Hotel Particulier

Don’t let the name fool you: Hotel Particulier does not offer rooms for the night. To put it another way, ceci n’est pas un hotel. “In French an hotel particulier is a townhouse or other building where you can have visitors and entertain,” founder Frederique Thiollet explains. “It’s both a private and a public space.” With that in mind, Thiollet has taken a former loading dock on a little-traveled stretch of Grand Street west of Sixth Avenue and transformed it into a modern re-imagining of the eighteenth-century salon, a sort of an inter-disciplinary think tank where artists and designers can gather to socialize, brainstorm, devise projects and products, and host events. Coming up: During New York fashion week, the Los Angeles-based label Elder Statesman will set up a temporary showroom; later in February, art book publisher D.A.P. and Beatrice Dupire will co-host a three-day “lab of research and trend anticipation.” And thanks to Hotel Particulier’s boutique component and a new partnership with the online lifestyle retailer AHAlife, products that grow out of what Thiollet calls Hotel Particulier’s “creative bureau” have built-in points of sale. The gallery and boutique, which features specially commissioned pieces such as gloves by the British design duo Boudicca, fashion-centric Mad Maus prints by Christopher Lee Sauvé, and jewelry by the artist Edgar Mosa, are open to the public six days a week. The café-cum-work space, up half a level at the back of the room, is accessible by appointment—Thiollet recommends calling at least a day in advance to book a spot—and offers coffee, tea, and snacks as well as complimentary Wi-Fi. “I want to give the feeling that you’re coming to someone’s place,” she says. “You can come and have a coffee with someone, work, get inspired, find some art. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”