Urban Hive Paris: Parisian Details, Italian Imagination
Iker
At 102 avenue de Villiers, Urban Hive Paris pairs 101 rooms and suites with La Vie en Rouge, a restaurant and bar that gives the hotel a life beyond the overnight stay.
A poem becomes a necklace of pearls. Decorative trimmings turn into picture frames, while leopard motifs recur across the interiors. At Urban Hive Paris, familiar Parisian references take unexpected forms. The new hotel in the 17th arrondissement draws on the capital’s decorative vocabulary, then gives it a playful twist.
Behind the interiors is Milanese architecture studio Vudafieri-Saverino Partners, with artistic and decorative direction by Révèle Expériences. Custom wood and brass furniture, mosaics and reinterpreted Haussmannian mouldings provide the framework. Lighting and artworks commissioned for the hotel introduce more individual touches. The Italian influence comes through in the designers’ approach to these French references, allowing formal details to sit alongside more irreverent ones.
That approach extends to the layout. Reception, lounge, restaurant and bar share an open lobby, with an interior garden continuing the ground floor outdoors. These spaces bring several reasons to visit under one roof: a room for the night, breakfast with a friend, lunch or a drink after work. The garden gives those encounters a setting away from the avenue.
Upstairs, the 101 rooms and suites are organised around five personalities, ranging from La Coquette to L’Iconique. Their decorative details draw on different fragments of Parisian life: Limoges porcelain, botanical engravings, fashion illustrations inspired by couture houses and silky twisted trimmings. Bespoke furniture and considered lighting connect the rooms to the wider design, while the references give each its own character. In La Suprême, views over the rooftops add Paris itself to the composition.
La Vie en Rouge supplies the ground floor’s changing rhythm. Breakfast is open to outside guests as well as those staying upstairs, with eggs cooked to order, viennoiseries, granola and seasonal pastries. By lunchtime, the restaurant takes on the role of a contemporary brasserie. French classics, including a version of beef bourguignon, sit alongside seasonal dishes, with tables in the dining room, interior garden and on the terrace.
Wine is served by the glass, bottle or magnum, with a list giving space to organic, biodynamic and natural producers. In the evening, cocktails take their turn. The namesake La Vie en Rouge combines blackcurrant, red wine, vermouth, elderflower, verjuice and fresh mint. Alcohol-free creations also feature, while the spirits selection favours French houses.
Weekend brunch runs from 11.30am to 3.30pm, with a buffet and live cooking station.
Tastings, food and wine pairings, live music and other gatherings form part of the venue’s planned programme. For a hotel whose rooms borrow from Parisian domestic life, the restaurant provides the other half of the story: somewhere to come downstairs, pull up a chair and spend time with the neighbourhood.
Urban Hive Paris and La Vie en Rouge
102 avenue de Villiers, 75017 Paris, France
