A private pool atelier · Est. 2002
We design and build a small number of private pools each year — for clients who measure value in restraint, longevity, and the quiet authority of well-made things.
N° 41 · Casa Ondé · Mallorca
Founded
2002
Commissions / yr
Six
Built across
14 countries
Engagement begins at
$650k
01 — Practice
01
Hand-drawn studies. Stone, water, sky considered as a single material. No template, no portfolio repeat — every drawing begins on a clean sheet.
12–20 weeks
02
Hydraulics, structural calculation, geotechnical liaison. The pool that disappears is held up by mathematics you will never see.
In house
03
Our own foremen. Stonecutters we have worked with for two decades. A site we do not leave until the last grout line is true.
40–80 weeks
04
A small annual visit. We re-tune what we built, brief the household, and stay reachable for the life of the work.
Indefinite
A note on our work
We build very few pools, very slowly, for a small number of people who have understood — perhaps later than they would have liked — that stillness is the rarest luxury of all.
— Léa Maren, Founding Partner
N° 38
La Maison Noire
Provence · 2024
A 28-metre lap, hand-set in Burgundy
limestone. Heated by waste flue from
the adjoining bakehouse.
02 — A selection
N° 41 · 2025
Mallorca, Spain
Infinity · 22m
N° 38 · 2024
Provence, France
Lap · 28m
N° 36 · 2024
Côte d'Azur, France
Cantilever · 18m
N° 33 · 2023
Cotswolds, England
Reflection · 14m
N° 30 · 2023
Capri, Italy
Vanishing · 16m
N° 27 · 2022
Brooklyn, New York
Indoor · 12m
41 commissions · 2002 — 2025
03 — The atelier
We started in a small room.
We are still in a small room.
Twenty-two winters in.
We have not grown larger because we did not want to.
Six pools a year.
That is the work.
Studio · Aix-en-Provence
N° 01 · 2002
At the drawing board · Léa Maren
N° 14 · 2011
First light · Casa Ondé
N° 23 · 2018
Quarry returns · Tivoli
N° 34 · 2023
Last grout line · La Maison Noire
N° 41 · 2025
04 — Materials
Each commission begins with a quarry visit. We choose every block. Nothing in our pools comes from a catalogue.
01
Hand-bushed. Used at La Maison Noire, Casa Ondé.
02
Vein-cut, honed. Quarried by the Cassi family since 1923.
03
Sandblasted. Used wet — its truest colour.
04
Fired in Kyoto. Each tile a slight, deliberate variance.
05 — Voices
06 — A commission
Weeks 1—2
You write. We reply, or — sometimes — we don't. We accept only commissions we believe we can do well.
3—6
Léa or Tom comes, in person, always. We sit with the land for a day. We do not draw yet.
8—24
Three to six rounds of hand-drawn proposals. We meet monthly. The drawings are bound, not emailed.
26—32
We travel to the chosen quarry with you. Stone is selected, reserved, lifted in our presence.
34—80
Our foremen take residence near your site. Weekly reports on a single sheet of paper. No sub-contracted decisions.
After
Each winter, for as long as the pool stands, we return for a day. We re-tune. We listen.
07 — A first letter
A paragraph is sufficient. Tell us about the place, who lives there, and the kind of mornings you would like.