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Gault&Millau: For you, what is the starting point for a project?

Caroline Tissier: As far as I'm concerned, it's always pretty much the same: it's meeting the chef. What first inspires me is his personal universe, his tastes, his ambitions too. And then, of course, his cuisine, which is inseparable from the universe we're trying to create for him. So we talk a lot. Some know quite well what they want, the spirit in which they want to evolve, while others give us perhaps exaggerated confidence, because they don't know what to expect.others trust us a little too much, because they don't have any ideas in terms of decoration or atmosphere and don't really know where to turn. This happens quite regularly. In such cases, I try to listen carefully to what they have to say, observe the way they work and look at their dishes. They show me their world and what we're trying to achieve.

G&M: Are you ever embarrassed by a restaurant name that sets too strong a tone? I'm thinking of L'Ours, for example, which is quite a strong name...

C. T.: Why did we start from there? The owners, Jacky Ribault and his wife Valérie, had found this famous naturalized bear and were determined to have it somewhere in the restaurant. So we staged it. But the whole atmosphere, the decor around it, was in their heads anyway. Right from the start, we wanted to go for a very natural, undergrowth atmosphere, with a touch of a cabinet of curiosities. Even if the bear hadn't been there, we'd have done it anyway. In fact, at one point we hesitated to put it in because we thought it might shock customers.

G&M: What's most important in the operation of the space?

C. T.: The ergonomics of the space. For me, this is ultra-important. It's impossible to design a project without taking into account the circulation of staff and the visual comfort of customers faced with this traffic. I always start by laying out the elements of a space according to the number of covers that have been decided and the type of kitchen. Obviously, there will be fewer covers in a gastro than in a bistro. But service must always be pleasant for both customers and staff. We need ergonomic work areas that are isolated, or at least interfere as little as possible with work in the dining room. In a gastro environment, how do you move around with large trays? Where to put them? How do you get from inside to outside the kitchen? All this has repercussions on the furniture. Customer comfort is one of my primary objectives. I try to make customers want to come back. It's silly to say, but in reality it's ultra-important, and that means physical comfort. The fact of being well seated, well installed, but also the light, the colors, the materials... For example, I'm incapable of doing a project with strong colors that will tire the eye. It may well work, but that's not me!

One of my favorite things to work with is light. First of all, because I think lighting is beautiful. So it's a pleasure to select them, with the possibility of always having something adjustable in intensity to suit every moment of the day. And then there's the slightly more technical lighting, to make sure the light is as pleasant as possible, yet brilliant at the same time. Some chefs also ask us to have an "Instagrammable" table. It's a fairly recent development, but it's here to stay! This complicates matters even more. Because a pleasant light with the right level of intensity, well, it doesn't do anything for your phone!

G&M: The chefs claim a local, ecologically responsible approach. Is this also reflected in their requests?

C. T.: As far as the decor itself is concerned, not so much. In any case, I don't think it's possible today to say that everything in a project is going to be eco-responsible and come from the region. Even so, we're tending more and more to offer our customers companies and manufacturers with eco-responsible charters. Whenever possible, we work with local artisans, especially for decorative works, objects and sometimes wall coverings, because this is a growing trend in France. For example, for the Fleur de Loire project, Christophe Hay has a very clear approach in this direction.

G&M: Could you tell us more about this project?

C. T.: It's hard to sum up this project, because we've been working on it for a very long time! Christophe Hay is an example of a chef who trusts me. It's a great project, but also quite a challenge, because we had to get inside Christophe's head, and make sure we stuck to ideas he had trouble verbalizing. It took a lot of work. We had to come up with something that was both in keeping with the codes of a 5-star hotel and a gourmet restaurant, and at the same time took account of what was important to Christophe, i.e. nature, the Loire and the region. We had to create something consistent with his cuisine, the geography, with a few nods to history, while still being very sophisticated. For me, there was no question of making a "nature" hotel, even if the decoration itself appealed to nature, to the mineral, floral and vegetal aspects of the environment. But it's always a little different, with contemporary, highly-designed furniture that will break up the country hotel feel. But there's still a sense of French luxury, without going overboard with "style" either. To keep in line with our eco-responsibility approach, we worked with an interior designer who helped us draw up a very serious eco-responsibility charter. We worked with European materials and wood, and French wood whenever possible, even though there isn't much wood in France. Customers aren't necessarily aware of this, but if they're interested, it makes sense. What's more, some of our fixtures come from Italy, others from much further afield. I don't want to restrict a project and prevent myself from having a beautiful piece because it doesn't come from France. All the same, there are many elements that enable us to achieve a level of coherence with Christophe Hay's project.