Near Marseille, a French restaurant with a latino decor The interior designer Maurine Bellier designed this space at the end of 2021. La Ciotat is a Mediterranean town located 30 km from Marseille. Along the bay, numerous restaurants have a beautiful sea view. In a typical street just beyond, the new French cuisine restaurant La Mule has been welcoming customers for a few months. The exterior will be renovated soon, but the interior already transports us to another almost indescribable space and time, quite hard to define actually. Maurine Bellier, interior architect for six years in the Aix-Marseille-Toulon area, renovated this 50 square metre space, including the kitchen, at the beginning of 2022.
An exotic atmosphere thanks to our bespoke panoramic wallpaper Itaya
The interior decor has been defined to suit the amazing black and white checkerboard floor : “With this graphic design, you either have to go with a neutral decor or a space full of character that catches the attention of the customers. We chose the latter” explains Maurine Bellier. The owners love colour, but they had no expectation regarding the layout. Maurine Bellier built a cosy and exotic atmosphere, with different rhythms (oak battens, graphic floor), vivid or intense colours, such as the forest green and mustard yellow seats, and hues of green in our bespoke panoramic wall mural ITAYA from the Volume 7 collection. “I have chosen this wallpaper because it is indeed inspired by a tropical landscape, but it also reminds me of the botanical garden of the Mugel rocky inlet in La Ciotat, with the mountain in the background, banana trees, palm trees and abundant vegetation”.
Latinos inspiration
The finishing touches to this tropical decor are brought by the addition of rattan chairs and the wooden trellis panel at the counter. Both marry well with the checkerboard floor. “I had to take into account this unique and gorgeous floor. It has restricted me but it has also brought me to colourful and striking folkloric inspirations that I took from several trips to Central America” the interior architect tells us.
Another idea we love: the bespoke wooden skies in the ceiling, also made in oak, like the counter. “I wanted to define some zones and highlight the corner bench. They give life to the ceiling and bring some vegetation with the hanging plants”. The golden ceiling lights bring shimmers of radiance to the space. The toilet wall painted green (Vert Mousse by Chromologie)is in harmony with the rest of the decor and galvanizes the room; timeless black subway tiles have been chosen for the interior. This charming little restaurant thus catches the attention of passers-by. La Mule is a change of scenery and stands out from the maritime decor of other restaurants along the bay: an oasis of greenery amidst the Mediterranean blue.
Maurice Bellier has been an interior designer for six years. After graduating, she decided to travel the world for one year. When she came back at the age of 23, she launched her own agency, first in Lyon then in the Aix-Marseille-Toulon’s golden triangle. Specialised in applied art since the age of fifteen, she completed a Master’s degree in Design, where she studied product design as well as textile design. “With my extensive and varied training, I can design furniture and interior layouts but I’m also able to model professional spaces like shops, hotels and restaurants because I understand these clients’ priorities and requirements".
