Le Printemps Glisse Vers L'Eté

I've finally made it to you! Yes, on the tail-end of Spring as it glides into Summer - but perhaps because we at LCF Maison were too engrossed in our electric neoimpressionist or pop-revival florals and exuberant palettes after suffering through what seemed like an interminable winter- at least in Manhattan.

A month ago, during Earth Week,  I spoke at Webster and Company's Antiques and Accessories showroom (my favorite)  in Southwest Florida's  Miromar Design Center  on upcycling textiles in  innovative ways. After  researching the topic, I concluded, as I usually do, that:

a) the French have extraordinary style 
b) that Denim is a marvelous material
c) that Pillows are highly important in the grand scheme of life

Synthesizing all of these conclusions perfectly is the fabulous French denim pillow sofa that I discovered, below

Can LCF Maison create one? Certainly - I'm in the process of gathering vintage MacKeen jeans for it now. Nudge to all original disco people. 

While in Florida, I also had the pleasure of meeting American artist Hope Frazier, who handcrafts functional glass-like vessels using vintage fabric by means of a sustainable soy-based formula.

We anticipate an LCF Maison/ Hope Frazier home accessories collab for  Holiday 2014 - details of which shall be revealed as we figure them out.

Also in the works - an LCF Maison collaboration with distinguished French textile designer Jean Paul Beaubiat, for Al-Karram Bed Linens 

Jean-Paul with his Spirit of America collection for Al-Karram - taking the Wild West motif and the Pioneer aesthetic to Chic-ville with the master's eye for sophisticated detail 

and  vintage textile puzzle/Art Series accent pillows  for a well loved NYC luxury retailer inspired by the Wunderkammer concept.

Until "jour de gloire" time - which would be Bastille Day on July 14th - when I shall post again - we wish you much frolicking under blue skies and of course, upon the fabric of history -

 LCF Maison style.

Vive le vent d'hiver !

As LCFMaison enjoys a winter brightened by the recent Holiday festivities and commerce, we appreciate precious inspiration culled from last year  into new textile expressions for 2014.

Once again, our cllients’ complex perspectives shape the path we're on and the directions we'll take. Hints: CHILDLIKE, EXTRAVAGANT, and SURREAL.

LCF Maison's "Ondine" silk boster, photographed by John Winston Connell 

Special creative friend,  New York interior stylist Colleen Weinstein, opened her apartment at the Hotel Chelsea to us for a photo shoot last November, during which we discovered the work of Boomer Feith, a young talent whose keen metallic leather accent pillow  enhances our Ondine silk Bolster,  available at More & More Antiques in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Boomer Feith's metallic cushion with LCF Maison's "Ondine"  bolster

The intoxicating Interwoven Globe textile exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in New York fueled our desire to infuse vintage Asian fabrics  and exotic Middle Eastern motifs into our 2014 hybrids

above, LCF Maison's "Renaissance" embroidered silk accent pillow composed of vintage Italian lampas , available at Webster and Company Antiques and Accessories Showroom, Miromar Design Center Florida

while a dress and accessories we created for AldoCastillo Projects referencing Velasquez’s portrait of the Infanta Margarita in his “Las Meninas” painting  that was shown at  Art Spot International in the Spectrum Fair during Art Basel Miami, marked our debut  into the conceptual realm of the visual arts.

We intend a return to innocence this coming year as we expand our Enfants collection to introduce new unicorn characters Sophie, Joie and Baby Triomphe  from American artist Jacqueline Johnson's sparkling kingdom where Grace la Licorne frolics,  and  the "Once Upon a Teacup" story written by moi, and its accompanying collection of  soft furnishings  illustrated by Dutch artist Marjolein Vandersluis.  

Dates will soon be announced for the jolly-folie story-hour events we will offer in Florida and Manhattan, as well as details on the childlren's charity that will benefit from our sales.

         Whether you find yourself in sun or snow, we wish you an avalanche of inspiration ahead.  

                                                       À la prochaine!

«Août Murit Les Fruits, Septembre Les Cueille.» Translation: August ripens the fruit, September picks them.

Announcing  that I would  only blog seasonally, along with high temps,  lulled me into such complacency that I missed our Summer post.  Excusez moi dear friends!

So together, let’s  now smoothly transition Summer into Fall, yes?

The high point of LCF Maison’s summer was being invited by our host SW Florida showroom, Webster and Company,  to display our creations  as of last August 7^th, in the Miromar Design Center’s  Best of the Best  Art, Antiques and Accessories Exhibit in the lobby level  Atrium .

LCF Maison  through Webster and Company Antiques and Accessories Showroom at the Miromar Design Center Atrium - August 7th through October 14th, 2013

At the opening,  I had my first go at “group speed-dating” ,  giving multiple consecutive micro lectures  to about 150 attendees on accessorizing with soft furnishings .

LCF Maison also debuted the “Grace, la Licorne” pillows and throw, with artwork created by Jacqueline Johnson, pictured below, for our Enfants Collection, which also features the Teacup Demoiselle Pillows and Throw with artwork by Marjolein Vandersluis, shown on the left.

