CasaSugar

Roundup: Joyeux Bastille Day!

CasaSugar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:00:40 -0700

Happy Bastille Day! While we can be grateful to the French for many things, including croques monsieur, Audrey Tatou, margarine, carbaret, etc., I'd like to applaud la France for pumping out decades of innovative and influential design. Yes, this would include la Tour Eiffel and Impressionism, but today I'm going to focus on furniture and interior accessories. You'll be surprised by how many of your favorite pieces were nés en France. But before we go there, I couldn't resist sharing The Famed and Framed Roosters ($381), a trio of hand-painted roosters, a national emblem of France.

Vitra vegetal chair - $555.00	Vitra algues - $35.00
Tank U Vases By La Tete Au Cube - $71.00	Artifort - oyster chair by pierre paulin for artifort - $1,152.00
Artifort - ribbon chair by pierre paulin for artifort - $3,115.00	Cassina le corbusier lc4 - $2,850.00
Cassina le corbusier lc2 - $3,500.00	philippe starck Louis Ghost Armchair - Set of 2 - $820.00
Fleurs Gourmandes Raspberry by Le Jacquard Francais - $30.00	FLOS Cicatrices De Luxe 3 Pendant Light - $3,575.00
Silver Recamier - $3,249.00	Kartell Mademoiselle Chair Missoni Fabric - $950.00
French Industrial Coffee Table - $579.00	Vintage Gilt Chair - $2,495.00
Cooper's Small Draftsman Stool - $159.00	Vintage Petite Armchair - $695.00
Marais Stool 18 - $180.00	Diptyque Baies (Black Currant & Rose) Candle - $60.00
Kartell bubble club armchair - $680.00	Vitra - cite armchair by jean prouve for vitra - $3,775.00
Vitra - trapeze tables by jean prouve for vitra - $5,560.00	Jean Nouvel Complete Works by Taschen - $700.00

Get the Look: Bastille Day Garden Party

CasaSugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:00:48 -0700

In honor of Fête Nationale, or Bastille Day, I created a festive look for a garden party celebrating the holiday.

As France's tricolor flag wears red, white and blue, I decided to incorporate those colors, but not overly so, as many Fourth of July celebrations do. Inspired by Claude Monet's Red Poppies at Argenteuil, I chose a poppy printed tablecloth, and decided on French café chairs for seating. Of course, a cheese board is a must for any French fête, and a fleur-de-lys topped trellis makes instant royal French décor. Throw in a silver candelabra, some Diptyque candles, some appropriate reading, a red toile platter, and some blue accents and you'll be ready to storm the Bastille, figuratively. Voilà!

Cool Idea: Le Petit Paris

CasaSugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:00:00 -0700

Gerard Brion took up the challenge of building a miniature model of Paris 15 years ago. With 18,000 hours of painstaking work logged, he has crafted a miniature city, known as Le Petit Paris, in his garden in Vaissaic in the South of France out of salvaged items like old concrete blocks, baby food jars and soup tins. 150,000 visitors a year experience over 40 Paris monuments, such as the Champs Elysées, Montmartre, the Seine River, and the Eiffel Tower on a 1:130 scale set in a French-style garden planted with 400 bonzais. Year-round, the miniature city keeps up with the times, too: a miniature military-parade along the Champs Elysées on Bastille Day; Easter Eggs in the Bois de Boulogne in April; a true French Cancan show in Little Moulin Rouge featuring animated dolls; and demonstrations and traffic-jams along the little Paris boulevards keeping with typical French social unrest. After Princess Diana's car crash, Brion even smashed a miniature Mercedes car with a hammer and exhibited it under the Alma Bridge. In 2004, Brion opened the Little Louvre Museum, exhibiting 100 pieces of his own work and personal collection, including paintings, drawings, models. The small capital, open to the public on weekends and holidays, takes an hour to visit. How about that for backyard décor? Only in France . . .
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