An 18th-century French estate is transformed into a living manifesto for sustainable luxury, where textiles, craft, and landscape drive a regenerative approach to hospitality

Marianne Tiegen Interiors has unveiled a textile-led transformation of Château La Banquière, an 18th-century estate nestled among vineyards and centuries-old oak trees near Montpellier, France. The project repositions the historic château as a contemporary hospitality destination, redefining sustainable luxury through circular design principles, artisanal craftsmanship, and a deep connection to place.

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Rather than imposing a decorative overhaul, the design treats architecture, landscape, and textiles as equal partners. Each room is conceived as a dialogue with natural light and its surroundings, using stone, wood, air, and fabric to create spaces that shift subtly throughout the day. Textiles play a central role—not as embellishment, but as spatial structure—defining rooms, softening acoustics, framing views, and introducing a domestic warmth rarely associated with large-scale hospitality projects.

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

The textile palette is rooted in the château’s Mediterranean context. Working with botanical dyers and local specialists, the team developed plant-based pigments derived from grape seeds grown on the estate, madder root, and woad. These natural dyes produce a nuanced range of blush, coral, apricot, blue, and grey tones that echo the site’s agricultural and historical identity.

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Alongside newly dyed linen, hemp, and cotton, the interiors incorporate a carefully curated selection of antique textiles, including Provençal damasks, Venetian block prints, and couture-surplus fabrics. In many rooms, these historic materials served as the starting point for the design, their patina and imperfections shaping the overall aesthetic. Fragile textiles were restored, backed, or visibly repaired, embracing wear as a mark of history rather than something to conceal—a textile equivalent of kintsugi.

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

The project also revives European artisan techniques traditionally reserved for haute couture. Belgian woven linens, hand-printed serigraphies from Lyon, Venetian block prints, and embroidered panels converge throughout the château. A recurring bee motif, stitched using the Pont de Beauvais technique, subtly references biodiversity, regeneration, and the project’s circular ethos.

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Practicality remains integral to the design. Bed canopies, privacy screens, and upholstered elements are removable, repairable, and re-dyeable, allowing the interiors to evolve over time without losing coherence. Rather than being fixed in time, Château La Banquière is designed to age gracefully, becoming richer through use.

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

Photo credit: @jeremy_wilson_photo

For Marianne Tiegen, the project stands as a statement on the future of luxury hospitality—one rooted not in excess, but in care, craftsmanship, and materials that carry memory. Over decades, the château’s fabrics and textures are intended to tell an unfolding story of place, patience, and lived-in beauty.

Marianne Tiegen Interiors

Marianne Tiegen Interiors is a global interior design firm with offices in Switzerland, France, and California. Founded by Marianne Tiegen over twenty years ago, the firm takes on projects of all sizes, from residential to hospitality, and is known for creating soulful spaces that enrich people's lives.

With a deep understanding of clients' lifestyles and aspirations, Marianne Tiegen Interiors infuses art and nature into each project, collaborating with talented craftsmen and women to bring a unique sensoriality to the spaces they design.