Artist Jacqueline Johnson, who is also a storyteller, will offer an Children’s Story Hour through LCF Maison in early November  in Naples, Florida to introduce  local children and their parents to the world of Grace the Unicorn and her friends.   Feel free to contact info@lcfmaison.com   next month for details.

In early September I travelled to Paris and visited with Rue Monsieur Paris friends Marjan Denkov, Marcin Kowkowski and Marjorie Renner,and throngs of their adoring fans at their most excellent  Maison et Objet stand in the Scenes d’Interieur wing.  LCF Maison was commissioned to create limited edition accent pillows for Rue Monsieur Paris’ Moonlight Collection which were featured at the show, and will be available through our website very soon.  Their Moonlight Collection furnishings, which brilliantly combine perspective views and stone inlay were also displayed in the Galeries Lafayette windows .

From left to right, Marcin, Moi and Marjan of Rue Monsieur Paris

LCF Maison  limited edition accent pillows for the Rue Monsieur Paris"Moonlight" Collection

My time  in Paris evaporated in a flash, but I was glad to have seen cherished friends, met with inspiring talents both known and new, and even to have dashed through Fashion’s Night Out on the 17th with my octogenarian Mom, pictured on the the LCF Facebook Page  grooving on a Goldelicieux  DS 21 1966 Citroen Cabriolet we found on the Rue St. Honore.  

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=687751501238092&set=a.202964676383446.62337.151549108191670&type=1&theater

Do stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter or check our site next week for LCF Maison's new Fall/Winter Op Art inspired collection .

À la prochaine!

Nouveautés Printanières chez LCF Maison

Nouveautés Printanières chez Le Côté Français Maison

It looks like I’ll only be blogging seasonally, as the  thought of blogging intimidates me into procrastinating ‘tiI I think I’ve got something worthy of you, esteemed readers, while data snowballs into a giant post.

Since my last winter holiday entry several events have transpired, like the Toile Talk and our first trunk show in  Webster and Company’s Antiques and Accessories Showroom  at the Miromar Design Center on  Florida’s Gulf Coast, during  their mid-February  Home Design Week .

In preparation for this talk, I delved into the life of 18^th century entrepreneur Christophe Oberkampf, the strategic importance of Jouy en Josas and the Bievre River to his success, and a few of the artists that Oberkampf commissioned to create designs for his prolific fabric printing factory at Jouy en Josas, France.  Dissatisfied with merely touching on the accomplishments that this remarkable pioneer in textile printing realized, I’ve decided to offer a follow-up Toile Talk later this year, probably with a travelling Fall Trunk Show.

Earlier this month, LCF Maison floor cushions commissioned by friends Sylvia Heisel and Scott Taylor for their Manhattan Lower East Side residence were photographed in natural light by John Winston Connell and posted on Houzz and on our LCF Facebook page.

I was honored when Sylvia, a fashion designer whose exquisitely simple creations I’ve loved and worn since our college days, asked me to “break rules” to make six outrageous textile puzzle poufs for her and her sculptor husband’s thoughtfully edited  living space.

Balancing luxurious 4-ply silks and other extravagant modern day fragments that Sylvia gave me to integrate, with exotic and antique/vintage French printed fabrics and trim from our coffers, these "Topkapi" floor cushions, fit for a contemporary palatial harem- in a palette contrasting with the interior’s amber tint took form.

  In tribute to Sylvia’s Turkish roots, I named this ensemble of decadent cushions “Topkapi”. When Scott and she proclaimed them to be unlike anything they had ever seen before, I was both relieved and delighted.

 

 

Our Springtime Blues will soon debut, on pillows, throws, and table linens as well as large bolsters in different tints paired with warm neutrals and  Lime or Emerald  Greens - along with Color Block pieces inspired by Vintage ‘80s Paco Rabanne neckties .

 

We continue to diversify our accessible Let Them Eat Toile collection with more casual versions of Dutch artist Marjolein Vandersluis’ Antoinette Bleu on a cotton box pillow with turquoise tie-dye backs and vintage Parisian toile printed gussets.

Our blossoming children’s line welcomes artist and Divine Illumination counselor Jacqueline Johnson’s “Grace, la Licorne” (Grace the Unicorn), which she has  created just for LCF Maison in a healing and energizing neon jewel palette available on washable cotton linen throw pillows and children’s duvet covers.

And lastly, inspired by  drawstring pouches displayed at the sumptuous Fortuny y Madrazo exhibit curated by Oscar de la Renta at the Queen Sofia Institute in New York City – LCF Maison will soon introduce a series of unique old/new textile  collage drawstring pouches to let you take your “fabric of history” on the go .

Profitez bien des beaux  jours ! 

A la prochaine.

 

Bonnes Fêtes!

As 2012 comes to a close, for some of us, Christmas beckons,  and with it respite from the year's striving, followed by tallying of  accomplishments and mistakes .

Mais non, that sounds far too sober, let's have a look at Holiday windows in NewYork City, and Paris instead, yes? After all, la vie est belle....

