High Style interior Design

Emmanuel Laurens, a young medical student who inherited a fortune in 1897, used it to build Château Laurens in Agde, France—a fantastical villa inspired by his travels and passions for art, literature, and music. Though not an architect, he designed the house himself, blending Art Nouveau, ancient Egyptian, Moorish, and avant-garde influences, and collaborating with leading artists and craftspeople on stained glass, murals, furniture, and mosaics.
Despite its artistic richness and modern amenities, Laurens’s extravagant lifestyle led to bankruptcy, and the château was sold in 1938 and later fell into neglect. Purchased by the city of Agde in 1994, it underwent a 20-year restoration and reopened to the public in 2023, offering visitors an immersive vision of Laurens’s imaginative, sensory-rich world.

A glimpse of Martyn’s visit to surrounded by artistry and inspiration.