Saint Michel

Born in 1944, Jacques Grange — a graduate of the École Boulle and the École Camondo — quickly attracted prestigious clients: Baron de Rothschild, Aly Khan, but also Isabelle Adjani, Caroline of Monaco, Alain Ducasse and François Pinault. His main clients, often patrons, were Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. He decorates the most famous apartments and homes around the world, as well as hotels, restaurants and the showrooms of prestigious brands.

His style is characterized by a harmony between the classical and the contemporary, with a juxtaposition of styles that follows in the footsteps of Madeleine Castaing, of whom he is a disciple.

Jacques Grange is at the origin of this elegant, French art of living — widely imitated — cultivating cross-influences, combining priceless furniture with charming objects over which the melody of feelings hovers, masterworks alongside the simplest of collages.

The interior architect discovered Drucker in cafés — at the Flore among others — in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, "by simply looking at what I was sitting on", he reveals. But he already knew the brand well and had used some of its creations in many earlier projects, notably for the Cinecittà café at Francis Ford Coppola's hotel, Palazzo Margherita in Bernalda, Italy. The brand therefore naturally entrusted him with the reinterpretation of one of its classics, the Saint-Michel armchair, for the Cappuccino café in Madrid. While the form was not at stake — the model already existed — a new range of colours had to be created. "This first collaboration was a happy coincidence," confides Jacques Grange. "Drucker is a blend of tradition, charm and quality, a timeless world that gives off an eternal scent, passed down from generation to generation. That said, I have always loved rattan furniture — pieces from the Second Empire, those seen at Jean Cocteau's or at Madeleine Castaing's. They hold something both fragile and resilient, poetic and nostalgic."