Nespresso - 2025

Nestled on the ground floor of a 17th-century hôtel particulier in the heart of the Marais, I imagined the first Nespresso Café as a little capsule out of time, simple and poetic.

The soft curves borrow from the past, from the timeless 1930s to modernism looking toward the future. Since Nespresso’s savoir-faire is ancestral and its technology ultra-sophisticated, I wanted time itself to be suspended.

The materials are modern. The backbar, in polished rutile aluminum, recalls an Italian percolator. It also evokes the first fuselages of vehicles from the modern era, because coffee, coming from elsewhere, has always been a journey. Cup after cup, the most beautiful landscapes of the world unfold across our palates: the misty waves of Brazil, the golden high plateaus of Ethiopia, and the mystical skies of eternal India.

All around, a soft light casts the comforting glow of dawn. For coffee has this rare power to promise, with every cup, a new morning. Good caffeine clears the mind, awakens the senses, and gives our finest gifts their full power.

The floor, in limestone with marble cabochons the color of coffee cherries, is inspired by Italian marble marquetry (pavimento intarsiato). The opaline blown-glass lamps, designed especially for the project, could easily have adorned one of those elegant Milanese entrance halls. Shaped like coffee beans, they are a nod to the beautiful lamps of Vico Magistretti.

The ceiling is white and fleecy like milk foam. It warms the space the way a cappuccino warms the heart.

© Photos : Romain Laprade