Back in 2014, when we last visited Gesa Hansen, she had her hands full: she was living with her toddler daughter in a Paris apartment and running her furniture line, The Hansen Family, a collection of Scandinavian-accented, minimalist oak pieces produced by her parents’ workshop in Germany (see A Furniture Designer At Home in Paris). “I come from a family of carpenters, designers, and architects,” Gesa always says, by way of explaining her impressive set of creds—which include a childhood in a tiny town in western Germany spent playing with wood, a design degree from Bauhaus University in Weimar (yes, still in operation), an additional degree from Japan’s Nagoya University of Arts, and a first job in architect Jean Nouvel’s Paris office.
Of late, she’s even busier: now working as an interior designer as well as furniture designer, with projects for her own line and for Villeroy & Boch and Skagerak among others, she’s married to Paris restaurateur Charles Compagnon and has three kids, ages 2, 4, and 8—and an idyllic life 36 miles south of Paris. The family home is a 19th-century stone compound in Courances, a village with a moated château and famous garden near the forest of Fontainebleau. Gesa plays polo; Charles roasts all the coffee and grows all the herbs for his restaurants, Le 52 and Le Richer. Come see.
Photography by Nathalie Mohadjer, unless noted, all courtesy of Gesa Hansen (@GesaHansen).
![the compound was built in the \1850s as a guest house \2\20;for people w 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnusersmgdropboxgesa-hansen-french-country-housegesa-hansen-picsgesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-house-courances-france-13-jpgon-house-courances-france-13-733x489.jpg)
![the family had been previously living above one of charles\2\17;s restau 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-at-home-courances-france-14-733x1100.jpg)
![the house had been previously owned by a swiss couple who \2\20;did a pe 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-house-courances-france-1b-733x412.jpg)
![the foyer has its original stone floor and stucco walls—and a laid back 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-house-courances-france-1c-733x489.jpg)
![romy, the couple\2\17;s youngest child, plays on ilse crawford\2\ 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-house-courances-france-2a-733x489.jpg)
![gesa is currently at work on a hotel in paris for the orso group. 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-at-home-couraces-francen-733x1099.jpg)
Her mother is German and her father is Danish; they work together, along with her older brother, at the family furniture factory, and Gesa visits once a month to oversee production. She says to “just contact my mum”—via the Hansen Family website—if you have any questions about any of her pieces.
![\2\20;i was a little afraid of falling into the cliché of the white 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-living-room-courances-france-3-733x458.jpg)
The sectional sofa—three Night Couches joined—and Remix Coffee Tables are her own design, all made of solid oak. Photograph by Romain Richard.
![gesa preserved the room\2\17;s tiled floor. the corner near the kitchen 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-dining-room-courances-france-5-733x1100.jpg)
![the checked kitchen floor is also as was, but gesa redesigned the room with her 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-country-french-kitchen-courances-france-6-733x1099.jpg)
![gesa commutes to her paris office several days a week. at home, she works from 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-house-courances-france-7-733x1100.jpg)
![\2\20;our bedroom is designed with textiles from my favorite label, pier 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-bedroom-courances-france-8b-733x1100.jpg)
![in the master bathroom, a paneled wall with cut out shelving divides the sink a 28](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-designed-bathroom-courances-france-10a-733x1100.jpg)
![the wall paneling, another original detailing, came in a dark wood. gesa whitew 29](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-designed-bathroom-courances-france-10b-733x489.jpg)
![gesa designed the horse headboard for her daughter lou, who loves to ride. 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-designed-kids-roon-courances-france-11-733x1100.jpg)
![the kids\2\17; bath is blue and white, including the artis basin, w 31](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-designed-bathroom-courances-france-12b-733x1100.jpg)
![the shower and sink backsplash are patterned with subway tiles that gesa descri 32](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-designed-bathroom-courances-france-12a-733x489.jpg)
![the bathroom shower and sink fixtures are from villeroy & boch. shampoo and 33](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-designed-bathroom-courances-france-12c-733x1100.jpg)
![the house is surrounded by gardens and came with its horseshoe detailed shutter 34](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-house-courances-france-733x1100.jpg)
![\2\20;the house had this immediate feeling of soul and the garden was as 35](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-house-courances-france-14-733x1100.jpg)
![charles\2\17;s herbs grow in beds with woven willow edging made by frien 36](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/gesa-hansen-and-charles-compagnon-house-courances-france-16-733x1100.jpg)
More French country living:
- A Family House in the South of France, Hollywood Edition
- La Vie en Rose: Inside a Costumier’s Dreamlike DIY Maison in France
- At Home in the French Countryside with an Upstate Champagne Producer, Vipp Kitchen Included
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