BASTILLE DAY IN NYC

LE 14 JUILLET A NYC

Our last 14 JUILLET in the US for some time...

To all my compatriots and all francophiles, over here, in France or anywhere in the world HAVE FUN, EAT WELL AND BE MERRY!

au revoir.

THE ARTIST, THE HIGH END BRAND AND THE UNFORTUNATE EVENING or how to lighten the atmosphere

L'ARTISTE DE RENOM

LA MARQUE HAUT DE GAME

ET LA SOIREE NAVRANTE

ou comment alléger l'ambiance 

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has designed a line of accessories for Louis Vuitton. She has not strayed far from her signature polka dot motif producing a very "marsupial" collection, which brings fun and happiness to the iconic bags and other LV accessories. 

The 60's artist, a member of the Warhol "clan", who left the US to go back to a psychiatric hospital in Japan in the 70's, is now back in full force at the top of the art world and her very pop-art style is very much in demand.

Yayoi Kusama now dresses  so as to blend in with her art. 

Which brings me to this part of the line: 

WHY?

You are NOT going to believe this! 

(I am in a "confessing-hideous-secrets-" kind of mood today...)

I once went to a costume party, (I was 15, and this was somewhere in Africa. That's my only possible excuse) dressed as Marsupilami, a cartoon marsupial popular in France at the time! 

YES! THIS!

Needless to say, I hated every minute of the long dreary evening! I could not sit down because of the metal wire tail my father had fashioned for me and, of course, I was not exactly happy, I was so pathetically ugly!!! (BTW, my face was also made up to look like the darn animal, spots and all...)

My costume looked EXACTLY like the pieces above, and even if I was a huge Vuitton fan, which I most definitely am not, I would certainly not be buying THAT anytime soon...I know you understand.

How did I even begin to think that was going to be fun? Was I THAT ridiculously clueless? Was I even sane? Will I ever recover?

COSTUME PARTY RULE # ONE: 

NEVER, EVER, go to a costume party after your 15th birthday in anything but a gorgeous and most definitely SEXY costume. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE!

There is no RULE # TWO...

Oh, and my sisters? they looked adorably, glamorously flirtatious as Josephine de Beauharnais and Scarlet O'Hara... 

Whateveeeer...

P.S.: my twin sister, who has been sworn to unconditional secrecy for years, is laughing to tears with this post. I hear her, all the way from Montreal!

And I am laughing also. 

Now I feel all reenergized and I can go back to my packing, sorting, etc., etc.,.

au revoir.

NYC: GOOD BYE AND SEE YOU LATER

NEW YORK:

AU REVOIR ET A BIENTOT

In two weeks we leave our house in Larchmont, NY for ever. Two weeks later I will be back here for the New York International Gift Fair where my business partner Abbie and I will launch abanjá, our brand new line of home textiles.

There will be lots of color and many neutrals. 
There will be linen, cotton, silver threads and exotic fibers like sun bleached jute and water reed. 
There will be lots of pompoms and tassels and fringes galore. 

All of it, the fruit of a tight collaboration between a few talented artisans in far away continents and two western gals keen on adding a contemporary twist to traditional handcrafted treasures.

Here is a peak.

au revoir.

MOVING 101

CE QU'IL VA FALLOIR FAIRE

All right, here is the thing: "they" say NEVER bring IN to your house one single thing unless you are ready to take one OUT.
Why?
Because the day you need to empty your house to move away, you end up with about a ton and 1/2 of stuff you have not seen in years and need to discard all at once, that's why!
Did we really need two- not just one- two ready-lit outdoor "Xmas trees" we have since totally forgotten in the garage?
Did we really need to keep all those half empty paint cans just-in-case? You know you are going to have the room repainted entirely sooner or later; touching up is never an option: 
a) the paint color is never the same once it has been up on a wall for a year
b) by the time you MIGHT need to do that, you are sick of the color anyway.
Am I right? Sure, I am. 
So my time lately has been spent almost exclusively making the three proverbial piles: the sell pile, the give away/recycle pile and, and the HUGE throw out pile.
Sell pile: who do you sell all that "good" stuff to, anyway? you know, the stuff that won't work in France, the stuff that will definitely not fit in a Paris apartment, the stuff that can't come with us as we will not have a garden...THAT stuff.
Recycle pile: what the recycle people don't pick up you have to take to the dump yourself: and now, we are back to the PAINT CANS!!! we are currently "drying" out a million paint cans and though paint cans dry almost immediately if you forget them overnight, they NEVER dry when you put them out in the sun in the New York heat... why???? that's a good question.
Give away pile: that's a little easier though even that can be tricky: noone wants a computer nor a scanner, or even a printer if it is more than a year old anymore.


