Charles & Co introduces a sense of place to the alpine aesthetic of French Alps ski hotel Alpaga, with a nature-inspired colour palette and locally made period furniture.

Alpaga is built from hardwood in traditional Savoyard style at an altitude of 1,100m, and the boutique alpine hotel comprises 22 rooms, five suites, and six chalets, as well as L’Onyx bistro, Michelin-starred La Table de l’Alpaga, and a spa. The resort is just outside Megève in the Ski Pass Mont Blanc area and claims to have the best views of Mont Blanc.

Interiors of the Haute-Savoie hotel have wide plank walls, lofty, wide beamed ceilings, black aluminium-framed glazing and an open fireplace recessed in a blackened steel-plated wall in the lobby. Design firm Charles & Co added to the alpine look, bringing in custom-made and period furniture layered with soft, rich velvets and wool textures and olive green, dark grey and mustard hues.

Co-founder of Charles & Co Vicky Charles says their redesign draws inspiration from the town’s glamorous history – Megève was built in the 1920s as France’s answer to St Moritz and was popular with European aristocrats, socialites and artists. Colours also nod to its mountainous surroundings and local flora and fauna.

Guests can mingle and relax in the lobby, which has a new drinks bar inspired by the steel-plated fireplace, framed alpine and ski scenes, and armchairs covered in mohair contrasted with vintage rugs and rich leather pieces to ground the space.

In the Onyx restaurant, where dark floors amp up the drama, walls display wooden spoons used for cheese-making by Paris and New York-based studio Be-pole – a nod to the local culture and craftsmanship of the Alps area.

After exploring the area’s 400km of slopes, weary skiers can rest up in pale wood-lined bedrooms, which feature velvet headboards and plush wool rugs and can fix themselves an après-ski drink from jewel-like minibars with leather and antique mirror details. ‘We wanted to create an inviting space that is both luxurious and comfortable where guests can sink into a chair with a book or a warm drink,’ Charles explains.

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