A unique association reunited French designers Gilles & Boissier and Jouffre on the prestigious first Baccarat hotel in New York. Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier are two French interior designers whose style and elegance have seduced worldwide. They started in 2004 and have designed interiors in luxury hotels, residences as well as boutiques in all continents. The couple is now working on the amazing first hotel Baccarat in New York for which they decided to collaborate with Jouffre to achieve the wall upholstery in the Lobby Lounge of the hotel.
Everything started with an original idea: creating the effect of hundreds of pleats unveiling one after another all around the four walls of the Lobby Lounge of the brand new Baccarat hotel in Manhattan, due to open soon right in front of the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). The Jouffreworkshops took up the challenge offered by the designers Gilles & Boissier and went beyond the traditional techniques of wall covering. For months, from Lyon to New York, our design office developed, improved and perfected a new approach of wall upholstery. As to contribute to the Christmas magic, the workshops stapled the last pleats right before the holidays, offering New Yorkers an outstanding present!
As early as August 2014, talented upholsterers and careful coordinators began to carry on a technical study in their workshop in Lyon, France, which turned out to be crucial for the outcome of the project. Such an innovative concept, completely new for the workshops, was impossible to achieve with the traditional techniques and processes ordinarily used in wall upholstery. This particular project required many attempts and a lot of creativity to develop the right technique that would allow Jouffre to accomplish a long-lasting and beautiful work, matching the decorators’ expectations. The major difficulty encountered by the design office during this phase of development and improvement was to combine the key supplies that would prevent any damage from time and humidity on the fabric with the most appropriate way to handle and pull the fabric to convey the sought volume. Another challenging hurdle was the extreme height of the walls. 23 feet high each: a record in 27 years of experience in wall covering for Jouffre!
A decisive moment happened in September with the opportunity to proceed to a mock-up on site in New York to test the several options found by the upholsterers in Lyon. This turning point helped the workshops to get closer to the perfect technique to complete the project. After meetings and discussions with the designers, improvements were still needed and the design office continued researching back in Lyon.
On Thanksgiving Day, our four upholsterers, Simon, Claude, Julien and Thibaud, thoughtfully trained for days, were able to start this monumental work of art. For four weeks of intense labor, they worked together sharing their knowledge and passion to perfect the last details of the technique developed in France and eventually succeeded in finding the best way to complete this amazing project.
The result is astonishing: each pleat falls perfectly and each one of them reflects light, casting delicate shadows around the room. As to contribute to the Christmas magic, our Fantastic Four stapled the last pleats right before the holidays, offering New Yorkers this outstanding present!
In the wake of New Year’s Day, the Jouffre workshops were back on the Baccarat project but this time with a slightly different mission. Fabricating the highest drapes they had ever made in the US! This required a careful and precise organization in order to produce drapes showing off neat stitches and majestic movements.
The whole US team was able to show its expertise in managing such huge projects. For every single drape, the seamstresses needed to use two tables at a time to cover the full height of the drapes. Every head pleat of the four panels of drapery was sewn by hand to ensure a precise and invisible result. Working with the sewing machines on other elements of the drapes was also a great challenge given the weight of each drape, and required the coordination of two seamstresses.
This project needed a real teamwork visible also during the installation of the drapes. A simple ladder was not enough to reach the extremely high ceiling. Using a scaffold, our three installers achieved the complex operation of hanging these heavy drapes up in thin pockets.
The four impressive drapes have made the decoration of the Lobby Lounge complete and have enhanced the volume of the room, introducing the visitors into a world of luxury and elegance… in the heart of Manhattan!