Cautious...or risk taker?

Our ad. in Luxe Interiors+Design and in Rolls Royce Bi-Centenial book

When budgets are tight, it is really a tough decision to either go forward and invest in marketing and advertising, or sit tight and be cautious. I guess, I am more of a risk taker in my personal and professional life, and I chose at a time when business is the most challenging and tough, to expand the brand, invest in advertising, marketing, added an experienced  sales and marketing director to our team, who will be calling on architects, designers and  project specifiers for the hospitality industry.

The process of expanding the Interieurs brand, which is known for its industrial chic furniture and style,  was first to relocate  our New York hip Tribeca location to a contemporary 2 story space with outdoor terrace in the heart of the design District, on 58th by the D and D building. That was quite a risk and our clientele espressed really strong reactions to the move. However, I felt the brand was getting too locked into a specific look.

Did I make the right decision? ... I will find out. All I know is that I am more scared of inertia than being bold.

To describe Interieurs in 3 words...Modern...Global...Eclectic. 

I took a gamble and played our ad campaign (as seen above) on the modern luxurious side of Interieurs. We will also participate in Designing Greenwhich in early November and our booth  will be curated with furniture and lighting reflecting my vision of modern  eclectic.

I also display our antique and industrial pieces on  First Dibs, as seen above. We are actually in the process of changing our store front . I put together an advertising plan to give our first Dibs store front more visibility. I chose a mix of our latest lighting collection , the Simon Collection (introduced in my previous post) and my newest designs, contemporary Wave bench, the Xander sofa and the Ethiopia inspired Kamara buffet

Below is the ad campaign currently running on First Dibs. I would love to hear your opinion..

A Bientôt,

Francine

Clarity...

Light defines human existence. Everything we see is in fact no more and no less than either projected or reflected light.

I am thrilled to introduce our latest lighting collection of handblown glass creations by artist Simon Peleg. The artist has captured the subtlety and intrinsic beauty of light. In his work, light is transformed and the space it occupies glows in infinite reflections. 

We recently installed this custom light in one of our on going project in TriBeCa, New York

We designed this chandelier for the same client

As seen above the dining table (project in progress, whereas the unfinished look)

Our Storefront window

A Bientôt,

Francine

Reflections on October....

October, beautifully colorful as it is in these parts, is often a challenging month for me. Although the temperatures are often still quite warm, I can't pretend that it is still summer  the way I can in September. October is a usually a month of introspection and adjustment for me as I gear up for the long winter and I willfully redirect myself back into a creative mindset. That is a good thing, much as I love summer, I tend to be a bit lazier with my creative energy.

Last night Luke and I went to see "The Fountainhead" which made me think on some of Ayn Rand's themes, particularly as regards to the importance of not allowing the reactions of others to negatively impact my creative process. While I work with my client's to accomplish their dream environment, and I do "compromise" with THEM on how to implement that environment, I don't think at all about what people outside that client relationship might think of my work, and that has worked well for me for years. I please my clients, but in a perhaps more important sense, I please myself with the end result. It seems to me to be a wonderfully positive symbiotic relationship. As I try to convey to my clients at the outset of our relationships, ultimately, they are a creating an environment in which THEY are happy with the results; if others don't like it or appreciate it, why care?

The film, made in 1949, was shot in black and white to both stress the architectural elements of the story line as well as to draw a sharp contrast between the heroic individualist vision of the architect character Howard Roark and the pedestrian lowest common denominator negativism of the architectural critic Ellsworth Toohey (perfectly portrayed in the film as a pasty miserable fatuous  naysayer).

As we left the theatre after the film,  I saw the full moon rising over the railroad tracks and power lines near the theatre. It was an amazing sight, and a perfect reflection of my thoughts on October...a little Noir, am afraid, just as the movie

A Bientot,

Francine

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

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

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