You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Daily (Mon-Sun)
Daily Digest
Sign up for global news and reviews, a Wallpaper* take on architecture, design, art & culture, fashion & beauty, travel, tech, watches & jewellery and more.
Monthly, coming soon
The Rundown
A design-minded take on the world of style from Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss, from global runway shows to insider news and emerging trends.
Monthly, coming soon
The Design File
A closer look at the people and places shaping design, from inspiring interiors to exceptional products, in an expert edit by Wallpaper* global design director Hugo Macdonald.
Amid the winelands of Anjou and Saumur in France is the 12th-century monastery L'Abbaye de Fontevraud. Once part of the French penal system, this was one of the less glamorous draws on the Loire Valley châteaux tour, but Parisian design duo Jouin Manku has turned that upside down by working its magic on the interiors. Guestrooms in the new 54-room hotel see a reduced colour palette of beige with mustard-yellow accents and similarly rigorous materials: blackened steel, wood, wool and linen. There is an ascetic scholarliness behind the design with single items doing double duty: when stacked along the wainscoting, bespoke folding dining-room chairs become decorative elements and perforated-steel screens slide across the TVs, so they can serve as art installations. The raw modernity echoes the building's monastic heritage.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Fontevraud l'Abbaye
Anjou
France