There will be some follow up progress reports. IF I have time between making piles, drying paint cans and figuring out where all those single, unmatched, still packaged expensive door knobs came from. 

au revoir.

GETTING READY FOR SAYING GOOD BYE NEW YORK

SE PREPARER A DIRE AU REVOIR NEW YORK

à bientôt.

GOOD BYE 4TH OF JULY

AU REVOIR NEW YORK

This most American of days is the last one we will spend in New York City for a while I believe. 
The next one will probably be in Paris. Well in France anyway.

Happy 4th of July America!

au revoir.

SUN AFTER BIBLICAL RAINFALL

LE SOLEIL APRES LE DELUGE

Paris was divine... the second time around. The first time I was there, it rained CATS AND DOGS! 
After a great Tangier week full of beach time and fun time and discovery time -and not too much work time- it was a relief to run around Paris in the sun, have lunch outdoors and enjoy it all.
I am back to 90o temperatures...in June! I thought "l'enfer" was a July/August treat in NYC...
Oh, well; back to the real world.

au revoir.

PARISIANS...

GOTTA LOVE'M.

image joy hart

"I love nothing, I am a Parisian"

My daughter's kind of humor.

Somewhat true I find...

au revoir.

GUESS WHERE I AM GOING TODAY

DEVINEZ OU JE VAIS 

Yep!

To Morocco once again! and theoretically, this time around, exclusively for fun; it is, after all, our yearly girls' trip to Tangier. 

If I must whisper so my co-travelers won't hear, I will have to do some work if the abanjá line is to debut mid August, like trying to get all my ducks in a row, or said differently, all the weavers and embroiderers to stay with the program... as in not changing colors and sizes in mid-production for example. 

I would have thought it was not too much to ask.

The latest evidence seems to point to "yes, it is". 

"The best logistics never stopped the monsoon" was written on a huge poster at an import company where I worked a couple of centuries ago. 

Now I really believe it.

During one of the 2 weeks I will be away, I will be busy going up and down the streets of Paris hunting for palatial lodgings, the "palatialness" of which seems to be inversely proportional to my, well, "champagne tastes" and the euro/dollar exchange rate...

And no, I would definitely rather not settle for Coca Cola.

au revoir.

BEAUTY IS IN THE DETAILS

LA BEAUTE D'UN DETAIL

How proud the various artisans who came together to create the hand-washing corner of this Ryad in Fes should be!

The stone carver, the tile cutter, the metal worker. You have to wonder who came up with the concept. The artisans themselves?
And what of the owner of the house who thought to put a stunning tap over a large stone basin in a corner of his central courtyard so his guests could wash their hands before drinking their welcome glass of sweet mint tea after a long day of sites and discoveries.
Details that reassure. Details that say not every corner of our planet is being homogenized.

bon weekend.

REFLECTION . PERFECTION

PARFAITEMENT REFLECHI

When all the details of a design come together perfectly, this is what you get.

The rhythm of a repeated geometric pattern, the consistence of 40's Chic, softly contrasting curves, rich minimalism. 

Perfectly thought out .

Perfectly reflected.

Elegance concentrated.

au revoir.

TEXTURES

MELANGES

Rich textures. A riot of colors. Exotic eclecticism in a nutshell.

au revoir.

WEEKEND FOR MEMORIES

LE WEEKEND DU SOUVENIR

Will we, can we, ever learn the hard lessons of war?

bon weekend.

ORDER AND BEAUTY, LUXURY CALM AND SENSUALITY

 "LA, TOUT N'EST QU'ORDRE ET BEAUTE, LUXE CALME ET VOLUPTE."

-Beaudelaire

image maura mcevoy

He said it best.

Things are getting very hectic these days. 
In contrast, an hour in this minimal environment would do me a lot of good.
And such a perfect shot from the great Maura McEvoy.




au revoir.