The Cartier Mansion on NYC's 5th Ave is wrapped in sparkling Red  and crawling with  Panthers 

The Winter Holidays  are a most important time for merchants.  See how some French luxury brands  staged their store displays to entice tasteful and generous gift givers.

Dior on East 57th St. NYC juxtaposes glowing acrylic 18th century rococo and neoclassicist elements  with contemporary minimalist elegance

Cinderella's Carriage was lent by Disney, and on view at Paris' Galerie Lafayette in honor of their 100th Anniversary.


 

 And we leave you with a visual and link to a Style Bistro slideshow of Paris' splendid Printemps Dior windows, wishing you joy and peace this holiday season and a Golden Nouvelle An.

 

http://www.stylebistro.com/A+Very+Parisian+Christmas+-+Dior+at+Printemps/articles/CBd5eojdROC/Holiday+2012+Dior+Windows+Printemps+Paris
 

BONNES FETES!

 

 

A Saison d’Etre: Chic Graphique

In New York, our Indian Summer has finally ended, Autumn is officially here – and with it, Fall Fashion.  Floral and graphic prints, in geometric patterns swirl about us- from Prada to Balenciaga  they have been  reinvented  to be touted by the stylish.

In keeping with la “mode du saison”, this Autumn,  LCF Maison offers brazen Baroque scrolls, Romantic flower power and Mod Squad Geo-graphics for your interiors- in a palette of  lilacs, violets and plums, emerald greens, and vibrant coral and garnet reds.

 

Our newest “Let Them Eat Toile” Accent pillows replicate authentic retro prints of beloved Parisian landmarks like the Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coeur, Arc de Triomphe or antique French Chinoiserie Toile  on the fronts, with  solid jewel toned Linen, Silk, or Velvet versos and Oatmeal linen piping retailing for $75. each.

                                              

"Paris, Mon Amour" Accent Pillow from Le Côté Français Maison's  new  "Let Them Eat Toile" Collection

 

We are delighted to announce that the distinguished  Webster& Company in the Miromar Design Center in Estero, on Florida’s Gulf Coast,  has invited LCF Maison to create a Pillow Wall  for Season 2012-13,  in their 5,000 sq. ft Antique Showroom, while  at contemporary kuxury  home furnishings boutique  St. Tropez Home on Historic 3^rdStreet South in Downtown Naples, Florida, you may now find the original LCF Maison Lavande D’Orange Throw, showcasing a splendid French vintage Amethyst/Champagne woven brocade.

Before saying adieu, we know where you can acquire an extraordinary accessory for your Halloween Bal Masqué outfit- while supporting a most worthy cause -  at the UNMASK AIDS Benefit, to be held at NYC's Bryant Park Grill this Oct. 29th.  A dazzling array of known and emerging artists, (among them famed designer and stylist Patricia Fields, designer Sylvia Heisel and LCFM's own Bartus B.) are donating masks they've created especially for their silent auction.

Wishing you Bonne sweater weather,

à la prochaine

Le Côté Français Maison's NYIGF experience

LCF Maison's newest Coussin "Corset"

Above, Le Côté Français Maison's new Coussin "Corset"A new frivolous and flirtatious accessoire for your boudoir chaise-longue, above, designed by Gianna Valdes for LCF Maison, debuted recently at our booth in the August New York International Gift Fair at the Javits Center.Fused into an 18" square Blush silk-taffeta knife edged pillow, trimmed in delicate black piping, le coussin "Corset" features a black whaleboned corset with silk organza ruffles, antique French gold metallic trim, gold stitching, and leather laces in front and back.Introduced in the Renaissance courts, the corset was used by noblewomen to mold their silhouettes into fashionably extreme wasp-waisted shapes. 16th century French Queen Catherine of Medici is said to have insisted that her ladies in waiting have 13" waists.Our NYIGF trade show booth was constructed by Artist/Restorer Michael Foscone ,and designed with Alejandra Espana-Soto in a neoclassical -meets-now aesthetic. The columns were adorned with faux marbre and stencilling by Marianne Jacquemin, French decorative finish artist extraordinaire. Sylvia Heisel and Scott Taylor, of Post Modern Production were interior styling consultants.      Le Côté Français Maison NYIGF Booth, Home Textile Division, Summer 2012   Most of our antique and vintage inventory was on site, and enjoyed by many visitors impressed with their quality and variety, as well as LCF Maison's focus on customization. The latest Limited Edition creations from our Art Series were enthusiastically welcomed with Bartus Bartolomes' "Triomphe I", "Notre Dame", and Marjolein VanderSluis' "Antoinette Bleu" accent pillow and throw proving especially popular, and Jean Claude Brasset's "Zebre Flammes" and "Zebre Eiffel" attracting new fans. "Antoinette Bleu" Limited Edition Throw and Accent Pillow by Marjolein Vandersluis for LCF Maison          Bartus Bartolomes "Triomphe I" and "Notre Dame" Art Series Pillows   It was exhilarating for us to define our identity in the marketplace at NYIGF, confirm the uniqueness of our specialized creations, and plan for Le Côté Français Maison's future with the input of so many new Home Textile and Design professionals.                                                                                                          à la prochaine ....