A vacation retreat and guesthouse near Cannes, France, designed by Francis Sultana.
Photo: Richard Powers
About five years ago, longtime clients of designer Francis Sultana summoned him to the Côte d’Azur in France for what would be their fourth project together. The couple had acquired a property with two houses in a lovely location, tucked away in the hills outside Cannes, offering sensational views. Both structures called for major renovations.
The site’s charming original house, now the guest cottage, had been built in the 1960s, while the main, larger residence was added later, in the ’90s, by owners with a particularly Americanized vision of the South of France. Sultana took both houses “down to a shell,” as he puts it, and rebuilt the interiors.
“They wanted a comfortable place where they could be with family and friends,” says the designer. “Everyone with their independence between the main house and the guest cottage and the pool.” Sultana’s focus was on enhancing the indoor-outdoor living, which also entailed redesigning the gardens and adding a lawn where children can play.
On the pool deck, Santa Barbara umbrellas shade chaise longues designed by Francis Sultana with cushions in a Perennials fabric.
Photo: Richard Powers
A George Condo painting presides over the main house’s entrance hall, which features a Mattia Bonetti hanging lantern and a console table topped by André Dubreuil lamps; the rug, stair runner, and wall sconce are by Sultana.
Photo: Richard Powers
Sultana compares the property to a classic American estate. In addition to the 20,000-square-foot main residence and the 8,000-square-foot guesthouse—each with five bedrooms and five baths—there is also a pool house and an outdoor kitchen for grilling. Everything is designed to function year-round.
For Sultana, one of the main challenges was to conjure a more consistent, unified feeling of laid-back Riviera chic across the entire property. “I wanted to keep the style in a low-key way, to keep it all relaxed,” he says.
In the main salon, an armchair and sofas by Mattia Bonetti are grouped with a cocktail table and circular side tables by André Dubreuil as well as a pair of tufted stools by Syrie Maugham; the floor lamps are by Bonetti, the table lamp is by Dubreuil, and the sculptural bronze side tables are by Sultana, as is the rug, while the curtains were made by Designs of the Time in a Antico Setificio Fiorentino fabric.
Photo: Richard Powers
When it came to the interiors, the designer says, the clients “wanted to create something a bit 1950s, Grace Kelly on the Côte d’Azur. Very dolce vita.” He responded with a palette dominated by gold tones and citrusy hues as well as a spirited array of custom furnishings and decorative elements he commissioned from Mattia Bonetti and the late André Dubreuil, both masters of highly original, often fanciful objects.
The clients were seeking “a comfortable place where they could be with family and friends”
Francis Sultana
There is the sunny salon, for example, which Sultana anchored with plump, yellow-upholstered Bonetti sofas, their backs undulating like pairs of lips. Joining them are multiple tables by Dubreuil and lamps by both designers, not least one of Bonetti’s torchère floor lamps with branching lights that protrude surreally from a serpentine column.
For the guesthouse living room, Sultana created the mirror and floor lamps that surround the Jamb mantelpiece, as well as the sofas and glass-top end tables; the cocktail table is by Mattia Bonetti, the gueridon is by Garouste & Bonetti, the rattan chair is by Bonacina, and the painting is by Sue Williams.
Photo: Richard Powers
Sultana also commissioned Bonetti to create a floor-to-ceilingdecorative screen to provide partial separation between the salon’s bar and the dining room. The openwork design of large yellow and white floral forms echoes details on the Bonetti dining table nearby. “I wanted something like an architectural intervention by Mattia,” says Sultana, “to complement the sculptural qualities of the furniture, to give it all strength.”
Sultana contributed a number of his own bespoke designs, including the upholstered bed with a monumental headboard and a sinuous chaise with richly sculptural legs in the primary bedroom. Here, again, there are multiple furnishings by Dubreuil and Bonetti, highlighted by whimsically ornamented Bonetti nightstands topped with elegant lamps in wrought iron and glass by Dubreuil.
