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Great for a trip with friends or a romantic weekend getaway, Paris is full of romance, culture, architecture and gastronomy. We list our five current favorites for unique boutique and design hotels in the French capital.

Hotel National des Arts et Metiers

Located in the lively Montorguei district, the Hotel National des Arts et Métiers is an inspiring and stylish hotel with modern architecture and innovative design hidden behind a classic Haussmann facade. Exclusive material choices and traditional French craftsmanship permeate the beautiful environments.

Le Roch Hotel and Spa

As refined as it is welcoming, as chic as it is casual, Le Roch Hotel & Spa balances between the relaxed feel of a home and a luxury hotel. Staying at this unique boutique hotel with 37 unique rooms is an experience in itself, and its central location between Place de l’Opéra and Place Vendôme also makes it a great base for exploring Paris.

Hotel Le Ballu

Hotel Le Ballu is a 5-minute walk from Montmartre and Moulin Rouge. The interior is cozy and colorful, but also balanced and elegant. You are invited into an imaginary world where no detail is left to chance. The restaurant is well worth a visit, preferably in summer in the beautiful lush garden accompanied by live jazz music.

Hotel Fabric

Located in the 11th district, Hotel FABRIC Paris is inspired by the old industrial area around Oberkampf street and the former village of Ménilmontant. You’ll find brick-built walls, high ceilings, and huge windows that allow plenty of natural light into the colorful, elegant rooms. Personalized and very friendly service that reflects the authenticity of Paris.

Hotel Les Deux Gares

Located in the 10th arrondissement, Les Deux Gares is the first hotel that English interior designer Luke Edward Hall has worked on. English chic goes hand in hand with French soul using bright colors and art deco furniture. All rooms are uniquely decorated with all amenities.

About 2 miles north of Cannes, between the world’s metropolises and the countryside, lies Grasse, also known as the capital of perfume. Here, the tradition and craftsmanship of fragrance and perfume is rooted in countless generations. Development and creativity never stop here. Here, in collaboration with the best local fragrance experts, we create the perfumes that set the scent of our soaps.

Today Grasse is well established as the capital of perfume, but in the Middle Ages Grasse’s specialty was tanning leather. Local tanner Galimard had the idea of creating scented leather gloves. He offered a pair to Queen Catherine de Médici, who immediately loved the idea. It quickly became a new trend among the French upper class. Slowly, Grasse was transformed into a city focused on perfume development and fragrance, attracting and developing the world’s sharpest noses.

Grass’s perfume production was further developed in the 18th century, when perfume became more popular in society, and smelling good became a sign of wealth. A major contributing factor to Grass’s success in perfumery is its climate and soil, which are ideal for growing the flowers used to make perfume.

As a visitor to Grasse, there are several different perfume houses and museums to visit to learn more about fragrances and the history of perfume. Grasse is also a very charming village with beautiful architecture, magical views and lovely little cafes on cobbled streets. As one of our perfume developers, Jean-Francois says: “The biggest fragrance inspiration for me is just walking around the streets and squares and feeling the scents that arise from the meeting of different people, nature and the pulse of the city”.

We have met Arijana Heinrici, a Swedish entrepreneur, interior designer and influencer, who daily inspires her more than 120,000 followers on Instagram about sustainable interior design, style and beauty.

Arijana lives with her husband and daughter in a beautiful turn-of-the-century apartment in Uppsala. The floor is elegant and stylish with beautiful details. Arijana is very confident in her style, with a timeless and durable base, with details that stand out in both color and shape. The result is an incredibly beautiful and personalized home.

Arijana has been using Meyenberg soaps for a while and we are so happy with her great feedback: “Absolutely amazing soaps – softening and moisturizing”

And in addition to making Arijana’s hands soft and moisturized, the Meyenberg soaps become beautiful, sophisticated pops of colour in Arijana Heinrici’s home. For more inspiration from Arijana, visit her on Instagram: @janaheinrici.

Scent has rarely been given much space in the contexts we usually associate with art, even though scent is at least as important as what we see with our eyes. But now the exhibition “Scents & Senses” opens at Galleri Sebastian Schildt on Strandvägen. The exhibition is based on an exciting encounter between master perfumer Pierre Wulff, star photographer Gilles Bensimon and silversmith Sebastian Schildt.

Art is about enriching and exploring our senses. In the “Scents & Senses” exhibition, Pierre Wulff has created new fragrances inspired by Gilles Bensimon’s poetic photographs from the “Flowers in Water” series. The fragrances are housed in Sebastian Schildt’s flacons in blown and multicolored glass.

Photographer Gilles Bensimon, whose background in the celebrity fashion industry includes countless covers for top magazines, is fascinated by the natural beauty of flowers, which he captures with his camera in and through water.

As a perfumer, Pierre Wulff works like an artist or a director from an idea. The starting point is his developed ability to translate abstract concepts and moods into new fragrance creations. Photography and scent have many similarities, says Pierre Wulff, who explains that the idea of a photograph is comparable to that of a specific scent. Behind a photograph of artistic height and an appealing scent, there is thought and intuitive feeling. In addition to the eight unique fragrances, Pierre Wulff has also developed a fragrance that is available in a larger edition.

Since the gallery was founded, Sebastian Schildt has had a vision of exhibiting fragrance and after a long-awaited meeting with Pierre Wulff in New York, the dream would become a reality. Schildt has worked in glass for the first time, designing perfume flacons in which the fragrances are stored.

The three artists Pierre Wulff, Gilles Bensimon and Sebastian Schildt come together in a sensual cross-fertilization and the result is the innovative exhibition “Scents & Senses” where the experience of smell is at the center.

The ‘Scents & Senses’ exhibition opens on September 24 and runs until October 15.

In the heart of Grasse, the perfume capital of southern France, one of our ‘noses’ Alexandre works. Fragrance developers are often referred to as ‘noses’, as the nose is by far their most important working tool. The nose is a unique success factor in developing perfumes and new scents, as well as being able to distinguish around 1400 different scents.

Alexandre discovered the universe of perfume at a young age and has continuously developed his passion for fragrance and perfumes since then, both through personal experience and education. He was trained for four years by an independent perfume master in Grasse, who taught him everything there is to know about perfumes and fragrance. However, one of the most important lessons he learned was the importance of patience when developing perfumes. Natural ingredients are close to Alexandre’s heart. He finds a lot of inspiration from the world of gastronomy, and thinks that advanced cooking has many similarities to creating perfume.

We ask Alexandre whether the biggest success factor as a perfume developer is innate talent or education. He says it’s a combination, but neither talent nor education matters if you don’t have the passion. “Creating a fragrance is close to escapism, as it involves a special feeling that develops through an inner journey”

Alexandre has been the nose behind Meyenberg’s “Bergamot & Sea Salt” fragrance.