After completing her graphic design studies, Paris native Dorothée Boissier embarked on a career at Christian Liaigre, immersing herself in the design of furniture and interiors. While there, she was immediately captivated by her colleague Patrick Gilles. “He was so talented and different; I was fascinated. I knew from the first day that we were going to work together,” recalls Boissier.
A duplex in the Lana is rendered in a palette of marble and walnut wood
Gilles stayed with Liaigre while Boissier joined Philippe Starck’s team for nearly a decade, but in 2004, they launched their eponymous architecture and design studio, grounded in a mutual passion for art and vibrant living. “We are ambassadors of the French art de vivre. Our style, firmly rooted in this tradition, boldly fuses classicism and modernity,” Gilles explains. “Our choices draw from deep cultural roots and the authenticity of its architectural codes. We reinterpret symbols, appropriate them, and transform them to give them new life.”
When he first arrived in Paris on his own, Gilles, who previously resided in Marseille and Montpellier in southern France, soon found a second home at the Centre Pompidou. “I discovered with delight, the masterful works of Anselm Kiefer and Joseph Beuys, as well as Alberto Giacometti’s Walking Man sculptures,” he remembers.
Boissier, however, grew up in a townhouse in the city’s bucolic Auteuil quarter that her stepfather had reimagined as a gallery housing his grandmother’s vast collection of works. “All the applied arts of the 19th century, impressionist paintings, costumes, and opaline glass mingled and conversed in harmony,” she points out.
A dramatic chandelier suspends within the smoked oak walls of the Petit Salon at the Baccarat Hotel New York
As partners—both personally and professionally—Gilles and Boissier have tackled numerous luxury hospitality projects. They were tapped for the first location of Barry Sternlicht’s Baccarat Hotels in New York, where “we fought to prove that our unique perspective on this 18th-century French brand could be enriched with a European vision of the city,” says Boissier.
Then came other hits like the renovation of the Ritz-Carlton New York in Central Park, the overhaul of the historic Ritz in Madrid for Mandarin Oriental, and such restaurants as the Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic in Hong Kong. Most recently, the duo crafted the Dorchester Collection’s 225-key Lana hotel within a Foster + Partners building in Dubai.
“We designed the entire project from A to Z, meaning we started with a building, which was almost an empty box. We understood how the traveler will discover the space—where they stop or sit, what they look at, so there’s a play on how they will evolve in it,” explains Gilles. “What I hope is for travelers to be totally surprised when they walk through the doors.” One such captivating element is the lobby floor, “a kaleidoscope of different materials,” as Boissier puts it, that melds raw and polished stones in hues of pink, beige, and gray.
The Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic in Hong Kong features a pink banquette that winds beneath a mirrored ceiling
The Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor, their revamp of a 1929 hideaway opening in August, is poised to make an equally glamorous impact. Beyond that hotel, Gilles and Boissier are currently keeping busy designing the Mandarin Oriental’s forthcoming Rome outpost slated for 2026 as well as residences in Italy and Morocco, pieces for their furniture collection, and Moncler retail boutiques for the French-Italian brand.
Longtime client Remo Ruffini, chairman and CEO of the outerwear label, has been critical to Gilles and Boissier’s growth. “He entrusted us with the design of his 250 boutiques, as well as his private residences on Lake Como, in St. Moritz, and his yacht. This relationship, founded on trust and loyalty, has strengthened over the decades, allowing us to establish our distinctive footprint on the international stage,” says Gilles.
The industry has become so enthralling to Gilles and Boissier that they like to define their practice as an architectural fashion agency. “Our projects often lead us to tradeshows dedicated to fashion professionals, true incubators of new materials, where we draw inspiration that awakens our creativity,” adds Boissier. “Inspired by our personal references, we open ourselves to myriad influences—film, theater, exhibitions. We have a cinematic vision of our projects constructing a storyboard. Then, we stage our script.”
Moroccan tadelakt plaster walls etched with Berber motifs back a bed in the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech’s grand villa
This article originally appeared in HD’s July 2024 issue.