As part of his makeover of a vacation retreat and guesthouse near Cannes, France, designer Francis Sultana commissioned Mattia Bonetti to create an array of exuberant furnishings, including the main dining room’s chandelier, table, and sideboard with cherublike figures. Works by Marc Chagall hang on both sides of the mirror.
Photo: Richard Powers
The art, meanwhile, is a mix of works previously owned by the clients and new acquisitions. “It was all about balance,” says Sultana, who hung modern masters, including Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, and Marc Chagall (a favorite of the wife’s) alongside contemporary works by Yayoi Kusama, George Condo, Sue Williams, Huma Bhabha, and Secundino Hernández.
A de Gournay wall covering clads the primary bedroom, where Sultana custom designed the Savoir bed dressed in Gayle Warwick linens; the bench, low side table, and floor lamp are by Mattia Bonetti, the bedside lamp is by André Dubreuil, and the curtains are made of an Élitis fabric.
Photo: Richard Powers
The entire project took about two and a half years, remaining more or less on schedule despite the COVID pandemic. “The result is a happy house,” Sultana says. And perhaps nowhere more so than on the outdoor terraces, where he custom designed chaise longues and gently curving sofas with elegant, nature-inspired details and upholstery in that jaunty Grace Kelly palette of yellow and white. Sweeping vistas out over the Bay of Cannes help with the effect.
“The clients love this place, their child loves it, their friends love it,” says Sultana. “It all just really works.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Summer Issue under the headline “Sunny Side Up.” Subscribe to the magazine.
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Francis Sultana Conceives a Resplendent Residence Overlooking the French Riviera
As part of his makeover of a vacation retreat and guesthouse near Cannes, France, designer Francis Sultana commissioned Mattia Bonetti to create an array of exuberant furnishings, including the main dining roomu2019s chandelier, table, and sideboard with cherublike figures. Works by Marc Chagall hang on both sides of the mirror.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Sultana accented the dining table with a work by Amsterdam glass artist Barbara Nanning, who conjures bewitching objects that resemble spindly, sprouting flora. u201cI find her vases very special,u201du00a0he says. This piece, titled Daphne (2012), beautifully demonstrates the breadth of her capabilities: Even though it resembles metal, itu2019s made of blown glass that has been hand formed, cut, sanded, and gilded to striking effect.u00a0
Photograph by Courtesy of David Gill Gallery
Two lithographs by Marc Chagall were the final pieces placed in the dining area, which features an array of custom Mattia Bonetti furnishings, among them a snail-inspired floor lamp with a multitude of shades and a console held up by horned cherubs. u201cThatu2019s the good part about loving the artu2014finding where itu2019s going to fit,u201d explains Sultana.u00a0
Photograph by Richard Powers
A Barnaby Barford apple sculpture stands in a courtyard surrounded by landscaping Sultana devised with local firm English Garden.
Photograph by Richard Powers
On the pool deck, Santa Barbara umbrellas shade chaise longues designed by Francis Sultana with cushions in a Perennials fabric.
Photograph by Richard Powers
A George Condo painting presides over the main houseu2019s entrance hall, which features a Mattia Bonetti hanging lantern and a console table topped by Andru00e9 Dubreuil lamps; the rug, stair runner, and wall sconce are by Sultana.
Photograph by Richard Powers
In the main salon, an armchair and sofas by Mattia Bonetti are grouped with a cocktail table and circular side tables by Andru00e9 Dubreuil as well as a pair of tufted stools by Syrie Maugham; the floor lamps are by Bonetti, the table lamp is by Dubreuil, and the sculptural bronze side tables are by Sultana, as is the rug, while the curtains were made by Designs of the Time in a Antico Setificio Fiorentino fabric.
