Our Collaborators

 

The great visionaries who help realize our dreams with their talents

 

Thierry Alix

We find it fitting that the menus for the Route du Sud were created by this nomadic chef who has cooked in distinguished, far-flung kitchens from the Seychelles to Hotel La Samana in Saint Martin. He spent ten years opening restaurants with the Pourcel Brothers which took him to Bangkok and Shanghai before returning to his native France. Today, the self-taught chef helms the market-driven kitchen at the 18th century Château de Flaugergues in Montpellier as executive chef of Le Folia.

 

Louis Benech

For the bountiful gardens at Dar Ahlam, we owe gratitude to Mother Nature and this Parisian who humbly refers to himself as a gardener. The New York Times begs to differ, calling him “France’s most revered landscape designer.” Louis Benech has also crafted gardens for Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, Christian Louboutin, Philippe Starck and François Pinault, among many others. He is best known for making over the Jardin des Tuileries in the 1990s during French President François Mitterrand's Grand Projets and for the Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau at Versailles.

 

Olivia Giacobetti

Because memories form around all five senses, we asked this legendary French perfumer to create our custom candles, shampoo and the almond shower gel. Giacobetti gained renown for conceiving the first fig fragrance, including the perennial favorite Figuier that she designed for Diptyque. One of the most in demand noses, Giacobetti was also called in to conjure scents for L’Artisan Parfumeur, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle and Hermés.

 

Frédérick Grasser-Hermé

The mother of all dishes at Dar Ahlam, Frédérick Grasser-Hermé is a key figure on the Paris gastronomy scene and a longtime collaborator with multi-Michelin starred chef Alain Ducasse, with whom she produced La Cuisinière du Cuisinier. More than two-dozen other cookbooks also bear her name and she has been involved in restaurant openings and gourmet driven exhibitions around the world.

 

Pierre Hermé

Anyone who eats dessert is highly likely to know this Frenchman whose name is synonymous with macarons especially and chocolate as well. Pierre Hermé began his career in Paris at the age of 14 as an apprentice to Gaston Lenôtre. He went on to create the Maison Pierre Hermé Paris in 1998. The author of dozens of cookbooks, Hermé has been called “the pastry provocateur" by Food & Wine and anointed "King of Modern Patisserie" in The Guardian. In 2016, The World's 50 Best Restaurants bestowed upon him the title ‘World's Best Pastry Chef.’