Say the word château and most people imagine a majestic rural manor embellished with turrets and boiserie. Château de Jozerand in the Auvergne region of central France is certainly that, but it also harbors delightful surprises. A giant bronze butterfly flutters on a table in the petit salon, and tree-shaped tables sprout here and there—playful objects made by the lady of the house, artist Joy de Rohan-Chabot “I get my ideas in the country,” she says. “When I don’t have inspiration, I go for walks, and then it comes easily.”
To date, Joy’s most gratifying project at Jozerand has been completing the grand salon, which serves as the main living room. “When that room was originally being installed, the work stopped because of the revolution of 1848,” she explains, adding that the two world wars halted later attempts, leaving expanses of raw wood and an air of neglect.
