the brief

The owners bought a tired 1920s villa above the Grande Plage and spent two years turning it into a twenty-room hotel. They wanted a name and an identity that felt as if the house had always had them, and signage that could survive salt air without looking municipal.

The budget was modest and the opening date was fixed for the first week of June, so every piece had to earn its place.

the approach

We named the hotel after the water spirit in the villa’s original tilework and drew the wordmark from the lettering on an old bathing-hut sign found in the attic. The palette comes from the building itself: lime plaster, faded shutter blue and the rust of the balcony rails.

Room numbers are vitreous enamel on steel, made by a small workshop in Bayonne. Menus, key tags and the daily tide table are printed on a risograph behind the reception desk, so the paper changes with the season.

the outcome

The hotel opened on time and ran at ninety per cent occupancy in its first season. Guests take the tide tables home, which the owners now count as their cheapest advertising.