Vintage textiles at home

I enjoyed a peek inside this Suffolk farmhouse home (Country Living, Aug. 2010). The owners are Sara and Hugh Petre, who have a vintage textile upholstery company. I like the way they've incorporated their collection of textiles into their home. Below are a couple of examples from their company's website, which shows examples of their style in reupholstering antique furniture. (photos: Claire Richardson in UK Country Living)

It's great how old textiles on old furniture seem to give it new life! These are from the Covelli Tennant website. They also make decorative cushions out of silk scarves, vintage trim, antique flags and embroidered bits of fabric. I've seen the silk scarf cushions in person and they're really beautiful.

 

 love this vintage Paris map scarf cushion!

styling with maps

I love old maps and like seeing how they can be used in decorating or in everyday household things. Here are a few craft ideas I thought were interesting, especially the lampshade. (photos from Burda, June 2010)

Small style from Emily Chalmers

I'm sure most of you have read about or seen sylist Emily Chalmer's work through her books, Flea Market Syle, Contemporary Country and Table Inspirations, as well as her charming East London shop, Caravan. She is an inspiration- she always coming up with something unusual for her shop, and every time I pop in, I get new ideas from the way she has fashioned objects into a decorative scene. Not to mention, Emily herself is just a kind person who goes out of her way for her customers. Well, she's at it again with this ingenious little dollhouse I saw in January's Elle Decoration.
Emily and wallpaper designer Deborah Bowness designed this incredible dollhouse together and the detail is remarkable! I can't imagine where they found all the little bits, but it looks like a house you might really want for yourself instead of just for play!
Click on the photos to see more in a larger size. (Photos by Debi Treolar)

Artist Jean Sonnet

Jean Sonnet is a French artist whose expression is through found objects. "The value of the objects isn't what matters; it's the visual impact that's important," he says. The photos resonate with us probably because he chooses humble, daily objects that become poetic in their arrangement. The photos, he believes, address emotion more than reason. (photos from Marie Claire maison Sept. 2009)

His work reminds me slightly of the work of one of my favorite bloggers, Jeska from Lobster & Swan (and Record the Day).

from Lobster & Swan's etsy shop

Also it makes me think of another talented artist whose work is on etsy, Lush Bella.

These three photos are from Lush Bella's etsy shop and Flickr page. I love her work: simple, refined and interesting.

Lush Bella - beautiful creations

Lush Bella creates jewelry and adornments out of lace, trinkets and beads. I especially like her prints sold on etsy where she arranges an assortment of findings that create a colorful, nostalgic compilation. She has such an eye for color and combination- I can only imagine she has must have such an interesting collection of odd bits & pieces found over time.

Paper artist: Jennifer Collier

Lately I've been enjoying looking at the works of a few paper artists that I've recently discovered. One of them is Jennifer Collier, a British artist who creates delicate sculptures out of found objects and discarded papers like music sheets and stamps. She has taken one kind of paper I'm particularly fond of, vintage maps, and transformed it. Maps appeal to me for an entirely different reason than they appeal to my husband- he likes them for the directional purposes (imagine that). I think I'm drawn to the colors, espeically the blues, and irregular shapes- the aesthetic rather than the useful properties- which is why I think they make beautiful shoes! Jennifer Collier also does commissioned works if you have your own paper and ideas. Lovely.

To see other paper artists who work on a much larger scale, you must take a look at Cartasia 2007, the Italian International Paper Festival, which holds installations in several cities. These large sculptures are by Richard Sweeney and Isole Danzanti.

French find: Marie Christophe

Marie Christophe is a talented iron sculpture artist whose work takes the form of chandeliers, lamps, and decorative shapes. I love the way the dress and boots look hand-sketched in pen & ink- there is movement in the dress. The sculptures with the shoes were made for Roger Vivier, the iconic Parisian shoe designer. The ceiling sculpture reminds me of a constellation! It's fanciful and unique- she says her work is an "unlikely marriage of sculpture and weightlesness," which I think is an accurate way to describe the visual effect. Where does art end and the object begin, she asks. I think they are one and the same. Photos: Marie Christophe's website