Zoë de Givenchy on artisanal beauty
Into the Garden - inspired by Versailles and Le Potager du Roi...
There is a certain kind of beauty in objects that quietly spread joy and don’t seek attention - that simply belong - for now and future generations. The sort that comes from thoughtful craftsmanship, time-honoured traditions and collections chosen to be lived with every day. It’s a philosophy that sits at the heart of everything Zoë de Givenchy creates.
As founder and creative director of Z.d.G., Zoë collaborates with master artisans across Europe to breathe new life into centuries-old craftsmanship, creating collections that feel both timeless and wonderfully relevant.
Her latest collection, created in collaboration with the Palace of Versailles and Le Potager du Roi, draws inspiration from the extraordinary historic kitchen gardens, with beautifully crafted tabletop and garden pieces that celebrate their enduring legacy.
Supporting the World Monuments Fund, the collection is also a deeply personal project for Zoë, reflecting a longstanding family connection to the organisation’s work in protecting cultural heritage.
We spoke to Zoë about the inspiration behind the collection, the importance of preserving traditional craftsmanship, and why the pieces we surround ourselves with have the power to shape how we live.
Tell us about your early years. How did your upbringing shape your love of beauty, craftsmanship and travel, and how do those early influences continue to inspire your work today?
My mother, of course, was the first person to form and shape my appreciation of beauty in all its forms. From learning the names of plants and pressing flowers and - yes - talking to trees! From as early as I can remember, I had many pets and a kitchen garden and would help with the flowers in the house every weekend with my mother. I also loved helping her entertain: setting menus and themes and exciting surprises. Her Christmasses are legendary, and that inspired my passion for dressing the house for Christmas - always with winter flowers - and throughout the seasons.
Congratulations on your new collaboration with Versailles and the historic kitchen garden, Le Potager du Roi. Can you remember your first visit? What struck you most, and what emotions did the gardens evoke?
My first visit was with my then fiancé (now husband) Olivier nearly 20 years ago as we were planning to be married in the Potager! Unfortunately, given the ancient cellars of the Chateau de Versailles are beneath, it wasn’t feasible (or safe!). So my first encounter with the Potager was an intensely romantic one and I think this is why my overwhelming feeling for it today remains one of romance and admiration.
Versailles is one of the world’s most iconic cultural landscapes. How did you approach creating a collection that honours its extraordinary heritage while still reflecting your own distinctive aesthetic?
This for me was the easy part! The Potager is rich with legend and storytelling. It’s not just a question of heritage for me, it is also a story of whimsy and romance, and a very human story of our first connection to plants and learning how to use them for nourishment and pleasure. In the early 18th century the French court was studying plants keenly to understand how they grow. I learnt from the gardeners at the Potager that it wasn’t fully understood at that time how root systems worked and that plants took in the bulk of their nutrients and water that way. Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie, who designed the garden, wrote the first defining book in growing vegetables and fruits. I am lucky enough to have one of his first editions of this book in the library at Le Jonchet. A gift from Bunny Mellon to Hubert, congratulating him on his work in the garden’s massive restoration in the 90’s. It was one of the first ever modern gardening books as we know them today.
The collection celebrates summer and life outdoors, with pieces for both the garden and the table. Do you have one or two favourites, and what makes them especially meaningful to you?
The individual vegetable plates to me have so much character and each have their own legendary story. For example, the humble green pea that took the court of Louis XIV by storm! Nobody had ever tasted peas before, and everyone was quite obsessed with them. Ladies were known to be stealing them and gorging themselves late at night in their private apartments.
Also the scarf is very special! I worked with French silk makers, Brochiers, whom printed my adaptation of an 18th century map of the Potager on French silk and hand rolled the edges. It’s a very beautiful piece that makes for a very special gift. All the accessories in this collection are of course like everything we do made by heritage French artisans and masters at their craft. Each piece is a treasure - yet I wanted to be completely practical too. The gardeners hat, for example, has an adjustable band inside, the secateurs have a thoughtful leather handle and sheath, and the gardening gloves have a soft suede palm but a smooth leather top. Divine to work - or just look beautiful - in the garden!
Travel has always been an important source of inspiration for you. Do you collect objects on your journeys? Is there a particular piece that holds a special story?
Indeed it does - but I must say just as meaningful for me is time in places that are regular places of retreat or quiet contemplation. The keeping of traditions, comfort in the familiar is just as important to me. Being at home in the countryside can be just as inspiring as a grand tour somewhere exotic.
