The trendy bars, clubs, and restaurants of the French capital were her first playgrounds. Now, Parisian decorator Laura Gonzalez has established her eclectic chic style internationally. The inauguration of Printemps in New York and various hotel openings have elevated her to iconic status in her field.

More than their male counterparts, female decorators embody their personal style, making their work more personal, readable, and accessible. Andrée Putman's proud bearing and streamlined silhouette in Thierry Mugler suits reflected her minimalist interiors - silent lofts with timeless arrangements and sharp black-and-white graphics. Laura Gonzalez is the complete opposite. Warm and welcoming, she greets visitors with a smile, hair flowing in the wind, twirling in a long, flowing dress with colorful patterns.

These patterns perfectly match the medley of prints that, between frescoes, carpeting, and mosaics, dress her offices like a country house on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. "I take into account the generational aspect of my success. I belong to a generation of creatives who, like Jacquemus or Jonathan Anderson, bring a joyful, stylistically accessible, less snobbish approach to the luxury domain," admits the young woman.

"When I started working, the decoration field was still a very coded, rather closed domain, where people played it distant. Back then, people only talked about design - the word 'decoration' was despised. I burst into that world like a bull in a china shop with my explosive color desires, my chaotic prints, sometimes exuberant things, not too polished, quite spontaneous actually," she explains. The agency's material library, where fabric samples, wallpapers, and trimmings are meticulously arranged in pink plastic bins, reflects this vibrant approach.

This fresh breath of air quickly transformed into a tornado. In 2008, at just 24 years old, still a student in architecture at Paris-Malaquais, Laura Gonzalez helped a friend opening a men's fashion boutique in exchange for an iPod. Following the Bond Street tailor spirit, their walls were covered with Cole & Son wallpaper - patterns that would become her signature.

With her diploma and digital music player in hand, Laura Gonzalez founded her agency. She made her mark by renovating the Parisian nightclub Le Bus Palladium. Nightclubs, restaurants, and bars became her first playgrounds. "Often, one project leads to another. Some also allow you to take a step forward, to evolve your style. For me, it was Cartier - I've done about thirty boutiques for them since 2016, including the New York flagship on Fifth Avenue."

"Working for Cartier allowed me to move toward more sophistication, to go very far in artisanal projects like frescoes, mosaics, or shell decorations. My style has been refined; I now work more in detail. At my beginnings, I was juxtaposing things I liked; now, I design down to my prints. I'm actually releasing a collection with Schumacher this fall," Gonzalez reveals.

Another significant project was her reinterpretation of the Saint James, the only château-hotel in Paris, in 2021, designed in the style of an English club punctuated with Art Deco touches. "By nature, a hotel attracts visitors from around the world. With the Saint James, my name seriously started circulating internationally. I believe I've been approached by all the major hotel groups."

This success led to Hotel Hana with Japanese influences near the Opéra Garnier, the very neoclassical Casa Monti in Rome, and the renewal of Byblos in Saint-Tropez. After restaurants, hospitality became Laura Gonzalez's new playground. "The more I advance, the more uninhibited I become. Given the times, there's no point in holding back. We must move forward, have fun, and let ourselves be surprised."

The pinnacle of her career remains the inauguration last March of the New York counterpart of Printemps - a 55,000-square-foot maze of 10 retail spaces and five restaurants with different themes, each more extravagant than the last. More than a traditional department store, Laura Gonzalez developed a fairy-tale concept store with permanent floral allusions, featuring Art Nouveau arabesque carpets, frescoes of idyllic landscapes, and columns punctuated with petals serving as shoe displays. "It's a psychedelic amusement park for shopping addicts!"

"My mantra is: creation above all! Given the times, there's no point in holding back - we must move forward, have fun, and let ourselves be surprised. I'm captivated by the poetic, almost abstract nature images of young visual artist Fabien Conti. The other day, I was struck by the intensity of David Hockney's canvases at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Again, landscapes, nature once more! Art nourishes me," she explains.

While Laura Gonzalez initially made her mark through commercial projects, a new chapter is now opening, more focused on private commissions. A house in Capri, another in Marbella, a project in Connecticut, apartments in New York, London, and of course, Paris - the list of ongoing projects is long. "Creating a hotel, restaurant, or bar involves defining a concept, a narrative. A house is completely different: you must understand your client's personality and lifestyle, but it's also largely the place itself, its history, its situation, that dictates the project. A chalet in Saint-Moritz is very different from a house by the sea, and again, the Bahamas isn't Hydra."

Private life and professional life are one for Laura Gonzalez, who collaborates with her husband Benjamin Memmi. "I hide a bit behind the curtains," he jokes. "I'm equally interested in client relations, financial aspects of the company, and redesigning the commercial website. Laura needed reinforcement in her agency's growth; I got caught up in the game and embarked on the adventure."

Watching them work together is like witnessing a ping-pong match - conversations fly, bouncing from searching for plumbing manufacturers to legal issues about copies, to choosing the right lacquer tone for a chair. Business certainly, logistics quite a bit, but also a good dose of creation, as Benjamin Memmi was a men's fashion stylist in a previous life.

"The agency has developed quite a bit in recent years," he continues. "We now have 60 employees, furniture represents 50% of our activity, and it keeps me very busy." Launched in 2019, this line of strongly personalized pieces, many derived from collaborations with artisans, is presented in gallery-showcases arranged like private interiors, inaugurated by Laura Gonzalez on the Left Bank of Paris and in New York's Tribeca neighborhood.

"I was recently contacted by American clients who asked me, without really believing it, if it was possible for me to decorate their house; they thought I just designed furniture," Laura Gonzalez laughs. "At a certain stage, your image, the idea people have of you and your work, totally escapes you. In the end, only what you do remains. I'm not someone who particularly enjoys social events; what I like is being surrounded by my family, my dogs, a few close friends, and working. Yes, it's true, I'm a hard worker."