A Designer's Handbook in the 18th Century

“Le dessinateur pour les fabriques d’etoffes d’or, d’argent, de soie” by Joubert de l’Hiberderie was published in Paris in the early 18^th century. He gave some useful pieces of advice about what to learn in order to become a successful designer .

“ I would never advise any parent to make his or her child study the art of drawing except in the case where the child was immensely talented and showed his enthusiasm for the art. “

Then, he goes on to say, before being taught the art of drawing, the future designer should spend two years in the factory where the object of his design will be made. There he would have the opportunity to understand its technical constraints.

At this point he would be ready to begin the study of figure drawing. In mastering the art of drawing the human body he would develop a line that is real and precise. He will then go on to study the rendering of flowers…

Design attributed to Jean Francois Bony (1754-1825)

Design by Philippe de Lasalle (1723-1804)

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Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective

Is Francis Bacon ( as Cavaraggio) admired because he was supposed to be a bad boy and not because he was a good painter? Francis Bacon's paintings arrive in New York at a moment when wrongheaded traditions are the only ones that are widely esteemed …… Read the article of Jed Perl, The New Republic.

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1920-1960 armchairs

Jacques Emile Ruhlmann (1878-1933).	Louis Sue (1875-1968) & André Mare (1885-1932)	Louis Sue (1875-1968) & André Mare (1885-1932)
Sant' Elia Chair, Giuseppe Terragni, 1933	A Maurice Dufrene armchair, mahogany, 1925.	Designed by louis Herman De KoninckGobert, Bruxelles, 1923
An armchair designed by Luigi Vietti in 1936	An armchair fom 1936	A beautiful armchair in Macassar eboby from the 30's.
1940	An armchair in beech from the 40's	An André Arbus (1903-1969) armchair

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Gigondas

Gigondas is a charming small Provencal village in the southern Rhone region of France. Its name comes from Latin: "Jocunditas" means pleasantness and charm.

St Catherine d'Alexandrie, the village church, dates from the 11th century.

Gigondas lies at the foot of the " Dentelles de Montmirail," a mountainous ridge named for the lacy shape of its peaks. In the photo below, taken from one of these peaks, you can see my beautiful wife and the valley below carpeted with vineyards.

Gigondas wine is much like Chateauneuf du Pape but much less expensive. It's a very good buy.

We recommend " Moulin de la Gardette", the small family vineyard of Jean-Baptiste Meunier.
The average age of the vineyard is more than 30 years and it's grown without chemical weed killer. The grape harvest is handmade. Moulin de la Gardette wines are fruity, elegant , full-bodied and ages very well. Their price is very moderate. An excellent value!

La Petite Gardette 2007 Rich with fruit, smooth with a good lenght. An excellent inexpensive wine.	Gigondas "Cuvée Tradition" 2006 A full-bodied red. Grapes from vines between 20 and 60 years old.	Gigondas "Cuvée Tradition" 2007 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre and 10% Cinsault. wait 2 or 3 years before dinking it	Gigondas "Cuvée Ventabren 2006" 70% grenache, 20% syrah, 10% cinsault; deep ruby texture, nose of black fruits, it should drink for 15 years.

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Designer Lighting

Three classical lamps by FLOS (You can't go wrong choosing one of them):
Chasen T designed by Patricia Urquiola a Spanish designer and architect who lives in Milan. She designed for many well-known firms.
Taccia a great classic designed by Achille Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni in 1962. It hasn't aged a day!
Ktribe T designed by Philippe Stark in 2007.

Cloud Floor by &'COSTA, an innovative Italian company, casts a gentle light . It was designed By Carlo Zerbaro ( he founded &'COSTA in 2000) and Alessandro Trentin. La Foule by "dix heure dix", a French design company, is a wall lamp in painted steel and printed glass, designed by Fabrice Berrux. When it was first presented it received an enormous acclaim.

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Elegant Maids of Yesterday

There are few direct accounts given by servants in the 18th and 19th century. Most of the time what we know comes from a third party who gives either a very positive or revolting version of their life. The artists who created the paintings below show different portraits of maids who are very elegantly dressed in sophisticated fabrics, lace and simply superb caps. They are probably servants of the highest society of their time as few people were able to afford such a luxury.

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Edouard Benedictus, a true Renaissance man

Recently I attended a small local auction and I fell upon one of the beautiful Edouard Benedictus book :" Nouvelles Variations" (1925). What good fortune!!! I love this artist. Edouard Benedictus was a multi-talented Renaissance man, at the same time a writer, a painter, a textile designer, a book binder and a chemist.

He created wonderful and colorful albums of textile and wallpaper designs in the Art Deco style . His books include "Variations," 1924, "Nouvelles Variations," 1925,and "Relais," 1930.

He was a friend of the French composer Maurice Ravel; both of them joined an avant-garde group of artists, writers and musicians known as the "Apaches" ( with Maurice Delage, Leon-Paul Farges, Manuel de Falla, Igor Stravinsky...).

Edouard Benedictus is the man who discovered safety glass in 1909: he discovered the process of lamination by dropping a flask that had contained nitrocellulose in his laboratory. The shattered glass held together, instead of breaking apart ( REF: SAINT GOBAIN)

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The many facets of Shanghai

I visited Shanghai for the first time 25 years ago. Today one of my daughters lives and works there and the Shanghai she knows has few things to do with the one of the 80's. With the advent of the single child civilization children have become the center of attention in a completely new way.

Look at how these two little girls are primped and gussied up! And look at how eager they are to discover the world!!!

Not only is intellectual acuity encouraged in very young girls but they learn fast to not be pushed around.

The cultural revolution is truly a thing of the past and has almost become a subject of mockery. Maybe it is also a way to dedramatize a very painful time!

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The modernity of the 18th century

The word "new" has such marketing value that it is used all too often. As a matter of fact what we think of as new has often very deep roots in history. The Chinese artist who carved the piece of jade pictured above created a sculpture with a very abstract and refined shape which an artist of the XX century could very well attribute to his own time. This stunning carving was made in China in the 18th century. The vase below was made in Murano, Italy toward the end of the XX century inspired by the beautifully embroidered lace handkerchiefs of the 18th and 19th centuries, it became known as a handkerchief vase. The artists in Murano did not lose sight that lace was first invented in Venice.

Venini Fazzoletto hankerchief vase, Murano, Italy

Lalique Hair Pin , France, early 20th century

The design of the flower is very stylized and abstract.Similar hair pins can be seen at Musée d'Orsay and at the Gulbekian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal. Calouste Sarkis Gulbekian was a loyal Lalique customer

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