Thursday, September 27, 2012

Elle Decor...and Interieurs

In our creative business, the support of the press is beyond invaluable! Editors endorse projects, products and the men and women behind them. The press support is not only beneficial for PR purposes but also gives us the validation that sometimes as all creative souls and merchants we need.

Thank you Elle Decor for making us part of this fabulous fashion issue!



Our To Turn You On table shown in gold leaf. I was thrilled to see Aurelien Gallet, one of my favorite designer, also french working in new York and paris







This table is contemporary, whimsical, elegant and quite versatile. It will be part of our advertising campaign in Luxe magazine and Rolls Royce bi-centennial book. We will also present it during the Greenwich design show in mid November.




As currently displayed in our INTERIEURS store front on 58th Street in New York.




A Bientôt,

Francine



Thursday, September 13, 2012

Paris Show..Maisons et Objets


For the past 15 plus years, I have been attending the Maisons et Objets Shows, held outside of Paris, Villepinte.The huge show is made up of very distincts categories, Ethnic, Now for contemporary design, Deco, Accessories and the most exclusive: Scenes d'Interieurs. During my first years, I bought exclusively from   Scenes D'Interieurs where all high end furniture, lighting and accessories vendors would show their latest collections . A great deal of efforts is put into designing the various booths. One of the plus of being a repeat buyer at the shows is to be a "Club member". The Club is a wonderful concept where we are pampered all throughout the show with coffee, drinks, snacks, hors d'oeuvres, great concierge service, free and direct entry, and a place to unwind, hold meetings, leave luggage etc.. This year, the Club and Scenes d'Interieurs were designed by the fabulously talented Paola Navone . 



I loved the design of the Club...one can enjoy a respite from the crowd and read the latest international magazines, review orders, meet etc..





Next, I will share my favorites and purchases...

A Bientôt,

francine


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Cycles...change or cyclical?


Back to our monthly "By Invitation Only" post under the helm of Marsha Harris of Splenderosa. Frankly, it is a gorgeous sunday morning, I am still totally sore from kayaking with my sons all day Saturday, and have little in me to address any deep heavy topic. I am getting ready to go to Maisons et Objets in Paris, to check out anything new and interesting, so I feel a design theme is in order.

My first recollection of design is a little blurry but I recall a very specific episode when the family house was redone, refurbished, out with all the beautiful antiques, in came in the new design furniture. New houses were built on our family compound to accommodate guests, with daring open floorplans and furniture that even in my then very young age, I would qualify as hideous, with strange configurations. I missed the old huge armoires in which I would hide during games of hide and seek, the creaking floors, the stone fireplaces... My family had embraced the new age of the fifties. Our guest house was designed by a french architect, very much inspired by Saarinen's Miller House


Icon architect of the 50's: Eero Saarinen

image from Moderndesign.org

Interior of the house with its sunken living room




Living Room By Jean Prouve
Image from Galerie Patrick Seguin , Paris




One of my favorite piece by Charlotte Perriand, single bed 1956-59
Image from Galerie Patrick Seguin


Let's move on to the 60's


As an adult, it took me a while to warm up to the 60's style, as a child, these were my very first years in nursery school and "cours preparatoire" when I started to learn how to read and write. I have been an avid reader ever since, never without a book by my side. The 60's brought us innovative materials and furniture, moulded plastics, bright primary colors, an introduction to the age of space discoveries.


Escher-Saarinen Hyperdimensional Transport Terminal

photo by Sam Rohn



Menrad residence by architect William Krisel, Palm Springs
image via Flicker

Most recognizable icon of the 60's: Panton's Chair a one piece cantilevered design has been in production since 1967

image arcspace.com

My favorite 60's pieces whose re-editions I use in my design projects: Saarinen Tulip table and Norman Cherner 's chairs

image via Flickr


70's.. Catholic boarding school, became a little rebellious, learned how to fly, to drive,  wanted more out of life, wanted to see more, wanted more adventures, wanted to escape the normality of french bourgeoisie, in the last year of that decade I moved to London, then to school in Boston.

Icon of that decade: Pierre Cardin

His famous Palais des Bulles, designed by architect Antii Lovag with its thousand portholes was built in 1975 and constantly evolving until 1989. It recalls of the Jetsons cartoons age, but to pierre Cardin this house evoked the sensuality of the woman's body. 


image:superradnow.files.wordpress.com


image: Ken Sparks photography

image: Ken Sparks


image:sdouris.files.wordpress

The good old 80's...these 10 years are a blurr...business school, parties, falling in love...marriage...my first house, a 1668 saltbox my husband and I restored. I fell in love with American history, the William and Mary style. Meanwhile the world of design brought us the do-it-yourself spirit, as well as the London based designers Tom Dixon and Ron Arad. The flamboyant kitsch post-modernist was brought to us by Ettore Scottsass from Milan and France gave us Philippe Starck.

This period of furniture design focuses primarily on the industrial sector. 
This is the age of shopping malls, restaurants, hotels are starting to pay attention to design. Perforated metal became very popular.

La Pyramide du Louvres by IM Pei, the most controversial architectural project ever. France was in an uproar!

image via Flick
image:momotte2.deviantart.com

Tom Dixon armchairs

image: regalbeagles.blogspot.com


Example of what I view as bad 80's design...lots of black bathrooms, kitchens with not much appeal




In the nineties, I was involved in the world of fashion , traveling constantly between Europe and the US.I was, however spending more time reading interior design magazines than fashion magazine. When the opportunity arised, I grabbed it and Interieurs started.

 Italian designs flooded the US market and contemporary Italian showrooms opened throughout the country, B and B, Minotti to name a few.
Meanwhile american interior designers were still draping their interiors in chintz, styles were mixed, from traditional english, anything Louis french, contemporary italian. Our store Interieurs brought in a new, curated approach to the New York retail scene and we started  our own trends, from French distressed country furniture to sophisticated parisian style in ebonised woods.
The new  age of minimalism affected drastically architecture and design.

image: netinteriors.net

image:minimalisthousedesign.com

image:badcopnodonuts.com


And now we enter the new millennium. I feel that this millennium celebrates designers. The designer creates his or her own style. They become celebrities  and clients hire a designer for their particular look. I would name just a few, Amy Lau, Vincente Wolf, Steven Gambrel, Clodagh, Chritian Liaigre, Aurelien Gallet.... the list is quite long.

It all brings back to CYCLES... some of the highest prices fetched at international auctions are mid-century, such as pieces by Jean Prouve and Charlotte  Perriand. The fifties, the sixties are re-introduced in our present decade.

Life is a cycle, life and death, ice age and warming cycles. the importance is how to embrace the cycles, re-energized the best of a period.

I will end with a few images of my latest projects which best reflect my design and life philosophy... perfect imperfection










A Bientot,

Francine


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