If you ask internationally renowned French architect and interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon about his inspiration, you need to listen closely to his answer. Armed with a strong French accent, the timeless, impeccably dressed designer sounds like his response is, “the circus.” For a quick moment, visions of the classic, marble-adorned lobby complete with 17th-century tapestries at the Georges V in Paris, the Art Deco-inspired black-and-purple bar in the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower and the calming burgundy and beige tones and high ceiling of L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in the Four Seasons Hotel New York pop into your head as you try to comprehend what the sensory overload of the circus has to do with any of Rochon’s 60-plus five-star luxury hospitality, spa and restaurant designs around the world. Then you realise, after he’s apologized once again for his English, he actually said, “the Thirties,” and it all makes sense. 

“I love this period,” says Rochon. “It’s the beginning of contemporary design with the classical touch.” This passion is evident throughout the endless work he’s done since he founded his Paris-based interior design firm PYR in 1979, from his ability to preserve the historical integrity of landmark buildings while implementing contemporary touches, to the influence of designers and architects like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Jacques Emile Ruhlman. Even Paris’ sister city of Chicago, where Rochon opened a second office in 2007, reminds him of the era.
“I love Chicago because of the architecture,” says Rochon. “For the French, it reminds us of the 1930s, the black and white movies.” The inspiration might explain why Rochon placed black and white photographs of Paris and Chicago architectural scenes in the rooms of Chicago’s Sofitel Water Tower Hotel when he designed the luxury hotel with Chicago-based design firm Forrest Perkins in 2003. The contemporary newbuild hotel resembles a gleaming white, mile-high ship setting sail, and Rochon worked with architect Jean-Paul Viguier to add touches of timelessness to the modern design. “When I made my presentation to the Sofitel people, [I wanted a] black floor and after that I choose royal purple, red, a lot of colour, so my inspiration again was the 30s.” The bold colors show up in the hotel’s popular restaurant Café des Architectes restaurant, where acrylic prints of architectural scenes hang on the wall and 1930s-inspired chairs are covered in striking purple velvet. And just across the subtly under-lit lobby floor is Le Bar, an homage to international travel with an over-sized Art Deco-inspired clock behind the bar, purple high top bar seats and Martinis shaken tableside.

Rochon is currently back in the Windy City for a week out of every month to work on lobby and suite renovations of the 20-year-old Four Seasons Hotel just off Michigan Avenue. Still in the schematic design phase, Rochon remains tight-lipped about the project, but describes the style as French classic that will meld with the hotel’s elegant 1940s-inspired interior.

When Rochon’s not braving Chicago winters, he’s either in his Paris office, or traveling around the globe to work on his ongoing hotel, residential and restaurant projects. Clients like Four Seasons, The Ritz-Carlton, Orient Express and the Shangri-La continually tap Rochon for renovation projects, while smaller boutique hotels also enlist the designer for new, contemporary designs (like a Manhattan-based boutique hotel project still under-wraps). While Rochon clearly appreciates modern design, his true talent shines when he gets his hands on a building of historical significance. “I always respect the building,” says Rochon. “I try to find the first layout that was designed.

My first inspiration is location and building first, you should respect [that], you know?” And by respect, it’s clear that while Rochon strives to leave his mark on old buildings, he’s willing to sacrifice his style to maintain their integrity. “A good example, I’m doing the Savoy in London,” explains Rochon. “Imagine the French coming to [London] to do one of the best hotels in the UK. The Savoy is in two parts. The first part is very traditional British and the second part is the 1930s. It’s a very interesting and challenging hotel but I’m not doing a new hotel renovation for the ego of the designer.” The fabled 120-year-old hotel closed for the renovation last December. “We respect the location of the building and we don’t forget who it’s for – the staff and the guests.”
Besides the famed Savoy, Rochon has recently taken on renovation projects in other historic landmark hotels, like the Essex House in New York City first built in 1931, the InterContinental Paris Le Grande Hotel, which originally opened in 1862 under Napoléon III, and the Four Seasons Florence, a former convent from the 16th century. He’s also continually brought in to make updates and changes to the legendary Four Seasons Georges V in Paris, first built in 1928.

“It wasn’t easy to design,” says Rochon of the opulent five-star boutique hotel. “I’m very proud because all the French love this hotel and I’m still always following this project today. Any detail, I’m always there, they always ask me my advice. Now we are going to do a large Hollywood suite on the top of the hotel, which will be interesting because we are going to be a little more contemporary. [But] you should be humble when you do this, because the architecture is there, you should not destroy [it].” When asked to describe what he loves most about the hotel (which he considers one of his favorite projects), Rochon says, “Quality. Its elegance thanks to the selection of very good materials, the harmony of colours.”

