Caviar House in Paris acquires a taste for Corian^® solid surface

The historic Caviar House & Prunier Shop and Restaurant, located on the prestigious Place de la Madeleine in Paris, has unveiled a refurbishment that includes a façade and interior furnishings made with Corian^® solid surface.

The brief for the project was challenging: give the building a smart, contemporary update, while honouring the spirit of the Prunier House, which is listed as a place of historic interest.

The finished result features a dramatic design “premiere”: an exterior façade made entirely from Corian^® solid surface in Nocturne, a sleek and solid black.

On the ground floor, which houses the shop and a caviar room, the wall, sales counter, refrigerated cases and display cabinets are all made with Corian^® solid surface in Nocturne and Glacier White. The cases in which the caviar matures are displayed on units also made with Corian^® material. The tasting table is in cool, fresh Glacier White, which creates a stunning contrast against which customers can better appreciate the rich black pearls of the caviar.

Corian^® continues through the access to the first floor, where the restaurant and seafood bar are situated. The staircase handrail, wall, window frames, baseboards, bar countertop and the bathroom sinks are all made with Corian^®, and this sleek continuity helps to achieve the desired sense of refinement and luxury.

For Jean-Pierre Esmilaire, general manager for the Prunier SAS company, the choice was clear from the outset. He says, “We wanted Corian^® surfacing material. We were familiar with the material and it was perfectly suited to our challenge: finding an alternative to the Prunier marble - and one that would be both unfailingly easy-to-clean and uniquely smooth to the touch. As a matter of fact, many of our customers, when sitting at the Seafood Bar made with Corian^® solid surface material, often ask us about the material.”

The scheme successfully creates a harmony between the inspiration of 1930’s style and aspects of modernity and innovation. Interior designer Jacques Grange encouraged the bold, forward-looking spirit of Caviar House & Prunier Shop in specifying this strong, sophisticated material.

The fabricator for this project, François Provence of Créa Diffusion, is delighted with the results. “We achieved a quality of finish to cabinetmaking standards, in the most traditional sense – indeed almost to the standard of the work of a goldsmith. The details are the key to the success of this very prestigious project. Plus the exterior façade in Corian^® surface material is a real breakthrough: there is no paintwork to maintain, or any renovation or roughcasting required – simple cleaning will be enough."