Laurent adds ‘Je ne sais quoi’ factor to homes

City Lives – Denise McNamara hears how interior designer Laurent Billiet survived the recession

For the thousands of Galwegians stuck in negative equity land, moving house is an impossible dream. Many of us have to make do with our pads, no matter how small or unsuitable. At least until the market turns – or the banks start lending again.

Updating your home can satisfy that itch to improve. And it can be done as extravagantly or as cheaply as the budget allows.

Interior designer Laurent Billiet is one of the few in his business to have survived the crash. At one time there were half a dozen interior designers about town. As they closed their doors, unable to meet the skyrocketing city rents in the face of a flatlining market, he took the plunge and expanded.

He set up his design business in a show room in Oranmore in 2005. Three years later he opened a shop on Abbeygate Street Lower. La Maison Chic is the kind of shop which dotted every town in Ireland at the height of the Celtic Tiger but most of them were destined to fail. In a place the size of Galway, however, it looks perfectly at home with an array of in-trend sofas, ornaments, lighting, furniture, candles, silk flowers and accessories for homeowners intent on adding a touch of chic.

Laurent, a native of Northern France started off life in a very different vein. The son of a celebrity hairdresser who switched careers in his 40s to go into the building game, Laurent always knew he wanted to own his own business, following in the footsteps of his successful father.

At college he studied human resources and international business and on graduation left for Boston where he spent two years in the French equivalent of the IDA, which aimed to get American companies to invest in France.

He wanted to leave the US but was not ready to return to France, so he accepted a job in Dublin, where he worked in the French version of Bord Bia, promoting French wine and food.

After two years there Laurent got a job in a biomedical research firm whose main product was the weight-loss belt, Slendertone. He started off as marketing assistant, working his way up over seven years to managing director for Europe.

In the meantime he completed several wine diplomas and an interior design course. He eventually felt it was time to branch out on his own.

“I could have opened a pub or a club, I really wanted to set up my own business after working for a lot of people over the years. I built my own house and decorated it myself, so I had a lot of interest in it. Business picked up really fast,” he recalls.

As he had no big rent to cover with La Maison Chic, he was able to invest in advertising to create brand awareness. Soon he was picking up contracts from homeowners as well as commercial clients. He has redesigned the interiors of businesses such as Zenith, the Asian Teahouse, the Stock Exchange Nightclub, Martine’s Restaurant and Tom Nally Barbers. Even the Aula Maxima in NUIG has undergone the Maison Chic effect.