Complement your European lifestyle, the Grand Pied À Terre Way

Elevating Your Urban Retreat with August 

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How did you conceptualise this collection for the Grand Pied À Terre? What sparked the inspiration

The concept came from our existing Pied À Terre Collection, full stop. The inspiration was the fact that a lot of our clients buy into August because they want to experience Europe. And you can experience Europe in two ways: you can go to those amazing holiday destinations for a mix of relaxation, culture and vibrancy from one location. Or, you can jump between different beautiful capitals and visit all of these incredible cities that are so close together.

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So, creating a Pied À Terre collection for me was really this ability to offer to people a way for them to have a foot in all of the best cities and pick cities that complement themselves. 

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For culture, art, food, craft, crowd, fashion, and everything in between, you have London and Paris. Even if the weather is not on your side, the locations are so interesting and gorgeous. Then you have Rome that sits in the middle in the sense that it's an open museum, but you also have good weather and incredible food to enjoy. Plus, you can go to the beach if you want to. And then Barcelona and Cannes are perfect summer destinations, and still to be enjoyed all year round. So when we started the Pied À Terre collection it was very much about finding nice compact apartments that are really well located, ideal for one or two people, with the occasional guest. So it was not so much about ‘hosting’ or going as a whole family because the apartments are really well done and really well appointed, but they are not vast. 

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And quite a few of our Homeowners had openly said how they love their experience with their Pied À Terre collection but that they would want something more spacious for more flexibility with how they travel and who they travel with. With that in mind, we started thinking, what if people did want to host, and start having four or even six friends and family for dinner?

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Grand Pied À Terre was the answer.

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The cities where we buy are not short of larger apartments in those grand buildings with high ceilings, old parquet floors, mouldings and all those authentic features that we love. When you're buying real estate in those cities, you always dream of finding these gems. And in that price range for Grand Pied À Terre, that's really what you get. 

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You will get a home where you can host, where you can go and spend two weeks and you can have people coming in and out and you can do that comfortably. I think that's what we wanted to do with this apartment, that is the picture we had in mind. 

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How have Homeowners' experiences informed how this Collection was developed? 

We had two main pieces of feedback. One of them was, ‘I'd love to be able to bring friends and more family because I adore my experience and there is so much to do when staying in those cities.’

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And the other was that people who travel on their own and who return regularly to those places don’t want to necessarily be out and about all the time. They love spending time in the locations and want more space and something a bit more luxurious to relax into. So that's really what informed the concept.

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Do you think having more space to host and entertain, goes hand in hand with city living?

Yes, I think it's more like being a local. If you're Parisian, you also absolutely love going to a food market, buying the best ingredients and then having it for dinner. Or just going to the best cheese shop. There will always be one two streets away from you. Going to your favourite bakery, buying a baguette, buying a gorgeous bottle of red wine and then having it with whoever you are or on your own at home, with the doors open, the air coming in; to me, this is city living. You don't always want to be out.

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Even if you are a family of four, with kids, you want to have the space to do that, without feeling like everyone is on top of one another. So I think actually it is very much part of city living, especially as a local and especially as we want August Homeowners to experience it. 

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In Rome, you want to buy that fresh pasta and try it yourself. In London, if you've been out the whole day visiting 50 different museums and seeing all of the sites, you want to have some time where you can relax at home and do something simple in your own space.

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One of our Homeowners actually shared something very relevant to our conversation, they said ‘One of the things that I love the most with August is also how it removes all the stress and sometimes the unhealthiness of travelling.’

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You can eat cleaner and you can do your gym at home if you want. You also don't feel stressed that you need to do everything because you're coming back; and I think those bigger homes will also deliver on that. 

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Could you share how the interior design in Grand Pied À Terre will capture the essence of each city as we see in all August homes?

I think it will be based on the same principles of mixing antiques with contemporary pieces and restoring any architectural features, since we always buy homes with unique qualities. In Paris, we will enhance the unique Haussmannian features like the ‘Point de Hongrie’ parquet flooring. In Barcelona this might be the local tiles. 

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I think with Grand Pied À Terre, since the space is bigger, we will have even more unique design opportunities and be able to elevate the finish. You will find more refined materials, designer pieces and detail, like thicker marble kitchen countertops and even more premium bathrooms and sleeping spaces. Everything will be elevated. 

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If you could describe the Grand Pied À Terre Collection in three words, what would they be? 

Elegant, versatile and unique. It really is quite unique what we look for. We are looking for gems and what is nice about those cities is that every apartment is so different, so with that brief in mind, you can also go a little bit further.

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What are you most looking forward to with the Collection launch?

What is always really exciting when you launch a new collection is the anticipation from Homeowners, from existing and new owners. Hearing: ‘Ah that's really the perfect one for me,’ is very nice. The best time is always when we receive the first round of feedback, when people start to enjoy their homes. From that we can understand very well how people use their homes.

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I’m very curious to hear about how big families coming from further afield, like the US, will be able to experience Paris and the other cities as a unit, in the comfort of their own homes; that's something I'm looking forward to. The buying side is, of course, super exciting, but there is a creative side too and I can’t wait to work with the team to refine the design direction for these larger apartments.

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Which do you think is the most underrated city in the Collection?

From our owners, it's definitely Cannes. It has a slightly glitzy reputation and Cannes is not a capital, nor does it compare in the same way to London or Rome. However, Cannes is a city that will complement the Grand Pied À Terre collection really well. It is also really nice when you're in the mix of cities, to have a more laid back place where you can go. In that sense, it is a different side of the culture in France, compared to Paris. It is a really nice summer location but people do not always know exactly how to enjoy and experience Cannes.

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Again, someone wrote to me sharing how they thought Cannes would be their least favourite location, and actually now that they have experienced it, with their August home,  they don't have a least ‘favourite’ anymore.

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People simply don’t always realise that there is so much more than that glitzy side of Cannes. Especially if you visit out of peak season, there is the market, there are all of those little shops and artists galleries; you can take your car and go to the villages that are just behind. There is so much more to it and I think once people get to experience it the way we tell them to experience it then they love it.

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What else might you add about the Grand Pied À Terre Collection?

Especially for people that enjoy longer city breaks or that are travelling from far away, the Grand Pied À Terre Collection will really have the perfect homes that will give you a bit more comfort, space and freedom.

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For more information on Grand Pied À Terre, request a brochure or book a call with our expert Advisory Team.