Las Vegas isn’t exactly Hollywood, but Rochon had to adapt to the glitz and glamour of Sin City while working with chef Joël Robuchon to design the Mansion restaurant at the MGM Grand in 1999. “I saw all the restaurants in Las Vegas and I said I wouldn’t do one more fashionably designed restaurant. I’m going to do a beautiful house,” says Rochon of the famed establishment, which consistently tops world’s best restaurants lists. Inspired by MGM movies from the 1930s, Rochon successfully created an intimate yet elegant environment, where guests can easily settle into oversized purple velvet banquettes. Comfortable, opulent and lush, the Mansion is decked with black and white chequered floors, stunning crystal chandeliers and a softly lit ivy-covered terrace wall. “[I wanted] a beautiful private dining room with a terrace, garden and fireplace. My thinking was, forget Las Vegas completely.”

When guests flock to the Mansion for Robuchon’s 16-course tasting menu flecked with foie gras, truffles and gold leaf, they truly forget that a sea of noisy slot machines and black jack tables are just a steps from the entrance, but for Rochon, it’s all part of setting a scene, something he once saw himself doing professionally as a film director. “My first dream was to be a movie director, because you can dream about writing the story, you can think about lighting, you can think about architecture, you can think about the people and what they want, what should be, what they’re going to play,” he says. “It’s the same in design. When you design the lobby of the room, you control the lighting, the music, the flowers, the artwork, we create the place,” explains Rochon who cites black-and-white French films and the Italian film director Luchino Visconti as being amongst his other inspirations.

But while working on setting a luxury restaurant scene, Rochon doesn’t overlook the part of the starring role, the executive chef. “When I’m doing a restaurant, it’s for the success of the restaurant and especially it’s for the chef, not for me,” says Rochon, who, besides Robuchon, has worked with esteemed toques like Alain Ducasse on Benoit in Japan and Paul Bocuse on L’Ouest Express in Lyon, France. “The chefs are artists too.  I can speak with the chef, they understand colour, design. Food, it’s pure design, it’s pure art,” says Rochon. Besides the Mansion, Rochon and Robuchon also collaborated on L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in the Four Seasons New York in 2006. “When we did the Atelier we [thought about] what is the way to put the eggs, what’s the colour of the plate? Should we do the black plate? [Everything should be] designed according to personality of the chef, and what he’s doing in the kitchen.”

Another important factor to consider when Rochon sets a scene is the property’s architect. “When I design the hotel and am doing the renovation, [I] can’t [always] do what [I] want. Sometimes the architecture isn’t good so we are like the surgeons, we try to help the architecture. The dream of all designers is to have beautiful architecture.” While working on L’Atelier at the Four Seasons, Rochon was honoured to collaborate with legendary architect I.M. Pei to preserve the original design while implementing his own renovation, “With Monsieur Pei, the architecture is there, always.”

Whether Rochon is collaborating with a chef, developer or owner, he has a hand in every detail of a project, “from the concrete to the flowers” as he puts it. Rochon’s wife Annick has headed up the furniture and fabric division as FF&E Director since PYR was established in 1979, and a team of senior designers, project directors and technical directors work on projects from the Paris and Chicago offices. When he’s not in the Paris or Chicago office, or travelling around the globe, he’s at his 2,000ft2 home in Brittany, France. In true Rochon style, the house, built in 1930, is a mix of classicism and modernism and is completely monochrome with just a few touches of green in the fabrics and objects “to remind me of the green colour of our garden,” says Rochon. But with a typical travel itinerary that could include back-to-back visits to Shanghai, Chicago, Florence and Zurich, it’s hard to believe he spends much time there. “Sometimes it’s tiring to travel so much and not be at home, but the hotels give me a lot of pleasure and a way to experiment and improve my projects,” says the Brittany-born Rochon who, as a child, visited destinations as exotic as Africa, and spent weeks at a time traveling on ocean liners. “My favourite thing is to dream,” he adds. “Not everybody can dream, it’s true! Ask how many people on their job can dream? Not many.”

Pierre-Yves Rochon will be appearing in an on-stage interview at this year’s Sleep Event Conference, and receiving the Outstanding Contribution award at this year’s European Hotel Design Awards.
Visit www.thesleepevent.com for further details.