Night duet
To enter the office of Dominique Mottas is to retrace a whole part of the history of the City of Calvin. This measured, affable character has always preferred to blend into the night, leaving others in the light. It’s hard to retrace the career of this fast-moving entrepreneur without mentioning his female alter ego, Nicole Codourey. This elegant, soft-spoken woman has been by his side since the beginning of the adventure. A story of a couple where each has found her place without ever feeling the need to overshadow the other. A portrait of an indestructible tandem that has endured over the years and still holds many surprises in store for us.
Culture club
Nicole Codourey, originally from Fribourg, grew up in Geneva, where she graduated from the Faculty of Education. Eager to follow the path of professional teaching, the French methodology teacher was “a thousand and one nights away” from suspecting that her career path would change radically. As for Dominique Mottas, he tried his hand at horticulture before opening his first club in Arnex-sur-Orbe in 1984, which also included a restaurant. “I was immediately attracted by the conviviality and sharing of music and dance. You have to take risks when you undertake something, and although I sometimes have doubts, I’ve never been afraid of them. The adventure begins…
© Arthur’s
The couple met a year later on the dance floor, and Nicole fell under the spell of this ambitious young man. In 1989, they opened a nightclub that was to revolutionize the Swiss and even European nightlife scene. The project was pharaonic and located next to Geneva airport: Arthur’s! “It was the era of the big clubs. We wanted to bring together all social classes in an elegant, chic establishment. We called it mixing people and genres. What could be more normal?” recalls Nicole Codourey. It was a runaway success, with the crème de la crème of the French-speaking world, including the French entertainment world, flocking to the 3,000 m2 space. The fury lasted for just over ten years, every Saturday night.
Place your bets, nothing goes
After this intense nocturnal epic, they felt they had to move on. With their characteristic entrepreneurial spirit, Nicole Codourey and Dominique Mottas changed tack and, against all odds, obtained the coveted license to operate a casino in place of the discotheque. The sound of slot machines replaced the first sounds of electronic music. “Gambling is a world apart. We quickly sold our license to an internationally renowned group,” confides the owner. With the opening of Arthur’s Rive Gauche restaurant on Rue du Rhône in 1997, a new chapter was written in the heart of Geneva.
In the early 2000s, the wine world opened its arms to them, and the duo didn’t hesitate to embark on a new project, creating the distribution company Arthur’s Cellar. “My passion for wine goes back to my early days, when I bought a cellar full of Bordeaux premiers grands crus. I’ve always been fascinated by the vine, respect for the land and the art of transforming grapes into wine. A noble and fascinating profession”, says Dominique Mottas. Once again, the duo reinvented themselves with an online sales site to better cope with this technological revolution. More recently, the pair teamed up with
A dream of a dancing night
Today, Nicole Codourey and Dominique Mottas are making headlines by announcing the takeover of La Bohème restaurant-bar and the legendary Griffin’s private club, which has been abandoned for over a decade. An ambitious new project that doesn’t frighten the entrepreneur. “I like to create, I like to realize and I like to move forward. If I don’t have a project, I get bored,” he admits. Discreet until the end of the night, the couple are once again preparing to put others in the spotlight with the opening of two establishments planned, in principle, for early 2023.
© Arthur’s