Your own gardens are as inspiring as your interiors. What role does gardening play in your daily life, and are there other gardens around the world that have left a lasting impression on you?
Meaningful time in nature, in the wild, and in and around gardens is truly essential for me. I crave it if I don’t have it. One of the most recent gardens I have come across in recent years is the Valsanzibio Gardens in the Veneto just north of Venice. It’s an allegorical garden and each garden has a distinct meaning or lesson to share. The rabbit island, the hermits cave - not to mention the 600 year old boxwood maze - just extraordinary and emotionally charged.
“My first encounter with the Potager was an intensely romantic one and I think this is why my overwhelming feeling for it today remains one of romance and admiration.”
A recurring theme throughout her work is the preservation of traditional skills and craftsmanship. Why do you think preserving these skills feels more important than ever, and what can beautifully made objects teach us about living well?
I really believe that in a world of increasing proximity to and reliance upon technology and AI, we all crave experiences that are more human and made by humans. Things and experiences that invoke a feeling. I also think that we want fewer things but better things - and true luxury is always handmade.
This collection brings together the work of exceptional artisans across Europe. Could you tell us about some of the makers behind the pieces, and why supporting their craft is so important to you?
Put simply: if more of us don’t pay attention to supporting these arts they will be lost. And it will be impossible to regain these skills as they are not written, they are so often transferred from one generation to the next.
You’re renowned for creating wonderfully welcoming homes and tables. What do you think is the secret to making guests feel instantly at ease?
The hosts’ ease and comfort! Make sure you have time before your guests arrive to stroll through and put your finishing touches to the drinks, the table, and adjust lighting and music. Then pour yourself a drink!
When setting a summer table, are there flowers, foliage that you always return to for the summer season?
Always local to wherever I am - so if it’s the countryside, mostly field flowers, or armfuls of garden roses or mounds of white hydrangea Annabelle. And I never forget to add flowers in the bathrooms and bedrooms. Wherever the eye lands, flowers must be!
Your work celebrates beauty not as luxury, but as something woven into everyday life. Are there small daily rituals, whether in the garden, at the table or in your home -that you couldn’t imagine living without?
Hot tea in a fine porcelain cup, crisp linen and madeleines at 4pm. Deadheading my roses with the sound of the birds and sprinklers in the distance, early morning before anyone is up. Setting a beautiful lunch table in the pool house with our French faïence, bowls of fresh cherries and cold rosé, glasses chilled on ice in a classical ZdG French verrière. The sound of the children playing in the background.
Your life beautifully weaves together gardens, craftsmanship, travel, food and home. Looking ahead, what do you hope we protect most carefully -not only for future generations to inherit, but as a way of living?
Our appreciation of time, using it wisely and intentionally. Respecting it and appreciating the luxury of something handmade for this reason. Because in the end, without respect for one another, for our heritage, our values and appreciation of our natural world we won’t have much left.A: I really believe that in a world of increasing proximity to and reliance upon technology and AI, we all crave experiences that are more human and made by humans. Things and experiences that invoke a feeling. I also think that we want fewer things but better things - and true luxury is always handmade.
This collection brings together the work of exceptional artisans across Europe. Could you tell us about some of the makers behind the pieces, and why supporting their craft is so important to you?
Put simply: if more of us don’t pay attention to supporting these arts they will be lost. And it will be impossible to regain these skills as they are not written, they are so often transferred from one generation to the next.
“I really believe that in a world of increasing proximity to and reliance upon technology and AI, we all crave experiences that are more human, that invoke a feeling. I also think that we want fewer things but better things - and true luxury is always handmade.”
Let’s Play Favourites
Flowers: Dahlias for colour, Roses for scent (and romance), Lily of the Valley for charm
Artists: Miro, Twombly, Dufy, de Staël.
Interior Designers: Billy Baldwin, Henri Samuel, Alberto Pinto
Scent / Fragrance: Trudon
Travel destinations: Next up - Egypt and India
Place in France: Most underrated: Brittany
Garden: Highgrove
Book: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
TV series: All Creatures Great and Small
Film: A Room with a View
Wellness ritual: morning meditation, Pilates and matcha
Colour: Green
Beauty essentials: Sisley, Allies of Skin, Tata Harper are my three all time favourite brands always on rotation
Music: Pulp Fiction Soundtrack
Season: Summer or Autumn - I can’t decide
Restaurant: Wilton’s in London, Voltaire in Paris and Nobu Malibu in LA
Meal: forever my husband’s roast chicken
Mentor: I have many - alive and dead - some I have met others I have not!
Era or decade: 18th century some days, 1960s other days
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