Designer Luke Edward Hall has once again brought his signature blend of whimsy and historical reverence to Paris with the Deux Gares Express restaurant, an annex to his previously designed Les Deux Gares hotel. Eschewing the traditional bistro and Art Deco references of the hotel’s existing eatery, Hall instead channeled the spirit of the 1960s and 70s, creating a space where guests feel instantaneously “very at home.” The interior is a purposeful mash-up, an eclectic conversation between the designer’s British roots—represented by charming “clutter” and a bold mix of patterns—and deep French tradition, symbolized by an antique monastery table at its heart. More than just a dining destination, Hall envisioned a welcoming, convivial living room, where the design, from the custom furniture to the theatrical trompe-l’oeil ceiling, is driven by “magic” and a desire to root the space firmly in its location while delivering an experience that is both unexpected and deeply satisfying.
A Convivial Bridge Between Two Design Nations
The Deux Gares Express restaurant is more than a commercial hospitality space; it is a conceptual bridge, deliberately crafted by Luke Edward Hall to fuse the best of two national design sensibilities: British eclecticism and French historical elegance. Hall, known for his vibrant, narrative-driven interiors, established a design philosophy that required the space to feel simultaneously magical and profoundly rooted in its Parisian location.
The restaurant, helmed by the same restaurateurs as the adjacent hotel, focuses on serving classic French cuisine, but the interior conversation takes an international turn. Hall’s primary goal was to create a warm and inviting atmosphere, suitable for both hotel guests seeking a relaxed environment and passing visitors looking to linger over a traditional jambon beurre or a simple ice cream sundae. This focus on conviviality—friendliness and liveliness—is the emotional anchor of the design, ensuring the finished product functions not as a sterile public space, but as an extension of one’s own comfortable, well-loved home.
The French Foundation: Antiques and Ancestry
While the overall aesthetic may be unconventional, the core structural and thematic elements of the Deux Gares Express interiors draw strongly from French ancestry and history. Hall made a strategic choice to anchor the space with pieces that carry a sense of timeless tradition, ensuring the “rooted” feeling he prizes in his work.
The literal and figurative centerpiece of the restaurant is an imposing antique table, which Hall personally sourced from a French monastery. This large, communal table instantly elevates the conviviality of the space, inviting friends and family to gather just as they might around a dining table at home. Hall has long made it a priority to include genuine French antiques and historical pieces in his Parisian projects, recognizing their power to imbue a space with gravitas and narrative depth. This commitment extends even to the most private areas: the WC features a highly patterned French wallpaper that is a designer favorite, with its original pattern dating back to 1803. This blend of foundational French history with contemporary detailing successfully prevents the space from feeling like a mere stylistic pastiche.
The British Aesthetic: Clutter, Colour, and Charm
To counter the restraint and historical formality sometimes associated with classic French design, Hall layered the space with elements he identifies as uniquely British—specifically, an embrace of charming clutter and a bold, intuitive approach to mixing patterns and colors. This eclectic sensibility provides the warmth and comfortable complexity of a cherished private residence.
The quintessential British contribution is a custom-made dresser, specifically created for the café area and modeled after an antique English furniture piece. This dresser is intentionally filled with what Hall calls “charming clutter”: an assortment of books, board games, plates, and pots. For the designer, this curated disarray is integral to the British aesthetic, transforming a public space into a “home.” He sees British design as being fundamentally “all about the mix,” allowing for an electric, personality-driven approach to collecting and display that contrasts with a more strictly formal or minimalist design language. This intentional layering adds the visual interest and lived-in quality essential to making visitors feel relaxed.
A Playful Palette and Material Deception
The design’s bold visual identity relies heavily on a fearless and deliberate color palette, dominated by hues of green, yellow, and brown, and the theatrical use of a technique known as trompe-l’oeil, or trick of the eye. Hall strategically manipulated color and material perception to achieve a sense of fun and the unexpected.
The bar area is painted a striking, optimistic sunflower yellow, instantly lending the space a sunny disposition. Hall views green and yellow as “very good friends,” and he used plenty of brown in the mix to ground these more vivid tones. He praises brown as a “wonderful neutral,” arguing that it is significantly “warmer and easier on the eye than the much more popular grey.” The true material spectacle, however, is the ceiling, which was not clad in marble, but was meticulously painted by artist Pauline Leyravaud to resemble yellow marble. Hall defended this choice with characteristic zeal: “Why use real marble when you can paint it and make a much better and bolder impression? It’s about doing things that are unexpected, unusual and, of course, fun.”
Echoes of the Past: The 1960s/70s Nod
While historical French antiques and British eclectic charm form the core of the design, the stylistic envelope of the Deux Gares Express is firmly rooted in the relaxed, conversational design language of the 1960s and 70s. This particular period influence provides the framework for the soft furnishings and overall textural feel.
References to these mid-century decades are visible in the choice of the seating, with the sofas and armchairs featuring shapes and lines that hint at the period’s softer, more lounge-focused aesthetic. The visual texture of the walls is defined by hessian wallpaper, which provides an inviting, tactile quality that immediately makes the large restaurant space feel warmer and more intimate. This warmth is further enhanced by the vivid geometric pattern of the floor, which uses the same green, brown, and yellow color palette to create a sense of movement and playful nostalgia. Through these deliberate choices, Luke Edward Hall successfully ensured that the restaurant’s interior avoids the coldness of purely modern design, instead embracing a warm, eccentric conviviality that feels like a treasured, well-loved space from a slightly more glamorous past.
