L'Exception goes to meet its clients. Today, we meet Kevin Clare, a landscape designer and L'Exception client since 2019.

Kevin Clare carries the L'Exception Paris x Scandinavian Edition parka.

Can you please introduce yourself?
Kevin: My name is Kevin Clare and I'm a design landscape architect. I design, create and maintain outdoor spaces, such as terraces, gardens or patios, in Paris and the Ile de France region. I created my company six years ago now and I address a private clientele, restaurateurs and companies.

How did you get into this profession?
Kevin: This profession appeared to me at the age of fourteen, I can't identify how exactly but I always had a garden in which I liked to put my hands in the ground. My vocation was born from spending my days outside, being surrounded by plants, even though I was in the suburbs. In my family, there were people who gravitated towards gardening and plants, it kind of permeated my being.

What do you like to do the most in your job?
Kevin: I like to design a space, make it with my own hands and see it come to life, come out of the ground, it's really very satisfying, very exhilarating. I like to create spaces as poetic as possible in contrast to the city, which is quite mineral. I try to create bucolic and romantic bubbles.

Do you have any favorite plants?
Kevin:That's a complicated question because there are so many varieties.I'm thinking of the Judas tree, a variety that has purple foliage, which is radiant and takes the light well.There is also the melianthus plant, which has cut foliage. When rain falls on it, the water beads on its foliage and gives a rather nice graphic effect. It also has a flower with a very nice golden effect.I really like the echinacea for its very cut out flower shape, which dries up in the winter and takes on frost. Sages too: it's magical, it's easy, it blooms profusely, and it smells great.


Are there any challenges you've faced in this business?
Kevin:One of the difficulties of the job is that there's a lot of handling, a lot of weight to carry and move.You also have to deal with the elements and the season: not planting at any time. It's an important point: it's humbling, you have to respect this cycle so that the plants can develop at their best.Sometimes you have to meet timing requirements that don't correspond to this seasonality. My role is therefore to raise awareness, to be educational and to explain that we can't do everything at any time. I try to accompany my clients to explain to them that there are special times for that and that the constraints of the living must be respected.

Is there a project you worked on that you are most proud of?
Kevin: Right now I'm doing more and more gardens. It's a pleasure to work in gardens, I'm in contact with the soil and the earth, I have a stronger anchor than on the terraces, more stories to tell. I think of a garden I did last year in Noisy-le-Grand. It was an empty lot, there were concrete slabs when we arrived. We installed an English garden on this completely mineral ground, we transformed the space.I went back there a year and a half later and it completely exploded. I'm pretty proud of that project, because in the beginning you had to use your imagination!

What's the most beautiful rooftop you've ever worked on?
Kevin: Undoubtedly, a rooftop in the ninth, avenue Trudaine with one of the most beautiful views I've ever encountered. It's on the eighth floor, with the Sacré Coeur right behind and then the whole Parisian basin, with all the monuments, the magnificent sky, the sunset on the defense hyper beautiful. It's also pretty quiet, yet close to Pigalle.

Kevin Clare is wearing the parka L'Exception Paris x Scandinavian Edition.

You're a customer of L'Exception, do you remember how you heard about the site?
Kevin :Through the store, I was a customer at the store on rue Bichat and then at the Canopé.

Do you have an item that you bought from us that you particularly like?
Kevin :What I like about L'Exception is that there are often original pieces, that you can't find elsewhere. I'm thinking in particular of a large AMI overcoat that I had bought, it creates a rather incredible presence. I had also bought a red Carven jacket, it is beautiful, several times, I was complimented on my jacket.

How was your experience with L'Exception?
Kevin: I'm more of a customer of the store. I came to Les Halles, then to Bichat, then twice to La Caserne. Each time, it was very good. I like the fact that there are not only clothes, there are also glasses, objects, it's very diversified.


Patio project in Paris 14th

Garden project in Paris 16th

L'Exception will see you again soon for another meet and greet with one of its clients!