Saint-Luc Art School

Trained at Saint-Luc Art School, he developed early on a sensibility shaped by architecture, graphic design, and the visual arts. That visual culture remains at the core of the way he works today. It informs a broader reading of a project that goes well beyond the creation of drinks alone: for him, a venue must be coherent in what it offers, what it shows, what it expresses, and what it makes people feel.

His relationship with design, decoration, craftsmanship, and storytelling is also deeply personal. He grew up alongside a grandmother who was an archaeologist, which sparked an early fascination with history, cultures, savoir-faire, objects that carry memory, and the narratives that give depth to a place. That influence can still be felt today in his preference for grounded concepts, the right materials, strong identities, and collaborations with artisans able to bring real singularity to a project.





2009


Early Foundations

He entered the world of bars and hospitality at a very young age. The field became his first school. There, he learned service, discipline, consistency, rhythm, attention to detail, and the realities of operations. That experience remains central to his method. It gives him a highly practical understanding of projects: what works, what lasts, what creates real value, and what allows a vision to hold up in reality. Over the years, he has built a particularly cross-disciplinary profile.





2012

First world championship – European mixology champion






2013


The Turning Point: Encountering the World of Joël Robuchon

Meeting the teams of Joël Robuchon was a true turning point in Kévin Ligot’s journey. In Monaco, at the heart of the French Riviera, he discovered a level of excellence that would leave a lasting mark on the way he works: rigor in execution, absolute attention to the product, the importance of ultra-seasonality, and an ultra-local sourcing approach rooted as closely as possible in the living world. In that environment, the richness of the territory became impossible to ignore. All it took was leaving the center of Monaco and walking a few minutes into the surrounding hills to find thyme, wild rosemary, and a Mediterranean landscape that showed just how deeply a place can shape a vision of taste. Less than an hour away by train, the Italian markets offered a natural extension of that same product-driven culture.

It was also in this world that he developed a more nuanced understanding of beverage and pairing. Joël Robuchon did not drink alcohol, and that reality gave no-alcohol a singular place, already far ahead of its time. The goal was never to offer a lesser alternative, but to achieve the same level of execution, quality, presentation, and food pairing as with cocktails or traditional food-and-beverage pairings. This period also shaped several areas that would later become central to his approach: the integration of vegetables into recipes, cold work, the refusal to alter ingredients through excessive heat, an interest in the living world, fermentation, wines, champagnes, and the use of oils in creations — a practice that was still very rare at the time. More than a technical education, this immersion laid the foundation for a lasting vision: one in which beverage, whether alcoholic or not, deserves the same respect for the product, the same precision, and the same ambition as cuisine.


“In life, if you are not always better tomorrow, you are already worse.”
Joël Robuchon




 

2014

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Meeting the Man : Tony Gomez

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Meeting Tony Gomez, in the offices of MOMA Paris, alongside Benjamin Patou, was also an important moment in Kévin’s journey. A defining figure in Paris nightlife, Tony had something rare about him: an immediate energy, a great sense of humor, real boldness, and above all a deeply human way of connecting with others. For him, hospitality was never just a professional reflex. It was a way of being — of bringing people together, carrying a project, creating connection, and making each person feel they had a special place.

What stayed with Kévin, beyond the man himself, was this ability to make people matter. Tony Gomez knew how to gather people, put them at ease, give rhythm to a place, and bring a very tangible kind of magic into everyday life. That encounter reinforced a belief that still runs through Kévin’s approach to hospitality today: a concept, a setting, or an execution can all be right, but what truly matters is the way people feel welcomed, valued, and connected to an experience.

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“ Being an artist is all very well. But what truly matters is people. ”

Tony Gomez

2015


Meeting with Master Yu Hui Tseng

Tea holds a special place in his journey. A deeply committed tea enthusiast, Kévin Ligot deepened his understanding of this world with Master Yu Hui Tseng, through an approach that embraces ritual, precision of gesture, and a sensitive reading of materials as much as tasting itself.


" When I met Kévin Ligot, he struck me as a subtle blend of inventiveness, rigor, inspiration, boldness, curiosity, and enthusiasm, with a touch of perseverance, all driven by the effervescence of a true researcher. I listened to him passionately describe the way he prepares a cocktail, the ingredients he selects, the pairing of products, the intended effect of a new ingredient—each one adding a nuance, like a stroke of color on a modern canvas. Mixing, blending everything together, that is his craft: ‘Mixomania.’ In the end, why not let him blend my teas too, without interfering at all in what they might become, just as they do when they become ingredients for great chefs? To entrust them to him, so he can take them far into his own universe, where elements collide, merge, fuse, illuminate one another, and give birth to a creation like a big bang of flavors. "
Master Yu Hui Tseng