Famille Summerbelle

Paris Deco Ideas for Kid's rooms

I was delighted to receive in the post the new Edition Paumes book: Paris Deco Ideas for Kid's Rooms. The book is full of design details and interior inspiration grouped in different themes such as Walls, Fashion & Textile, Colour, Toys, Little Ideas etc...Ophelia and Lucien's bedroom is featured amongs others beautiful and quircky bedrooms of creative families (Petit Pan, Agence Violette, The Collection, Charlotte Gastaut, Olivelse....)

Maison et Objet - after show review. Part 1

Hi! Bonjour! We are back to our cosy studio after 5 days exhibiting our collection at Maison et Objet in the north of Paris. For a lot of people it has been rather difficult to get to the show as the airport closed down for a few hours, flights and trains were delayed due to the heavy snowfall. But despite the bad weather, we had a great time catching up with old friends and meeting new people.

This time we had a corner stand (they are highly sought after!) and we were surrounded by fantastic companies such as Engel , Oeuf be Good, Laurette and Anne-Claire Petit.
These are a few snapshots from our stand that I took with my phone so I apologise for the poor quality of the photos!

I made a little display of our beautiful photos styled by Aurelie Lecuyer.


We presented our new mug and tray from the collection Un Dimanche à Paris. The new products will be available on our website next week. Also on display are our new tray and mug from Morning in Manhattan collection and the book from Edition Paumes Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle. Our tea towels and cushions are nicely packed in this new brown card and white triangles packaging.


I made 2 wooden swings with bright neon pink strings to hold our promotional cards. Behind are hanging the colourful paper honeycombs by our Dutch neighbour Engel.

Over the next few days I will pull together photos to show you my favourite brands and products I spotted at the show.

Maison & Objet 2013

This week we are setting up our stand at Maison et Objet trade show in the north of Paris. We are very excited to go back as exhibitors for the second time around (our first show there was back in September). We have a bigger, corner stand (hurray!) so if you visit the show, come say hello!

Apologies for not posting much while the show is on. I'll be back very soon...

Le Marché Saint Pierre

Le Marché Saint Pierre (also known as Dreyfus) is the place to visit if you are looking for all sorts of fabric and haberdashery in Paris. It is located in the very touristic area of Montmatre. I've just been today to buy some linen to make cushions and 3 meters of bright pink tulle to make a tutu for Ophelia!

Flying Houses

By French photographer Laurent Chehere. The Flying Houses series are on show until 8th December at the Galerie Paris-Beijing, 54 rue Vertbois, Paris 3ème.

Love Locks

Hundreds and hundreds of cadenas d'amour (love locks or wish locks) on the Pont des Arts in Paris.To symbolise their love couples are hanging a padlock with their initials on the barriers of the bridge and then throw the keys in the river Seine!

Window shopping, Le Marais.

I started my day in Merci meeting up with the lovely Emilie from Lait Fraise chatting about work, children and the difficult task of finding a home in the East side of Paris!
Afterwards I had a little look around Merci, Bonton next door and few shops in the charming rue de Bretagne.


This cane and leather chair is on my wish list...


Beautiful dinnerware colours designed by Russel Wright (Made by Bauer pottery, Los Angeles)


Malle W. Trousseau is a present made to last a lifetime offering in one huge box the finest ever made kitchen utensils.


Love neon sign, Bonton.


Cute cat rug from Bobo Choses at Bonton.


I quickly jumped on a Velib to check French Trotters and Little French Trotters, rue de Charonne. They have a great selection of some of my favourite brands Polder, Médecine Douce, Avril Gau, Bobo Choses, Blah Blah Kids...


Lunch at Cuisine de Bar open sandwiches served with Poilâne bread, rue Debelleyme 75003.

Charvin, Paris

As we were crossing Le Pont de Arts last weekend, we stopped in this charming little shop Charvin specialised in extra fine oils, acrylic and gouaches. The range of colours is very impressive. The minute I walked in I wanted to start painting again...

Our weekend so far

On saturday, we went for a walk across the river Seine from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France to the Parc de Bercy and the Cité de la Mode et Du Design. On the top photo you can see the Joséphine Baker swimming pool on a barge. I'd love to go one day with the children. When the weather is nice the roof opens up so you swim over looking the river Seine.

On Sunday morning, we were all awake at 6am, thanks to Ophelia who was so excited to show us the few coins left under the pillow from the tooth fairy. She is now proudly showing her big top front teeth gap.
Our morning was spent at le Grand Palais to see the Buren exhibition Monumenta.

Cristals & Lasers

8m x 6m wall art by Matt W. Moore. The Portland based artist did this mural as part of his Cristal and Lasers show at Since Utopian gallery in Paris in 2010. He is now back at the gallery until mid June to present his new work Gravity.
Seen on Unurth Street Art.

