged wooden side tables.
      More illustrative details by Franck Lebraly also pop up – streaks of paint have been applied around the curvy headboards and the signs that denote room numbers have also been hand-painted.

      Stéphanie Lizée set up her eponymous studio in 2017. Her Hotel Le Sud project joins a roster of design-focused hotels across France – others include Hoy, which is designed to be a calming “hideaway” from the hustle and bustle of Paris’ city streets, and Le Coucou, a ski-in-ski-out hotel nestled amongst the snow-capped peaks of Meribel.

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      Timothee Mercier transforms rural French farm building into home for his parents

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      Architect Timothee Mercier of Studio XM has converted a ruined farm building in France into  an “intimate refuge” for his parents. MA House is located in Vaucluse, a picturesque part of southeast France that boasts vineyards, lavender fields and quaint villages. It takes over an old farmhouse on a plot of land that architect Timothee Mercier’s […] More

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      John Whelan adorns Paris' Nolinski restaurant with art-deco details

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      Gold-leaf “sunbursts” and mirrored panelling feature in this art deco-style Parisian restaurant, which British designer John Whelan has stirred with 1970s-inspired details. The restaurant is set within the five-star Nolinski hotel in Paris’ first arrondissement, just a short stroll from the Musée du Louvre, and Jardin des Tuileries. It had previously featured a mixture of […] More

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      Casa Santa Teresa is a Corsican holiday home with unspoilt ocean views

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      Amelia Tavella Architects has transformed a ruined 1950s residence on Corsica’s coastline into a light-filled holiday home with simply furnished interiors. Casa Santa Teresa is located near Corsica’s capital, Ajaccio, and is nestled along the Route des Sanguinaires – a rugged strip of coastline dotted with villas and upscale hotels. The 400-square-metre house was originally […] More

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      Hoy hotel is designed to be a calming refuge at the heart of Paris

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      TV-free guest suites and an in-house yoga studio are some of the ways that hotelier Charlotte Gomez de Orozco has tried to channel a sense of serenity inside this Parisian hotel, which is decked out in natural hues. Situated in Paris’ ninth arrondissement, Hoy has been designed to be a “true hideaway” from the hustle […] More

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      Wood Ribbon apartment in Paris features an undulating timber wall

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      A sinuous plywood wall winds through the interior of this Parisian apartment, which has been redesigned by local studio Toledano + Architects. Wood Ribbon apartment is set within a residential building that was constructed during Paris’ Haussmann era, which saw the redesign of large parts of the city’s urban landscape between 1853-1870. The apartment has […] More

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      Studio Razavi completes “introspective” Apartment XVII in historic Lyon neighbourhood

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      Studio Razavi has abandoned excessive decoration for simple plaster walls and arched niches inside this Lyon apartment, which is meant to channel a sense of calm. Nestled amongst the winding, cobbled streets and Renaissance-era buildings of the historic Vieux Lyon neighbourhood, Apartment XVII has been designed by Studio Razavi to be an “introspective space”. Left […] More