The New York Times
February 9, 1995
The Home, pp. C1, C2.
Currents
Mischievous New Faces of Paris
By Lucie Young
Nobody goes to the Parisian fashion shows to find out what
the average woman will be wearing to the office. In a
similar vein, no design scribes or buyers worth their salt
visit the top three interior decorating fairs in Paris in
January merely to uncover the must-have chair, lamp or
table accessory.
What was on display by the more than 2,325 exhibitors at
the shows -- the biggest grouping of decorating fairs in
Europe -- is fuel for the imagination.
It's not the objects themselves that matter, but the mood
they reflect. Or in fashion speak, the direction. A wooden
wheelbarrow that doubles as an armchair; giant medieval
graffiti on curtains and walls, and almost brittle fabric,
similar to that used in baptismal services, turned into
napkins: these were some of the more mischievous new faces
of modern design shown last month as furniture designers
bored with the present rummaged through the colorful past.
Many furnishings will see the light of day in New York soon
as either imports or inspiration for copies. Prices have
not been decided in many cases.
Those Deco Divas
Art Deco, with its sensuous curves and bold geometric
lines, was the most forceful style at the Salon du Meuble,
the furniture fair, at the Porte de Versailles. Indeed,
many other modern chairs seemed plain and lacking in warmth
in comparison. Leading the neo-Deco trend was an Italian
design firm, Archirivolto, with a five-piece furniture
collection called "Extra" that included a tiered night
stand and vanity on casters in honey-colored cherry wood.
The five pieces are distributed by F.& R. Resources, 200
Lexington Avenue (32d Street); (212) 685-1099.
The Spanish company Andreu World has created the plush
"Aida" armchair for modern Art Deco divas. It is available
through Manes Street, 200 Lexington Avenue (32d Street);
(212),684-7050.
Bangles and Shades
Colorful resin and plastic lamps have been the fun,
affordable staples in recent years. Resin makes great
practical night lights for children, like those from Trait
d'Union. They are available at Mxyplyzyk, 125 Greenwich
Avenue (13th Street); (212) 989-4300.
Grown-up lighting is moving toward fashion-inspired whimsy,
complete with bead fringes, bejeweled trims and sculptured
curls, like lighting by the new company Vero & Didou. A
light called "If" (yew tree, in French) is a slender
plantlike form bv Dix Heures Dix.
The Writing's on the Wall
At the Biennale des Editeurs de la Decoration, the biennial
fabrics fair on the Quai Branly near the Eiffel Tower,
Gothic stained-glass colors were the order of the day,
along with heavy crimson and gold damasks and brocades. The
more antiquated-looking the design the better. A rubbed-out
image from a moldering 15th-century Venetian fresco, by the
Italian company Rubelli, took a best-of-show award. Rubelli
also made "Zeus," a pattern of leaping flames. Both are
available at Bergamo, 979 Third Avenue (58th Street) (212)
888-3333.
From Spain's Gaston y Daniela were 16th-century-style
trompe l'oeil letters on faux wood grain as well as huge
coats of arms and loopy script taken from medieval
commercial documents. Both are to order from Scalamandre,
942 Third Avenue (57th Street); (212) 980-3888.
For those who find the prospect of someone else's bills
decorating their furnishings oppressive, a more tasteful
trompe l'oeil effect was offered by Patrick Frey -- fabric
dotted with giant cameos. The fabric is available from
Pierre Frey through Fonthill Ltd., 979 Third Avenue (58th
Street) (212) 755-6700. It is ideal for curtains or
covering a wall; more than that could be too much.
Matisse-like illustrations by Robert le Heros -- the
pseudonym for four young female designers -- added a splash
of color to bath and tab]e linens at the Maison et Objet,
the households fair, at the Parc des Expositions. They are
available from Interieurs, 114 Wooster Street (Prince
Street); (212) 343-0800.
One idea that was intended to enliven a display turned out
to be a show stopper. Jacques Hurel, an accessories
designer for Christian Lacroix and Yves Saint Laurent,
created ornaments resembling oversize hatpins to pep up
Donghia's new fabric collection. After repeated requests,
Donghia decided to manufacture six designs in gilt and
silver; available starting in April, only through Donghia,
979 Third Avenue (58th Street); (212) 935-3713. Philippe
Parent, the director of Donghia France, said they could be
used to draw back curtains -- or as brooches, if you don't
mind the weight.
The Age of Decadence
Some French designers took their cue not from the real
world but from Hollywood's obsession with dressing up and
reenacting the past. (Witness the slew of courtly costume
dramas, like "The Madness of King George," "Queen Margot"
and the as yet unreleased "Restoration," and the upcoming
crop of swashbuckling pieces, like "Rob Roy," "First
Knight" and "Braveheart."
"The pendulum has swung too far into the past too quickly,"
warned Corliss Tyler, the general merchandise manager of
Takashimaya in New York, who was in Paris as a buyer. But
that hasn't stopped designers from trying to resurrect
ideas that rightly fell out of use centuries ago. Philippe
Starck's let-them-eat-cake wheelbarrow chair, which is to
be in the lobby of the Delano Hotel when it opens in Miami
in June, looks like something Marie Antoinette might have
dreamed up. You may need servants (or subservient friends)
to perambulate in style.
The household staff from "The Remains of the Day" might
also come in handy if you adopt the current passion for
organdy, a fabric frequently used during baptismal and holy
communion services. The fabric is getting a new lease on
life, as swags around the bed head. But as napkins?
Even Laurence Kriegel, who stocks napkins made of this
transparent stiffened cotton in her trend-setting SoHo
store Interieurs, said: "It's more difficult to iron than
linen. You really do need a more simple practical fabric
for everyday use."
