Hotel Le Toiny St. Barth’s Unveils Villa Anima by Poupette Giraud

The stone is the first thing Poupette Giraud mentions when she talks about her latest creation. It is local volcanic rock, weathered to the exact color of the Toiny coastline, built into walls that seem to have emerged from the hillside rather than been placed upon it. “I tried to make something that, over time, will get more and more soul, because it’s part of the land,” the designer says of the three-bedroom private villa she is launching this season, part of Hotel Le Toiny, which stretches across 42 acres on St. Barths’ wild eastern coast.

Giraud, the resortwear queen who built the global boho-chic empire Poupette St Barth, has been working between Indonesia, India, and the 8-square-mile French Caribbean paradise for 35 years. For Villa Anima, she has teamed up with longtime friend, Charlie Vere Nicoll, a British banker turned hotelier and the island’s Anglican priest.

“My wife Mandy likes to shop, so we quickly became friends with Poupette,” Vere Nicoll describes of how they met. Their St. Barths is not the one of paparazzi and mega-yachts. This is the other island, the one that exists in morning walks along Toiny beach ending at Vany Chocolat for croissants still warm from the oven, evenings of good food and laughter and local music where everyone feels part of the same island family. It’s the St. Barths that Giraud and Vere Nicoll have been quietly protecting for decades.

Vere Nicoll arrived on the island 38 years ago on his honeymoon and never left. He sold his first St. Barths hotel to LVMH before acquiring Le Toiny, the only hotel on an untouched stretch of coastline. Among his investors at Le Toiny was tropical rock legend Jimmy Buffett, who spent 50 years surfing St. Barths and wrote “Cheeseburger in Paradise” on the island. “Jimmy was one of the most interesting, humble, brilliant men,” Vere Nicoll says. “The quintessential hippie, a brilliant artist and really good with people. There was nothing arrogant about him. That’s still this island’s spirit.”

“People often say to me, what has changed,” he muses. “That profound essence hasn’t changed.”

It’s the blend of French sophistication and Caribbean ease, where mega-wealth coexists with genuine community that Villa Anima captures. The project began 13 years ago when Giraud purchased a piece of land above Toiny beach which she describes as “a dream.” Four years of construction followed, every detail overseen by a woman who understands materials the way a sommelier understands terroir.

Owned by Giraud, and operated by the hotel, the partnership felt intuitive. “What I love is that it melts into the same natural environmental feel here.”

Working with architect Johannes Zingerle, Giraud created a design with a strong focus on integration into the natural site, incorporating local stone and embracing the island’s original four-sided roof design.

The architecture follows the topography of the Toiny hillside, with structures staggered on different levels to minimize visual impact and blend harmoniously into the landscape. The materials are predominantly natural — wood, stone, and soft-toned finishes — selected to echo the surrounding vegetation and coastline. Large sliding openings create seamless indoor-outdoor living to capture the trade winds and panoramic views toward the wild, preserved coast of Toiny. Each bedroom is an independent suite with its own terrace and ocean view. The outdoor decks, pools and gardens extend the interior spaces, offering multiple lounging and dining options that fit perfectly with Le Toiny’s all-suite hotel aesthetic. “When you are inside and outside, you’re part of the land, part of the view,” she explains. Each villa room spans more than 25 square meters with ocean views and private infinity pools. “Every piece is chosen to integrate with the project. Simple. Never with too much.”

Rates for the three-bedroom Villa Anima start at $17,000 per week, climbing to between $60,000 and $75,000 for the island’s festive season.

Prices are high, but they both push back against St. Barths’ glitzy, sometimes pretentious reputation. “You read about all the Champagne popping and partying,” Vere Nicoll says. “In reality, that is not what this island is about. Yes, it’s there, but it’s a small part.” The island, he insists, is about experience: dining at Eddy’s Ghetto for true Caribbean classics or Ti Corail for intimate beachside charm, Le Toiny’s Thursday Beach Extravaganza where fire dancers and live music frame family-style lobster platters beneath the stars, and walking beaches like Saline or Colombier with its natural swimming pools carved by millennia of waves.

In St. Barths, French formality and American energy blend into something entirely distinct. Eighty percent of Le Toiny’s visitors arrive from the U.S., just four hours from New York. “The Americans take the hard edge off the French formality,” Vere Nicoll explains. “And the French probably take the hard edge off some of the Americans,” he adds with a laugh. Buffett himself embodied this synthesis. “Jimmy summed up the personality of this island,” Vere Nicoll says. “That special feel is still here.”

At the heart of it all is a sense of community which both longtime residents cling to. Vere Nicoll has served as parish priest for 14 years and still officiates weddings, giving him unusual access to both visiting elite and close-knit year-round community. Every Sunday, his church fills with parishioners and he extends his hospitality in the same way he does during lunch service at the hotel, where he still loves to walk around and meet people.

Villa Anima reflects this shared philosophy between the two. “A night shared with friends and visitors, good food, laughter, and local music, that’s what truly represents St. Barth for me. Those evenings are the essence of life here, where everyone feels part of the same island family,” said Giraud.