RaiseLab: From the Genesis of an Idea to Its Brilliant Execution

blog- Noble Materials, Haven and Dye Lab collections

RaiseLab: From the Genesis of an Idea to Its Brilliant Execution

Paris-based Label Experience is a brand and space design agency that over the past eight years has built itself a strong reputation for designing shops, offices, coworking spaces, restaurants and third-party spaces.

Two years ago, Label Experience designed and realised the interior of RaiseLab, an eight-storey building with a total area of 2,500 m² including 900 m² of offices, 190 workstations and 7 hotel rooms.

Located at 18 rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi in Paris, the building has been completely renovated and elevated. Shaw Contract carpet solutions were selected for all floors in the work, meeting and rest areas of this place, where exchange and creativity are central. People live to the rhythm of the start-ups that are based here.

Sols & Textiles interviewed interior designer Charlotte Soulat, who led the design of RaiseLab.

"The building is a former factory for wind instruments. To us, interior designers, it is always interesting to know the history of a place for which we are writing a new story," opens Charlotte Soulat enthusiastically. "The goal of our clients, investment company Raise and innovation studio Schoolab, was to create a 'Villa Medici of entrepreneurs'. This was meant to be a location where the leaders of today and tomorrow, i.e. large established groups as well as growing start-ups, could collaborate and share their skills."

"What is special about Label Experience is that we not only involve interior designers in each project, but at the same time call on graphic designers and people with business profiles. To design a space, we start by preparing an analysis of the identity of the brand we are working with. In what environment is it developing? What are its values? We then translate this positioning into an architectural and visual concept. Entrepreneurial passion, excellence, consideration for others and collaborative spirit were the four pillars that emerged from our analysis of the RaiseLab universe," explains Charlotte Soulat.

"Starting from there, the picture emerged that the ambition of Raiselab reflected the intellectual and artistic abundance of the Belle Epoque. This was an era characterised by numerous scientific discoveries, inventions, the World Fairs of 1889 and 1900, the 1924 Olympics, ... This provided us with a strong foundation, on which we built our whole project around references to this very rich period. We did this specifically by adopting certain Art Deco codes. We subsequently drew up the general plan of the property by thinking about the evolution of an idea, from its genesis to its influence. On the ground floor, collaboration begins. This is where people meet and where you can find all the services that promote exchange and sharing. Specifically, this includes a bar, a reception area, a library and areas with benches where people can work and eat. The upper floors have open spaces and meeting rooms where the teams of companies and start-ups can discuss and compare their ideas. This goes all the way until they reach the R+6 level, where the big idea emerges, after which they return to the R-1 level. This last level can be considered the pass-through space. It is here that you can record a podcast or video or organise a conference to present a project to an audience outside RaiseLab. This is the space where the public comes to discover all these innovative ideas."

"Each floor has its own dominant colour and the colour scheme evolves as you go up. It starts with colder colours, from grey to blue, then moves on to warmer hues. Eventually you end up with yellow, the colour of sunshine and light," states Charlotte Soulat, who further emphasises that at RaiseLab, every space is designed to encourage exchange, creativity and collaboration.”

"We opted for the carpet collections Noble Materials, Haven and Dye Lab of Shaw Contract. We did this for two reasons. The first was that the collections offer a colour palette that makes it possible to illustrate the journey an idea takes from its inception to its 'shining'. In addition, we chose them primarily for their acoustics, which are essential in collaborative workspaces. These acoustic qualities are an extremely important and essential advantage of textile floors. We installed them in all meeting rooms and open spaces of the building, except in the circulation areas, which are made of coloured brushed concrete. At the start of a project, some clients may be reluctant to talk about carpet, but carpet has numerous advantages. Our role is to explain these to them. We clarify why and show clients earlier successfully completed projects, so they are reassured..."

"For example: we used the Noble Materials collection in the meeting rooms because it features a small woven metal thread. You can see those threads, and this creates a subtle and discreet touch of Belle Époque, the artistic period that inspired us for this project."

"We also had to create bespoke spaces. For that too, carpet is ideal. Bespoke carpet is not just any carpet, it is literally a custom-made carpet for our clients. That is an argument that often wins them over. Clients are also often wary of cleaning and maintenance, and in this respect too we put them at ease. We prefer flexible tile floors because they are easy to replace in case of a problem. This convinces clients and allows the RaiseLab building to evolve perfectly. Two years after its opening, the building is beautiful, very clean and well maintained. It is important to fight preconceived opinions about carpet because it has great benefits."

"The RaiseLab building was awarded the HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale or High Environmental Quality) label, with the highest possible level (Exceptional). We are obviously extremely proud of this," Charlotte Soulat continues. "This place was conceived as an intelligent building, which is why we had to obtain all possible certificates for this project, which was extremely important for Raise and Schoolab.

All the custom work is made in the Paris region, the wood is French, the furniture is mostly European and the worktops are created by a start-up company in Toulouse.

CSR is not just about placing plants, it is a global approach and with its carpet ranges Shaw Contract is in full alignment with this approach.

Like most of our partners, Shaw Contract recycles and produces recycled carpet. This is essential for our clients."

"Finally, and most importantly, the Maison Raiselab has proved a great success. The workspaces filled up very quickly and are fully booked for a long time. The event spaces are also continuously reserved for the organisation of conferences, seminars, team buildings and so on..."

"We are very satisfied about our collaboration with Shaw Contract. We work with very few manufacturers whom we consider partners we can trust. We named three or four carpet brands that we know well, and Shaw Contract is one of them. We mainly collaborated on large-scale projects, such as RaiseLab, but also on the Connector project in Biarritz."

Note: Label Experience won the Shaw Contract Design Award for the UK & Central Europe region. The Shaw Contract Design Awards were given to 37 Regional projects from over 600 interior design entries.

RaiseLab: From the Genesis of an Idea to Its Brilliant Execution

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