The 200 sqm, 100-person capacity restaurant has been commissioned by MamaSens, a company founded by Jacques and Laurent Pourcel, world-renowned twin chefs who took their first restaurant, Le Jardin des Sens, in Montpellier, southern France, to the coveted three Michelin star accolade in just ten years. The restaurant design and cuisine reflects the Pourcel brothers’ Mediterranean heritage from the Hérault region and is the first MamaSens-branded restaurant in the country.

The restaurant is located on the first floor of Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9^th arrondissement of Paris. It includes a dining area, a short-stay coffee bar, a ‘show kitchen’ and a deli offering gourmet products. The restaurant’s design combines ‘mineral’ materials, such as limestone with ‘botanic’ elements including timber and vegetation. The centrepiece of the restaurant is a large-scale, wooden tree sculpture built by Arca whose elongated branches spread across the ceiling into the four corners of the restaurant.

Inspired by the ancient Troglodyte caves that were carved into limestone cliffs in France, the restaurant imitates the caves through a lime plaster finish with niches along the walls filled with aromatic herbs.

Natural mineral materials will be accompanied by furnishings made of bamboo and ratan designed by AW², such as the bespoke furniture, window claustras, brushed brass light fixtures and planters to reflect the rustic feel of the Mediterranean. The restaurant’s colour palette is inspired by the markets of Southern France with orange, yellow, red, green and aubergine decorating the niches in the walls, the table and kitchen surfaces and the ceramic bar.

Along the walls, the use of green ceramic tiles is inspired by the Zellige tile technique from the Fez region in Morocco. This is complemented by tiled designs across the dining table surfaces inspired by mid-century French ceramicist Roger Capron, fusing the modern vibrant colours of the southern French markets with elements of the wider Mediterranean.

The Galeries Lafayette is an upmarket French department store chain with stores operating across France and other countries. The art nouveau building is located close to Paris’ famous Opera and has become a popular tourist attraction.