See It for Yourself: Hugo Toro’s Redesign of the Le Mas Candille Hotel
ELLE DECOR A-Lister Hugo Toro, known for the old-world glamour with which he imbues all of his projects, has left his indelible mark on the five-star Le Mas Candille hotel, which reopened in late June after three and a half years in the making.
The warm, atmospheric space, tucked in the lush hills of the French Riviera, has all the color symmetry of a Wes Anderson movie—with a modern twist. Little details like hand-painted wallpaper, sculptural light fixtures, and velvet-lined seating signal a level of effortless decadence.
“It was kind of a sleeping beauty that needed to wake up,” Toro says of how the luxe hotel looked when he first laid eyes on it. “What I really wanted is a dialogue between the outside and inside—to create a real connection between them.”
This was especially accomplished through a striking color palette—a mixture of ochers, yellows, and pared-down greens—that runs like a common thread between the rooms of the hotel. “My grandparents actually had a house just next to [Le Mas Candille], and one part of it was fully yellow and white. I wanted to take that and redesign a pattern out of it,” he tells ELLE DECOR. “All the patterns you see in the rooms, in the carpets, and in the restaurants [are a] mix between something that is traditional and something more psychedelic.”
Present in the mansion turned hotel are oak furniture pieces the Mexican French designer made especially for the space. “Everything is bespoke except the small elements—some vases, some objects, some books,” Toro explains. “I’m buying them all year [from] flea markets.”
In case LED mask treatments, hammam sessions, and upscale facials aren’t your cup of tea (we have questions) at the hotel’s spa, the Glow House, perhaps Le Mas Candille’s upcoming restaurant and bar openings—La Table des Pins and Bar des Pins, respectively—can inspire.
And inspiring they are, what with Toro’s sumptuous uses of wallcoverings, pendants, and other design elements to make the spaces as vivid as their soon-to-be-served drinks and food lineup. Nothing at Le Mas Candille—from the textile cushion upholstery to the crown molding to the arched doorways—has been overlooked or underserved by Toro, who cleverly integrated the traditional Provençal farmhouse and Californian-cool aesthetics (he says that the view from the hotel’s vast terraces reminds him of the L.A. hills!).
Guest Room
Warm tones and an emphasis on natural materials reign supreme in Hugo Toro’s redesign of this hotel.
Guest Room (cont.)
Curtains in the guest rooms are created from Toro’s own hand-painted designs (and pair exceptionally well with his tasteful, bespoke oak furniture).
Cigare Room
This lounge space—with its arched doorway, plush seating, and bold flooring—is the perfect place in which to decompress with a cigar and whiskey combo.
Exterior
Tucked away within layers of greenery, Le Mas Candille is the perfect home base from which to explore the area around Mougins, France.
Pool
Those views over the hills of Grasse and the Caussols plateaus are stunning, but Toro’s design choices for the main pool terrace might be even more so.
Pool at Spa
The spa at Le Mas Candille has its very own 25-meter heated pool. Just look at those loungers!
The Pool Restaurant and Bar
The Pool is a light-filled and swoon-worthy dining option that pays homage to Jacques Deray’s Le Piscine.
Hallway
Toro didn’t shy away from playing with light and shadow, suffusing green spaces with pops of energizing ocher (and vice versa!), as well as creating truly liminal spaces throughout the hotel.
“The idea of timelessness is something that guided me,” Toro says. “The idea of creating a space that will not just be a pop-up but something that is connected to your roots and that [tries] to tell a story that is anchored in the region.”
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