paris october 2011

a week in Paris at the beginning of October for the showroom at Philippe Model. it was amazingly hot and sunny, and felt like a holiday in the south.

parisian market stalls sell beautiful fruit. mangoes are my breakfast treat when I am there.

pollen from my flowers on this lovely crackled platter.

Philippe is collecting my pots. one is in  a photo in his book about using colour in interiors “Les Couleurs” – as is this mantelpiece.

this metallic knit hat is an old favourite, and blends in very well with the aged mirror, the faux shabby subtle stripes and the hat head (which is polystyrene with papier-maché and paint layered on). the pillbox hat is Philippe’s favourite (he is a hat designer amongst many other things).

here we are. next door there were three designers sharing a room. Kyoko is a japanese bag designer from London, and Aki makes plastic, very modern, jewellery. Hut Up is a felt designer from Berlin, Christine Birkle. you can see her website here. we will probably share this huge space next season. I only had it through enormous luck – the previous occupant cancelled, and the room could not be booked to anyone else in time, so Philippe suggested I took it instead of my tiny attic room. what a blessing! I would have suffered terribly from the heat in that tiny low-ceilinged south facing room. this room has two huge windows facing east into the courtyard, breezy, high ceilinged, and hardly any sunshine coming in. one of the coolest rooms in the house, I think. I didn’t need to use the lights until the last day, which helped to keep the temperature down.

it has panelling painted in whatever colours monsieur Philippe is experimenting with currently.

I was worried that my small collection would look a bit thin in such a large space, but it seemed to work. everybody was very complimentary, and I did a lot better than for the last few spring seasons. this is partly an ongoing trend anyway, but I am sure it would have been very difficult to take any orders in temperatures of thirty five plus.

I brought this beautiful patchwork blanket assembled by my assistant Sue Harper with infinite care and patience from old swatches, mostly cashmere. normally it is on my bed, but I thought it would help to dress the space.

pigeon pie came along. the panels are treated with some mysterious effect using chalk so the deep pink  in this part of the room is permanent.

in the kitchen the northern light is cool and translucent. the windows in this house which is used for photographing interiors so much are never cleaned. the dust forms an opaque screen so that the view is always obscured.

a funny little teapot arrangement in this eclectic room, which is our common room as well as the hub of the house. hospitable breakfasts, sociable lunches, and many cups of tea and coffee.

Philippe’s collection of objects includes this watering can which of course drew my camera’s eye.

the classic Parisian court. during the first five days it became very mediterranean with the sun blasting in, but on this last day cloud cover kept it grey.

and the view from the windows of the new room (the ante-chamber). I am very lucky to be able to show my collection here, in company with other european designers, plus one japanese designer from Sydney, Akira, and one italian from New York, Matta. we are always  sad to pack up and leave.