Famille Summerbelle

The best of 2012

Looking back, 2012 has been an amazing year.
We've launched 2 new collections The Perfomers and Morning in Manhattan, a book, paper cut maps, screen prints and I enjoyed working with Issey Miyake on the World Map collection.
We also had plenty of relaxing holidays in France, Copenhagen and Japan. Ophelia learnt to read and write in Franglais (French & English). Lucien turned from a toddler to a very funny little boy, making us laugh a lot but also making us crazy at times being so cheeky!

I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who've been reading the blog this year. We've had a lot of fun sharing all the things we love with you and look forward to continuing in 2013.
Thank you for supporting us and for spreading the work of Famille Summerbelle. Your lovely encouraging messages really mean a lot to us.

Enjoy the rest of your holidays and see you in 2013!

Julie & Simon xx

*Inspiring colours at Maison & Objet.

*Launch of our City Maps Paper Cuts Originals and the making of San Francisco map.

*We went away to relax in the Alps to recover from a nasty flu...
*Vintage finds at the Brocante de Chatou.
*The art of screen printing our City maps.

*In April I was really loving the colour Yellow.
*Photo shoot at home with the team of Edition Paumes for the preparation of our first book Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle. Ophelia enjoys posing in front of the camera!
*Easter break in Ile de Ré.

*Long weekend with the family in Copenhagen. We loved it and cannot wait to go back.

*We enjoyed Spring time in Paris (my favourite time of the year) while working on two new collections The Performers and Morning in Manhattan.

*Ophelia turns 6!
*Simon completed l'Etape du Tour, a stage of Le Tour de France in the Alps.
*Launch of our first book Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle.

*The launch of the World Map collection with Issey Miyake.
*Time to switch off and relaxing in the South West of France with family and friends.

*First day of school for Lucien (not even 3!)
*Launch of The Performers at Maison & Objet.
*Voyage in Japan for an exhibition of Famille Summerbelle in Tokyo and the book launch Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle at the Galerie Doux Dimanche.

*Launch of Morning in Manhattan.

*Lucien blows his 3 candles.
*Working of the Little Houses project.
*Start thinking about Christmas while making the advent calendar.

*I am enjoying time at my mum's ceramic studio to make little stars, houses and xmas trees.
*Prepping for a Christmas photo shoot at home.
*We're all in the mood for Christmas, decorating the tree, making sablés and watching xmas movies...

Merry Christmas

This is a little selection from my Pinterest Christmas board to wish you all a wonderful, relaxing and joyful time with your loved ones over the Christmas holidays.
This year we are staying in Paris celebrating the French way on Christmas eve with family around a festive table (opening presents at midnight)...and the English way on Christmas day with a yummy breakfast while the children will open more presents followed by a late lunch. For desert we will have the traditional Christmas pudding and the French Bûche de Noël (a chocolate iced cake shaped as a log).
For the rest of the week, we will take it easy!
Images from top left:
Sparkles on reindeer. Carol- Oh yei!
Merry Christmas. The House That Lars Built.
May your days be merry and bright. Jan of Poppytalk.
Antique glass trees. Plenty of colour.

Hannah Waldron

I recently came across the work of London based designer Hannah Waldron and I was blown away by her bold yet delicate geometrical shapes of rooftops, buildings and intricate Cityscape.

Wallpaper design for Pizza Express.

Hand printed paper created for The Poundshop.

Screen printed posters.

Textile design for R. Newbold of Paul Smith.

You can also view her latest hand weaving series on Tumblr.

Textile walls

Inspiring colourful textile walls by Dutch artist Wies Preijde.

Demond Meek

The series of derelict homes from the East coast of America by photographer Demond Meek are a real inspiration for my current project on houses. Check his Slumbeautiful site, and follow him on Instagram here.

Making Christmas

More on my latest ceramics.This weekend we made lovely biscuits with Ophelia, and we ate them all in in a day!

My ceramic Christmas trees

This is another fun side project I've been working on lately at my mum's ceramic studio in Paris.

I have also made a series of little houses, mushrooms and a snail which I will show you very soon...Vive Noël!

The making of the stars & the Christmas tree

This year we decided to make the decoration to go on the Christmas tree. The children and I started about a month ago to make stars from clay, it became our favourite activity of rainy Sundays! Ophelia helped to shape the stars and Lucien to paint them afterwards. We added a little bit of pink and glitter, just because we like it... Hope you like it too!

Countdown til' xmas...

Last night while the children were asleep I was setting up their advent calendar I secretly made over the past few days. I got some little things like crayons, hair clips, Kinder chocolates, some Playmobiles toys and other silly things. I used a gold crepon paper to make the little houses and pinned them to the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree ( I actually got inspired by similar advent calendars I saw on Pinterest).

My best present was this early morning when the children walked out of their bedroom. The first reaction I could hear was Whooouaaaaa! Then they were jumping screaming 'yeah! c'est bientôt Noel! Merci maman! T'es trop gentille! T'es la meilleure maman du monde!
It's nearly Christmas! Thank you mummy! You are so nice! You're the best mummy in the World!.
Happy happy morning.