Jeannie Fraise, Principal Designer

Over the past 20 years, Jeannie's design projects and former Hayes valley boutique, both under the umbrella of Lotus Bleu, have showcased her distinctly livable and playful approach to design.  

embracing the work of ARTISANS WHO INFUSE TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES WITH A uniquely MODERN flair, she is known for cleverly layering richly colored, graphic patterned textiles and furnishings in original And surprising ways. 

Inspired by her frequent and extensive travels abroad, international family, and art history background, Jeannie has been designing, coordinating and styling small and large interiors alike, from individual to complete interior design schemes and kitchen and bathroom remodels to full-scale renovations and new construction. Completing projects in San Francisco, Marin, Lake Tahoe and France, she has worked with highly distinctive architectural firms, contractors, and workrooms, and has in turn received numerous accolades from both regional and national sources.

Now having traveled to over 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East, Jeannie initially caught the travel bug after her first voyage around the world during an abroad program during her junior year in college. Meeting her husband Christophe, a French national from Madagascar, on the program, they have spent over 30 years exploring the world, learning about different cultures and gaining invaluable design inspiration. Yet their very most important voyages to date, however, have been to bring home their beautiful children: Kai from Vietnam and Finn from China, who have become veritable world travelers themselves. 

With a background in the arts, Jeannie studied abroad on Semester at Sea, in Florence and Berlin for her degrees. Graduating summa cum laude from college, she came to the Bay Area to study at Stanford University: receiving an M.A. and Ph.D. candidacy in art history. At Stanford, her dissertation focused on Florine Stettheimer, an artist who created innovative portraits, interiors,and stage sets commenting on the burgeoning modern art world and museums in New York City during the early twentieth century. Jeannie herself worked at two of the main ones featured in her art: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Whitney Museum of Art, while living in New York before moving to the Bay Area.

While researching her dissertation, Jeannie tackled her first full-scale interior design project with the three-story Victorian fixer-upper, she and Christophe bought and gutted from top to bottom, in the Liberty Hill Historic District. The final result was featured in Better Homes and Gardens in 2007, an update for family living was covered by The San Francisco Chronicle in a two full-page spread in 2014, and the most recent complete renovation of her home almost 20 years later in 2022 was featured in over 14 photos by Homes and Gardens UK in their World’s Best Homes section.

One of the things clients have appreciated about Jeannie's style from the start, is how she brings back unique finds from her many travels abroad and incorporates them into her designs. In 2003, she opened her own boutique and adjacent design office in the heart of the hip Hayes Valley shopping neighborhood in San Francisco. Displaying her signature playful style and exclusively carrying sought-after and customizable brands, Lotus Bleu was a one-of-a-kind home décor destination, attracting a loyal clientele for over 12 years.  

In 2017 Jeannie relocated and expanded her design studio space, moving into a charming tree-filled courtyard nestled in Portrero Hill near the San Francisco Design Center.  Designed like a two-bedroom apartment, the five-room light-filled space with an ample deck and two large balconies makes her clients feel right at home. Although she closed her retail boutique, she soon launched an online market with one-of-a-kind vintage and custom textiles, rugs, and furnishings based on regional themes from her recent travels. So far, she has put together collections from Turkey, Ethiopia, Mexico, Morocco and South Africa.

Over the years, Jeannie has been featured as a “Stylemaker” and “Tastemaker” in numerous regional and national magazines and newspapers. She has participated in the SF Decorator’s Showcase, has been nominated as a "Designer of Distinction" finalist by the SF Design Center, has been part of the FOG: Design & Art Fair’s Designer’s Forum (a hand-selected group of prominent leaders in the SF design community) since its inception, and has won several prestigious awards.

In 2013, Jeannie received California Home + Design's coveted award for the “Top Residential Space over 3,000 Square Feet in California” for a ranch she completed in the rolling hills of West Marin, and two years prior, one of her bathroom designs made their annual “Top 5” list. In late 2014, Jeannie finished her second-largest project to date, an approximately 8,000 square foot home in the exclusive community of Martis Camp in Truckee, which received the 2015 “Outstanding Home of the Year Award” by regional magazine Tahoe Quarterly.  And in 2022, Jeannie won both the regional San Francisco and national Luxe Magazine RED Award for Jewel-Box Space for her own home’s unique pantry and bar.

Kaoru Hudachek,
Associate Designer

Immersed in art and music lessons from a young age, Kaoru has cultivated a deep appreciation for the creative process and it's this passion that propelled her to gain experience in the design field throughout her 20 year career.

Through her art history studies at Mount Holyoke College and internships at prominent art institutions in New York City, she learned how to think critically about art.  Born and raised in Tokyo, then having studied in the United States and Italy, she has developed a unique global perspective on what art and design mean in different cultures.  Having an international background sparked a love of exploration, which led her to eventually take a year off to travel across the globe, visiting museums across Europe and ancient archeological sites extensively in India.

Professionally, Kaoru has held marketing and sales positions with several major design contributors in both the retail and to-the-trade markets, starting with Design Within Reach just after its inception, and more recently being a top salesperson at the renown San Francisco trade showroom de sousa hughes.  There, she gained invaluable knowledge in product design, materials and manufacturing process through countless hours of training with reputable makers of luxury furniture and textiles from both the United States and Europe.

As Associate Designer at Lotus Bleu, Kaoru applies her years of creative training and her in-depth knowledge of product brands to create environments specific to the client's goals and aesthetic.  Her strong project management skills, combined with her fun and professional nature contributes to strong and lasting client relationships.