As a young man, Robert Dunoyer, who runs the family business of the same name in Parc du Calvi in Poisy, sometimes imagined himself as a racing driver. "It was an impossible dream. It was never very serious because it would have required considerable financial resources to learn to do it. My parents were modest artisans," he says. Robert eventually took over his father's joinery business, but his passion for cars never left him, as evidenced by some of the decorative elements in his office. On the shelves, model cars and a photo of Brazilian Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula 1 world champion: "I had the opportunity to rub shoulders with him for a while. I tried to get slightly closer to this milieu through a friend who worked for a Formula 1 constructor." But he has always practised his passion as an amateur, even though he "loves the competition, the adrenaline rush, the speed. I love cars for their power and beauty. One day, I'd like to be able to collect a few beautiful models.”
Overcoming limits
Far from the automotive world, a portrait of Serge Gainsbourg also graces the entrepreneur's office. At the bottom of the picture, there is a sentence: "I know my limits, that's why I go beyond them." "I'd never really read that," admits Robert Dunoyer, "but it could apply to me to. I love Serge Gainsbourg because he's a true artist, who’s made a huge contribution to music, in an unusual way. For the same reasons, I also admire chef Marc Veyrat, who revolutionized cooking." Change things, but don't stop accelerating. These are the watchwords of Robert Dunoyer, who has expanded his father's business considerably over the past 40 years. "I'm passionate about my job and I spend my life at work. I have so little free time that I try to find indirect hobbies within my job. For example, I go skiing in resorts where I can develop projects on a professional level." At the age of 59, the Dunoyer driver is not about to put on the brakes.
Let there be light
Robert Dunoyer is particularly proud of having launched a new model of high-end home in the 1980s: Axe & D. "These sophisticated homes are mostly made of timber and glass. The large windows make the interior bright and open to the outside world. Finally, the architecture is contemporary, even avant-garde."
Hardly surprising from a Gainsbourg fan.