END
February 9, 1995
The Home, pp. C1, C2.
Currents
Mischievous New Faces of Paris
By Lucie Young
Nobody goes to the Parisian fashion shows to find out what
the average woman will be wearing to the office. In a
similar vein, no design scribes or buyers worth their salt
visit the top three interior decorating fairs in Paris in
January merely to uncover the must-have chair, lamp or
table accessory.
What was on display by the more than 2,325 exhibitors at
the shows -- the biggest grouping of decorating fairs in
Europe -- is fuel for the imagination.
It's not the objects themselves that matter, but the mood
they reflect. Or in fashion speak, the direction. A wooden
wheelbarrow that doubles as an armchair; giant medieval
graffiti on curtains and walls, and almost brittle fabric,
similar to that used in baptismal services, turned into
napkins: these were some of the more mischievous new faces
of modern design shown last month as furniture designers
bored with the present rummaged through the colorful past.
Many furnishings will see the light of day in New York soon
as either imports or inspiration for copies. Prices have
not been decided in many cases.
Those Deco Divas
Art Deco, with its sensuous curves and bold geometric
lines, was the most forceful style at the Salon du Meuble,
the furniture fair, at the Porte de Versailles. Indeed,
many other modern chairs seemed plain and lacking in warmth
in comparison. Leading the neo-Deco trend was an Italian
design firm, Archirivolto, with a five-piece furniture
collection called "Extra" that included a tiered night
stand and vanity on casters in honey-colored cherry wood.
The five pieces are distributed by F.& R. Resources, 200
Lexington Avenue (32d Street); (212) 685-1099.
The Spanish company Andreu World has created the plush
"Aida" armchair for modern Art Deco divas. It is available
through Manes Street, 200 Lexington Avenue (32d Street);
(212),684-7050.
Bangles and Shades
Colorful resin and plastic lamps have been the fun,
affordable staples in recent years. Resin makes great
practical night lights for children, like those from Trait
d'Union. They are available at Mxyplyzyk, 125 Greenwich
Avenue (13th Street); (212) 989-4300.
Grown-up lighting is moving toward fashion-inspired whimsy,
complete with bead fringes, bejeweled trims and sculptured
curls, like lighting by the new company Vero & Didou. A
light called "If" (yew tree, in French) is a slender
plantlike form bv Dix Heures Dix.
The Writing's on the Wall
At the Biennale des Editeurs de la Decoration, the biennial
fabrics fair on the Quai Branly near the Eiffel Tower,
Gothic stained-glass colors were the order of the day,
along with heavy crimson and gold damasks and brocades. The
more antiquated-looking the design the better. A rubbed-out
image from a moldering 15th-century Venetian fresco, by the
Italian company Rubelli, took a best-of-show award. Rubelli
also made "Zeus," a pattern of leaping flames. Both are
available at Bergamo, 979 Third Avenue (58th Street) (212)
888-3333.
From Spain's Gaston y Daniela were 16th-century-style
trompe l'oeil letters on faux wood grain as well as huge
coats of arms and loopy script taken from medieval
commercial documents. Both are to order from Scalamandre,
942 Third Avenue (57th Street); (212) 980-3888.
For those who find the prospect of someone else's bills
decorating their furnishings oppressive, a more tasteful
trompe l'oeil effect was offered by Patrick Frey -- fabric
dotted with giant cameos. The fabric is available from
Pierre Frey through Fonthill Ltd., 979 Third Avenue (58th
Street) (212) 755-6700. It is ideal for curtains or
covering a wall; more than that could be too much.
Matisse-like illustrations by Robert le Heros -- the
pseudonym for four young female designers -- added a splash
of color to bath and tab]e linens at the Maison et Objet,
the households fair, at the Parc des Expositions. They are
available from Interieurs, 114 Wooster Street (Prince
Street); (212) 343-0800.
One idea that was intended to enliven a display turned out
to be a show stopper. Jacques Hurel, an accessories
designer for Christian Lacroix and Yves Saint Laurent,
created ornaments resembling oversize hatpins to pep up
Donghia's new fabric collection. After repeated requests,
Donghia decided to manufacture six designs in gilt and
silver; available starting in April, only through Donghia,
979 Third Avenue (58th Street); (212) 935-3713. Philippe
Parent, the director of Donghia France, said they could be
used to draw back curtains -- or as brooches, if you don't
mind the weight.
The Age of Decadence
Some French designers took their cue not from the real
world but from Hollywood's obsession with dressing up and
reenacting the past. (Witness the slew of courtly costume
dramas, like "The Madness of King George," "Queen Margot"
and the as yet unreleased "Restoration," and the upcoming
crop of swashbuckling pieces, like "Rob Roy," "First
Knight" and "Braveheart."
"The pendulum has swung too far into the past too quickly,"
warned Corliss Tyler, the general merchandise manager of
Takashimaya in New York, who was in Paris as a buyer. But
that hasn't stopped designers from trying to resurrect
ideas that rightly fell out of use centuries ago. Philippe
Starck's let-them-eat-cake wheelbarrow chair, which is to
be in the lobby of the Delano Hotel when it opens in Miami
in June, looks like something Marie Antoinette might have
dreamed up. You may need servants (or subservient friends)
to perambulate in style.
The household staff from "The Remains of the Day" might
also come in handy if you adopt the current passion for
organdy, a fabric frequently used during baptismal and holy
communion services. The fabric is getting a new lease on
life, as swags around the bed head. But as napkins?
Even Laurence Kriegel, who stocks napkins made of this
transparent stiffened cotton in her trend-setting SoHo
store Interieurs, said: "It's more difficult to iron than
linen. You really do need a more simple practical fabric
for everyday use."
END