Photograph by Richard Powers
To create moments of whimsy throughout the home, Sultana teamed up with Andru00e9 Dubreuil, a highly regarded French artisan known for his sculptural metal furnishings loaded with poetic symbolism and ornamental craftsmanship who passed away in 2022. A group of his former collaborators continues to work for Galerie Mougin under the Atelier Dubreuil moniker, introducing new pieces that adhere to the style of the decorative arts luminary, such as this engraved steel side table.u00a0
Photograph by Courtesy of Galerie Mougin
A Jamb light fixture overlooks the conservatoryu2019s Sultana-designed table and chairs, which are upholstered in an u00c9litis fabric; the rug is by Beauvais Carpets.u00a0
Photograph by Richard Powers
Bonetti made a bespoke floral-form screen that separates the salonu2019s bar and the dining room.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Sultana designed the outdoor breakfast areau2019s table, chairs, and banquette, which is cushioned in a Perennials fabric; the umbrella is by Santa Barbara.
Photograph by Richard Powers
u201cThe clients asked for yellow to be the predominant color outside,u201d Sultana says. He responded by designing a pair of boomerang-silhouetted outdoor sofas as well as matching kidney-shaped tables. u201cThe curves make it easy for people to sit around,u201d he explains, noting the homeowners u201clove to have big parties and invite all the neighbors.u201d
Photograph by Richard Powers
For the guesthouse living room, Sultana created the mirror and floor lamps that surround the Jamb mantelpiece, as well as the sofas and glass-top end tables; the cocktail table is by Mattia Bonetti, the gueridon is by Garouste & Bonetti, the rattan chair is by Bonacina, and the painting is by Sue Williams.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Sultanau2019s clients collect works by artist Sue Williams, who conceives her energetic canvases as an antidote to the male-dominated Abstract Expressionist movement. Her paintings, like 2022u2019s Re-uptake Inhibitors, probe subjects such as gender roles and the human body and look at ideas of transparency and autonomy.u00a0
Photograph by Courtesy of the artist and 303 Gallery, New York
Also lined in a de Gournay wall covering, the primary suiteu2019s TV room features a mirror and sconces by Joy de Rohan Chabot from Galerie Chastel-Maru00e9chal installed above a bespoke sofa and ottoman upholstered in a Fox Linton fabric by Sultana; the side table is by Bonetti.u00a0
Photograph by Richard Powers
Working largely in bronze, famed French artist Joy de Rohan Chabot creates nature-inspired furnishings and objets du2019art, like this Cage aux Papillons gilded chandelier from Galerie Chastel-Maru00e9chal. u201cSheu2019su00a0 one of these true old-school decorative artists,u201d raves Francis Sultana, who installed fanciful mirrors, tables, and lighting by the Paris talent throughout this enchanting Cu00f4te du2019Azur residence.u00a0
Photograph by Courtesy of Galerie Chastel-Maréchal – Sylvie Chan-Liat
The primary suiteu2019s custom marble-top vanity incorporates panels by Atelier Mu00e9riguet-Carru00e8re, Baguu00e8s sconces, and THG sink fittings alongside a Bonetti chair covered in a Toyine Sellers fabric.
Photograph by Richard Powers
A de Gournay wall covering clads the primary bedroom, where Sultana custom designed the Savoir bed dressed in Gayle Warwick linens; the bench, low side table, and floor lamp are by Mattia Bonetti, the bedside lamp is by Andru00e9 Dubreuil, and the curtains are made of an u00c9litis fabric.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Shimmering like a disco ball, the powder room began as an ostensible joke between the homeowners. u201cAs soon as the husband said he wanted a gold toilet, the wife looked in horror,u201d say Sultana, laughing. u201cIn the end, the joke became reality.u201d The final mosaic-wrapped space features Volevatch fittings set above a Murano glass-and-marble pedestal sink. u201cItu2019s an English tradition for people to have fun with the guest loo. You make it a talking point.u201du00a0
Photograph by Richard Powers
To give the conservatory an indoor-outdoor feel, Sultana sheathed the walls in a trompe lu2019oeil trellis, then layered in painted terra-cotta plates by influential Surrealist Jean Cocteau. u201cCocteau made ceramics not very far from where this house is located,u201d he notes. u201cThe plates are randomly placed, so itu2019s very relaxed.u201d
