Hadrien Moudoulaud, the rising star of the concept bar movement
Hadrien Moudoulaud has turned the French ‘mixo’ scene upside down alongside his sister Sara Moudoulaud and their two partners Rémy Savage and Marc Puzzuoli. He welcomes us to the scene of the crime – the Bar Nouveau in Paris’ 3rd arrondissement – to tell us more.
Why did you create the Bar Nouveau?
We – Sara and I – have been working for a while with a friend called Rémy [Savage] whose aim was to open bars based on architectural movements. We made a promise to each other that we would open a bar together, one day. And when the opportunity arose, Rémy approached us to talk about a concept focusing on art nouveau. We have always been receptive to the concept bar approach. This type of thing immediately resonated with my sister and I. So we were up for it. Go!
What is unique about your approach?
My partners and I felt a very strong affinity with art nouveau, its origins and what helped it emerge. Basically, the entire concept. So we aimed to transcribe this idea through our expertise – the bar. It’s a reinterpretation of art nouveau, our way, but at the same time retaining its major cues. The concept is something we instil because we aim to make things perhaps a little more alive. Obviously, in the concept there is a very strong aesthetic aspect, with a view of art nouveau as a means of reintroducing nature into the world. The aesthetics remain a fairly important part. When you go into a place, if it’s beautiful, you feel good. If something resonates with you, you are bound to have a different approach to your experience. And we’re happy if it moves people. Having said that, what also counts, for me at least, is the way we welcome people. Why do you go to a particular place? It’s because you feel good there. And why do you feel good? Mainly because the hospitality is good.
What are your hopes for the bar world of the future?
What I hope for the future of our profession is that we remain receptive to people. It’s important. We do a hospitality job and we must not forget that if people come, our job is to make them want to stay and to ensure they have a good time. We should remain receptive to people, but also show respect for the people that work. We should treat the people around us and our colleagues with respect and successfully create harmonious satisfaction. We spend 80% of our time at work and I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to do good for everyone. And also, hospitality is mainly about managing to create something unique with people.
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