Empire-style computers? Frenchman takes PCs to lap of luxury

PARIS (AFP) - Does your laptop clash with your Empire-style interior? No problem. A French entrepreneur has signed up a team of traditional craftsmen to turn out PCs fit for a royal home.

Out with dull office-grey plastic - even the slick lines of an iPad: Mr Georges Chirita's workshop outside Paris turns out one-of-a-kind computers in polished brass and gold leaf, mounted on marble with leather-clad keyboards and mice.

"When people first fitted Louis XV chandeliers with electric bulbs, everyone was taken aback. Now it doesn't raise an eyebrow," said the Romanian-born entrepreneur, an electronic engineer who settled in France 22 years ago.

"Computers used to be seen as mere work tools. But now the product has reached a kind of maturity, and it's easier to start seeing it as a luxury object," said the 58-year-old, whose own bookshelves heave with a mix of IT manuals and interior design books.