How Jacques Garcia Turned an Old Church into London's Hottest Hotel

Jacques Garcia is not personally in the business of seduction.

The French maestro of hotel design is far too busy to bother about your love life himself. But step into any hotel around the world transfigured by his touch—notably the NoMad in New York, La Réserve in Paris, and L'oscar, opening this month in London, with strokeable velvet-and-leather walls and an onyx bar that casts a sultry glow over the lounge—and you'll get the sense that his aesthetic mission is to help you seal the deal.

"People go out to be seduced by people and to seduce people," Garcia says. "I create places where people can meet. It starts by having the right chairs—comfy—and lighting. People look better in dim light, always. You need a convivial venue: a place where you can connect with people, where you feel attractive. Take Maison Souquet"—his 20-room Arab-meets-Gallic boîte in Paris's ninth arrondissement that looks like what might have transpired if the Moors had conquered the Moulin Rouge. "Parisian couples go there to spice up their sex life."