At Home with Designer Gesa Hansen and Family in the French Countryside Just Outside Paris

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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 &#8\2\20;for people w 17 — Above: The compound was built in the 1850s as a guest house “for people who weren’t staying at the castle,” says Gesa. The former stable is now a garage/tool shed on one side and a coffee roasting station on the other.

the family had been previously living above one of charles&#8\2\17;s restau 18 — Above: The family had been previously living above one of Charles’s restaurants in Paris. Gesa says that after spending an afternoon at a friend’s place nearby, “we were so happy that we stopped at an *immoblier* and looked at two houses. I fell in love immediately, and we bought the second one.”

the house had been previously owned by a swiss couple who &#8\2\20;did a pe 19 — Above: The house had been previously owned by a Swiss couple who “did a perfect job renewing the windows and the heating system,” says Gesa. She saw on that first visit that she could preserve the existing details while also “projecting” her own style onto them.

the foyer has its original stone floor and stucco walls—and a laid back 20 — Above: The foyer has its original stone floor and stucco walls—and a laid-back vibe that Gesa carries throughout.

romy, the couple&#8\2\17;s youngest child, plays on ilse crawford&#8\2\ 21 — Above: Romy, the couple’s youngest child, plays on Ilse Crawford’s popular 2015 daybed for Ikea.

gesa is currently at work on a hotel in paris for the orso group. 22 — Above: Gesa is currently at work on a hotel in Paris for the Orso group.

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.