SPOKE TOO SOON

J'AI PARLE UN PEU TROP VITE...

cartoon by the great chris madden

This is basically what happened at our place this weekend, albeit not simultaneously... 

oops.

au revoir.

IT'S SUMMER IN THE CITY ALREADY?

C'EST DEJA L'ETE A NYC?

Central Park was PACKED

The view from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum was SPECTACULAR

The flower display in front of this townhouse on 80th Street near 5th Avenue was deserving of a MEDAL




It was summer-like weather yesterday...
without the HUMIDITY!
Heaven.


au revoir.

A TINY HINT

UNE PETITE ALLUSION...

Just a sneak peek at some of our (developing) media material.

A tiny hint.

July should be our website launch date...

au revoir.

50'S, EXOTIC, CLEAN GRAPHICS

 ANNEES 50, EXOTISME, GRAPHISME PUR

Photograph by Louise Dahl-Wolfe

via We Heart Vintage, a must-see blog featuring vintage photos for the lovers of black and white photography of mid-century beauties and the fashions they wore.

And for the stunning backdrops...

au revoir.

WHEN THE OUTSIDE COMPARES TO WHAT 'S INSIDE

QUAND LE CONTENANT VAUT LE CONTENU

Petrossian restaurant and café is housed in the historic and ornate Alwyn Court Building at the corner of West 58th Street and Seventh Avenue. It is a spectacular building. Even NYC's busy passers-by cannot but marvel at the intricacy of its facade.

It stops me in my tracks every time.

au revoir.

DELHI UPON HUDSON

DELHI SUR HUDSON

There are quite a few bicycle taxis on the streets of New York City these days; I suppose the warmer weather is the reason for the surge in numbers. 
I have never taken one, more for lack of time than of bravery, although...riding one must have its moments of sheer terror, I suspect.
It does remind me of Delhi somewhat: that same feeling that one is definitely putting life and limb at risk.
No cows on the street of NYC however; and that's possibly the very least of the differences; the Big Apple has sizable "cows" of its very own. 
And right there, you have one huge detail to consider; the City's move faster than the average Indian sacred cow. 
Much faster.
I'll walk.

au revoir.

ADVICE FOR A NEW LEADER

 CONSEIL POUR UN NOUVEAU DIRIGEANT

...Tis distance lends enchantment to the view...

Why do those cliffs of shadowy tint appear More sweet than all the landscape smiling near?—ʾTis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue.

[1799 T. Campbell Pleasure of Hope i. 3]

Pourquoi ces falaises sombres semblent-elle plus douce que tout le riant paysage alentours? La distance prête beauté à la vue, et enrobe la montagne d'une teinte d'azur.

AU REVOIR.

PURE ARTISTRY

THE ARTISTES

arena page vis ffffound

When an exceptional group of artists come together, it's pure visual bliss.

And it does take a large group.

au revoir.

THE COLORS OF TANGIER

TANGER EN TECHNICOLOR

The fishermen had just returned to port and were unloading their catch in colorful plastic cases the day we decided to have lunch on the docks of Tangier. It was, as you can tell, a gloriously sunny day.
Lunch was delicious, as usual. 
The fish could not possibly have been be fresher... as usual.

bon weekend.

MIND BLOWING ARTISTRY

UN TALENT HORS DU COMMUN

This extraordinary piece is the work of Anissa, the patient, talented, focused, precise embroiderer working on part of our abanjà line.
What you see is the front neckline detail of a kaftan she is making for herself. NO, IT IS NOT KNITTING; it is very fine embroidery work -this is more or less the actual size-.
She will continue the tiny stitch work all the way down the front of the ankle length kaftan, bridging the 2 front panels with a 1/2 inch strip of that same embroidery she has just started just above the bottom slit.
Anissa said it was a traditional decorative element. She also mentioned it would take her 3 months!
Anissa, you have my unlimited admiration.

au revoir.

LABOR DAY ...IN FRANCE

LE PREMIER MAI

Today is the day anyone in France who is not employed in the hospitality industry or emergency services takes the day off- no, the 4-day weekend off- to celebrate working.

How we, the French, love our holidays...for better or for worse.

Bonne fète du Muguet.

au revoir.