“I have that illness called creativity” Philippe Starck and entrepreneur Laurent Taïeb bring surrealism back to Paris with the “Too Hotel Paris”
On the 25th floor, where the all-glass panoramic restaurant is located, we’re no longer in a hotel on the outskirts of Paris; we are Charlotte from ‘Lost in Translation.’ Instead of Tokyo, we’re contemplating Paris in 360 degrees from a 6-meter-high glass cloud. Too Hotel Paris, Founded just a year ago, at the end of October 2022, it’s in a perfect location for the thousands of visitors Paris 13 will receive during the 2024 Olympics.
Floating and dining in an entirely glass cloud is possible for less than €60
More than a pleasure for the retina, this is an experience that challenges the senses and is cinematic in itself. Everything is ethereal, infinite, and surreal: This is how visionary industrial designer Philippe Starck (Paris 1949) imagined Too Hotel Paris. Starck needs no further introduction and orchestrated an exhibition about the strange, bizarre, and fantastic side of Paris at the Carnavalet Museum last July.
Initially a madness, finally an affordable dream
Disruptive and iconoclastic, the TOO Hotel Paris project was described as “completely insane” according to its owner, Laurent Taïeb. Despite this, it culminates in a product that simply didn’t exist until now: At a relatively accessible price, from their bed, clients can admire Paris from 200 meters high. Take a bath in a tub with a panoramic view? Why not. A true feat by Taïeb, to whom we owe Kong, the UFO-shaped bar that defined Parisian nights in the early 2000s. Yes, the same Kong where the last episode of Sex and The City was filmed. True nonconformists of our time, Starck and Taïeb bet on a love for the surreal and on bringing clients closer to a universe where poetry takes on shapes and textures. They hit the mark as the young and dynamic clientele of 30-50 years prefer modernity, innovation, and conviviality over the old and protocol-driven.
The real coexists with the surreal even in the hallways
Walking through the corridors, at each room door, we’re greeted by a mini poem inspired by present-day Parisian life. After all, what better place between the real and the unreal than a hotel in one of the vertiginous Duo towers built by star architect Jean Nouvel? In the bathrooms, as if we were in those iconoclastic Paris nightclubs from the Bains Douches era, Starck’s voice revolves among urban soliloquies. Or is it perhaps our subconscious?
At Too, the client experience is key, and architecture goes hand in hand
Conversing with Philippe Starck’s team, we’re convinced that there are modern geniuses, visionaries of today for whom nothing is impossible and who have madness as their best ally. And who wouldn’t benefit from a bit of that dreamworld to celebrate a special occasion or simply to give their trip a surreal touch? We can all fly.
How did Jean Nouvel’s factory seal, creator of both Duo towers, influence the creative process of Philippe Starck’s team?
“Laurent Taïeb, my great friend and owner of TOO Hotel Paris, contacted me to work on this project. I had a fantasy, a dream, and I wondered if it would have its place here. When I work on a project, I always act like a film director. Too, in my imagination, was the story of an enchanted flying castle between the sky and clouds, amid different cities of the world. A castle floating over Paris, levitating, causing an effect of euphoria. A castle full of energy, dreams, love, kisses, intelligence, and laughter.”
What are your artistic/historical and architectural references when working on themes like the dreamlike, the surreal that manifests through proximity to the sky and clouds?
“I have this mental illness called creativity. I don’t have any artistic, historical, or architectural inspiration, as I don’t read magazines, don’t look at what others do, and never watch TV. My only passion is the evolution of our species, which is constant. Humans are geniuses. I imagined the TOO Hotel from its vibrations, with my own madness and fantasy. That’s how I build my film. I’m not interested if the hotel is elegant, cool, or fashionable. I only focus on what people will experience, what will be the effect, the message, what will be the story.
And in that, I am very precise: I try to bring my friends to a place where I hope they feel better: sexier, more creative, more in love, more dreamy. I want them to transport to another state of mind, to another place, which is better than their daily life. I try to take people to another life and to live a different story than the usual one. When you dream, you don’t tell yourself ‘you have to be reasonable.’
There is no answer to why or why not. At TOO, wherever you go, you’ll always find strange things. Some tribute. A living painting. Everything is in dark wood, the leather upholstery of the bar is pink. Why? Or rather, why not?”
For many, architecture is a profession of logic and calculations; with the TOO Hotel, you’re demonstrating the ‘magical’ and ‘dreamy’ side. How much of this is behind every architect?
“I cannot speak for architects. Today we see many buildings constructed for the glory or publicity of those who built them. For my part, I am not interested in architecture; I am interested in human beings. We have the duty to help the same animals of our species to live in a decent, pleasant, and if possible, joyful way. If I create a place where each square meter is a fertile surprise that will open people’s minds, then it’s a machine of experiences. I only create hotels when I have a new experience to share. I am a collector of experience machines.”
TOO Hotel Paris https://toohotel.com/
Average price double room: between €230 and €400 (depending on season)
TOO Restaurant Average meal price: €40-60
Tel: +33 1 78 90 79 90
