Famille Summerbelle

Famille Summerbelle exhibition in Tokyo

The exhibition (and the book launch) of Famille Summerbelle and Terre et Montagne opened yesterday at Doux Dimanche (Aoyama area). We had a wonderful evening organized by the girls at the gallery. It was such a pleasure to meet many lovely people who knew about my work. My mum was also delighted to show her work for the first time in Tokyo. The exhibition will continue for another couple of weeks.

We only have a day left in Tokyo before we fly back to Paris on Friday. Our week here has gone so fast but it feels like we've been away for a long time as we've done so much. We had such an amazing time. I am also happy to go home to see the children and hug them (ah! I've been missing the cuddles).

Kyoto (some details)

Kyoto

This morning we woke up in a cloudy and rainy Tokyo so we decided to visit Kyoto for a couple of days before we return to Tokyo on Tuesday for the exhibition. With the bullet train Shinkanzen, Kyoto is only 2h30 away from Tokyo. This train ride is very pleasant.

It is fascinating to look out the window and observe the changing landscape between the two cities. There are towns, lookalike houses, factories following each other with some patches of vivid green rice fields. As you go further South lush hills are appearing in the distance. If the sky is clear you can see Mount Fuji (Just an advice if you head down to Kyoto, you need to be seated to the right hand side of the train to be able to see Mount Fuji).

We are staying in the ryokan (japanese B&B) Yoshimizu Inn on top of a hill in the beautiful Maruyama Park. We are surrounded by luxuriant vegetation and as I type the crickets are singing outside (it's nearly midnight here!). I always wanted to stay in a ryokan so I we are delighted to have been recommended this one. It is authentic and very homely. Our room has tatamis, rice paper sliding doors and we made our own bed with the white thin mattresses and bedding provided. Before we went out tonight we had a relaxing warm bath in the communal bath (btw you are on your own in the bath). Tomorrow we will rent a couple of bikes to cycle in the narrow streets of the old city center, visit some temples, go to this bag shop and relax drinking green tea...

Some images of our day in Kyoto:


Kyoto Tower in the distance (no, i didn't Photoshop the ray of light!)
















Sushi sweets and garland of colourful sweets!

Shopping in Tokyo

I first visited Tokyo four years ago during our world tour travels with Simon and Ophelia (do you remember this post?!) I fell in love with this vibrant City and how welcoming Japanese people are. Four years later I come back to the same area we stayed last time (Aoyama) and to my surprised nothing has changed much. Today Coco (the editor of Edition Paumes) and Hisashi (the owner/creative director/photographer of Edition Paumes and Doux Dimanche) took us out to visit the area. It was very pleasant to be guided around the busy district of Omotesando, Harajuku and Shibuya. They took us to various shops and to a delicious sushi restaurant (only locals would know about as it was hidden away on top of a high staircase). We did a lot of shopping (like I haven't done for ages- no children bored or crying - just my mum, heaven!). I actually bought lots of silly stuffs for the children in Kiddy Land and Tokyu Hands...stickers, Hello Kitty note books, paper soap, garish pink pencils and stupid things that they will both love. I had a fantastic time in Tokyu Hands (the best lifestyle store in the World!!) buying A LOT of MT Tapes - they cost only €1 each over here! I also bought some colourful vinyl adhesive by the meter. I am planning to do a lot of cutting on my return home!

Kiddy Land.






















Tokuy Hands in Shibuya.




Quico Store.




Jikan Style.






Vibrant and crazy Harajuku!

Famille Summerbelle in Japan

Kon nichi wa, hello!
I am in Tokyo and very much looking forward to my week in Japan! I am traveling with my mum while Simon is at home having fun with the children (thank you Simon!). We are over to launch our latest book Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle with Edition Paumes . They have invited us to do an exhibition of Famille Summerbelle work and Terre et Montagne (my mother ceramic work) at their gallery space Doux Dimanche in Aoyama (my favorite area in Tokyo!).

Galerie Doux Dimanche is owned by Edition Paumes. Each product is beautifully presented in the shop. You can find designer pieces from Nathalie Lété, Tsé-Tsé, La Cocotte, Famille Summerbelle :-) and of course the huge collection of their wonderful books!

Screen printing the Performers

Sorry for not being very active on the blog at the moment. The beginning of the month has been pretty busy with the rentrée des classes (back to school) for the children and the trade show at Maison et Objet last week. We had a great time showing all our products and our new collection. A big thank you to all of you who stopped by.
Next week I am flying to Japan to launch the book Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle with Edition Paumes. For the occasion we will do an exhibition of Famille Summerbelle work at Galerie Doux Dimanche in Tokyo, Aoyama. I am very excited to meet the lovely people I have been working with over the past few months and also to (re)discover Tokyo and Kyoto. I am traveling with my mum who will also exhibit her ceramic work at the Galerie Doux Dimanche. More on this very soon.

For now I wanted to share with you the process of hand screen printing our latest prints Ludo Le Lapin and Maximilien Le Magicien.
This is what I really love about my work. The designing bit and then follow closely the making of our products. So here we go...


Each colour is separated and printed in black on an acetate film. The film is placed over a mesh silkscreen and exposed for few minutes over the lightbulb. The image will be burned in reverse into the silkscreen. The screen is then washed out under a high powered shower head and dried.








Each screen is carefully checked to make sure no holes appear around the design. Here is the head of our magician with all the tiny holes that have been blocked off.




Now the fun bit, choosing and mixing the colours! I love this shelf with all the pots of emulsion lined up.




We are mixing the pink for the ears of the rabbit and the face of the magician. The ink is spread evenly with the squeegee to the silkscreen. We are just making a small sample to test the colour. Once we are happy with it we start printing on a larger scale.






The ears and nose of the rabbit are drying before we can apply the next colour.




Et voila! Ludo Le Lapin. Same process for the other colours. It's such a fun exercise and seeing the design appear after each layer of colour is very satisfying!












Maximilien Le Magicien.

Here come..... The Performers!

The smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd....finally after a good six months drawing, cutting, designing, sampling and starting all over again (!)....we very proudly introduce our new collection. The Performers.

Colourful, resplendent and ever so slightly mysterious we introduce you to Maximilien le magicien, Ludo le lapin and Boom le clown. A motley crew of traveling performers.

We're so excited about this range, as not only do we have a new design but also quite a few brand new products.

This post really just introduces the final product. Over a couple of subsequent blog posts I'd like to share some of the journey that we've been on. Learning about new products, finding the highest quality local producers and getting really involved in the process.

We really hope you like this new work. Over the next few days we'll be at Maison et Objet in Paris exhibiting the range (plus our other products).

Also, if any of you are in Paris on Saturday night we're having a drink or two to launch our new book (Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle) @ The Collection, rue de Poitou in the 3rd Arrondissement (from 7.30pm). Do feel free to come and join us to say hello!