Latest books from Paumes

Last week we had the visit from our dear friends Coco and Hisashi from Edition Paumes. They very kindly offered us a selection their latest books: Lovely Tea Time in Paris, Finland Children's room and Tokyo Home Ateliers. From now on I have decided to carry in my handbag the Lovely Tea Time book every time I am in Paris. I no longer want to have a coffee in a random café. It should be served with a delicious cake like in La Pâtisserie des Rêves

Finland Children's room

Lovely Tea Time in Paris

Tokyo Home Ateliers

La brocante de Chatou

Chatou is a place to the west of Paris where the Impressionists used to come and paint on the charming banks of the river Seine. Twice a year (March and September) a huge flea market La Foire à La Brocante et aux Jambons is set on the Ile des Impressionnistes. I recommend to have lunch at the nearby Maison Fournaise (where Renoir painted the famous painting Déjeuner des Canotiers). Sellers comes from all over France with exquisite (and often rather expensive) antique treasures. Mix with all the happy odds and ends you can have a little break at the many stands selling smoked hams and a selection of wine. As Chatou is very near to where we live I always try to go as I love flea markets and this one is quite exceptional. Unfortunately I often leave empty handed as it is so expensive but I feel so happy to have seen so many nice and inspiring things!
Have a nice weekend...

Detail from a large embroidery map of France.

Tsé Tsé boutique Paris

Tsé Tsé & Associées by French designers Catherine Levy et Sigolène Prébois have opened a shop in 7 Rue Saint Roch in the 1st Arrondissement. It's full of surprises, bright colours and quirky objets.

Le Diner en blanc

It's been a ritual in Paris over the past 20 years or so, thousands of people all dressed in their best white outfit arrive at the same time to have a posh picnic in a prestigious Parisian location.
You only get invited by friends and the location remains a secret until the last minute (you get told once you are on the coach on the way). This year we were a total of 12000 people: 6000 in the Cour Carrée du Louvre (where we were) and 6000 in front of Notre Dame.

Live band music...

Champagne, foie gras, fresh fruits...all you need for a posh picnic.

My sister was dressed as an Angel. My mum made a fairy light hat!

The Louvre beautifully lit for the evening.

The diner ends with thousands of sparklers. It was very magical.
 

If you live on the other side of the Atlantic, be ready it's coming to NYC and Montreal soon.

Have a great weekend.

A Paris Farewell

The French Easter school holidays are starting today and we're off to l'Ile de Ré with friends. We cannot wait for a well deserved break (Simon and I have been so busy with work lately- we're exhausted!). I'll still be working few hours a day as I have a show coming up soon but at least the environment will be different and I can't wait to go for long bike rides with the children at the back in the trailer.

For now I leave you with this beautiful story on Paris by writer Amy M. Thomas in the New York Times. Amy is American, she spent 2 years living in Paris and she is now back in NYC writing a book about her time there.

Photo by Julien Goldstein for The New York Times.
Article seen in English Muse.

Beautiful day in Paris

I wish I did this more often: yesterday I went to Paris to meet my friend Helena for a morning coffee in Merci (it's only 25mn on the train from my home so no excuse!). They had a wonderful selection of mix products in indigo colour: suitcases, bed linen, note books, cushions and more. Then I was off to Bonton (10m away from Merci) and for a nice walk in rue de Bretagne, Rue Vieille du Temple, rue des Archives (stopped on the way to have a hair cut) and then back home to pick up the children from school. The sun was out, the coffee terraces were full of people enjoying the lovely day. I love Paris in Spring time.

Merci shop, Boulevard Beaumarchais.

Bonton shop, boulevard des Filles du Calvaire.

Our home

featured in Elle Deco Thailand in the March issue.

Chocolats à Paris

We had the pleasure to be invited yesterday evening to the bookstore La Cocotte (Paris 11th arrondissement) for the launch of Chocolats à Paris by Edition Paume. Fumie Shimoji and Aya Ito were there from Japan with their team who worked on the book. There was a large table full of delicious chocolate delicacies. Lucien and Ophelia had a great time as you can imagine! I love La Cocotte bookstore, they specialize in very creative cookery books and they have also a good selection of design books. We left the party with 3 books: The Genius of French Poster Art by Hervé Morvan, London Kitchens and London Family Style books by Paumes (to add to my growing collection!).

Deyrolle, Paris

Deyrolle House rue du Bac in Paris 7th Arrondissement is a very unique place with a one of a kind collection.

It was founded in 1831 by Jean-Baptiste Deyrolle and his son. Both lovers of Entomology they developed a thriving business based on the sale of insects and hunting equipment for natural history collections while developing a parallel activity of taxidermy. Anything that is collected in Deyrolle in the atmosphere of a huge private collection of curiosities, is for learning and knowledge of natural things.
By 1870's the Deyrolle House was also well known for providing schools and universities with scientific equipment and educational charts.

In 2008 a devastating fire destroyed the first floor of the shop. Almost all of the collection was destroyed. It has now reopened and it has been beautifully restored. We went this weekend with the children as we were in the area. Ophelia was so amazed to see so many wild animals (tiger, elephant, polar bear...) in an apartment!

Taxidermy is definitely not normally my cup of tea, but a truly unique experience. It's worth a visit if you're in Paris.

Paris bag on Design Sponge

Yeah! it made my day. The Paris bag is part of the 2010 Gift Guides: for the francophile. Thanks Anne & Grace!