Posts from the ‘Textiles’ Category
The contractor and their guys were back today finishing up the punch list so I took some detail shots to avoid tools and paint containers. The Master bedroom is waiting for the closet doors that span one wall, so as soon as that is finished– I’ll do some shots in there along with the lighting being installed in the MA bath and Hallway. –Brass with crystal bead covers.
Dining Room– a found wonkey 19th C table with multiple leaves with French deco chairs reupholstered in a rose velvet with contrasting taupe welt. Loose weave blue celadon grey linen curtains with cream muslin lining to keep a consistent exterior house color when closed– Simeona Leona. A Mid C Italian Silk with embroidered dots drum pendent.
18th C Italian mirror found at an estate sale contrasts with the original crest of arms in the living room window with storybook broken-window details. Curtains same as the adjacent dining room. Custom curtain hardware with hook brackets and acorn finials by Mak Made.
Brass sconces circle the living room –assembled from standard lamp parts with mica-shades. The 1920’s bungalow had been updated in the 1970’s with a stone wall fireplace and an oversized picture window that looked out on to a concrete block fence. Once the stones were removed the remains of a small window was found opposite the larger 1970’s window. The large window was removed and a window was added to match the original. New glass was made to repeat the storybook broken-glass motif.
Brass tortoise bibelots found in Beijing– act as door nobs for cabinet doors in the living room. The set of bi-fold doors above them are waiting for their gold leaf frame details and mirror panels.
Carrera countertops with custom kitchen cabinets in pea green. Pink tiles for the back splash–found at the Habitat for the humanity Re-store– complement the copper details of the La Canche Stove. A central island butcher block countertop table custom by Mak Made with vintage stools as found from Design Utopia.
The chimney is stainless steel and copper. A pair of brass lanterns with etched glass from the 1960’s found at a flea market.
The client’s goose neck desk lamp rewired with uno sockets and brass shades in the library with vintage wingback chairs as found from Simeona Leona in the original fabric. Linen curtain panel with 19th C french horsehair ribbon detail.
Mixing metals– unlacquered brass hardware covers mix with porcelain and crystal door nobs in brushed nickel. Living room, dining room library and the hallways are painted in Dunn-Edwards Coshise.
Guest bedroom. Vintage rattan and bamboo side tables from Design Utopia. The vintage-y Chinese jars were French wired into lamps and can be ordered from Simeona Leona as well as pillows–vintage Japanese block print and a Laotian piecework pillow.
Corner of the guest bedroom with a 19th C English bamboo dresser and mirror with a very distressed lacquer top. Linen curtain with block print band detail.
In the guest bathroom, a custom Simeona Leona 1960’s hand block print shower curtain goes with a linen curtain appliquéd with the same fabric’s medallions in a random pattern.
Here are some things that I am working on this week: fantastic chain stitch Hmong embroidery– silk on cotton–combined with a hand loomed hemp. They will be part of our Kaili Pillow Collection at Pontius SHOP –Our Kaili Collection is named after Kaili City, China– the capitol of the Miao people and other ethnic minorities who are known for their exquisite well crafted embroidered textiles.
This fragment jumped off the shelf at me when I looking for Fez Textiles in Paris this past June. Probably Greek late 18th to Early 19th C– a fabulous piece of inspiration- long and narrow with 3 odd but delightful patterns embroidered in silk and metallic threads on a homespun linen. Bellow are details of the embroidery.
I do all sorts of custom work. Most of it is not photographed. This pillow is for a client who had this needlepoint stashed away in a closet for several years. She had seen some of my other work and gave me a call. I had free reign to do whatever I wanted. I had thought, fleas. French knots. Another swarm. I like swarms. See here and here.
I do custom pillows and some other more unsual jobs. Recently completed jobs are 8 pairs of white linen curtains appliqued with 200 black bird silhouettes . Another was a 9′ tall sheer linen tent with appliqued flowers and scallop details. 
The term Toile de Jouy is used, I was told by a textile dealer at Clignancourt, to describe all toiles of this type regardless of the location of the factory production– like Nantes–as in toile de Nantes. From Paris, I took the train to Jouy-en-Josas where the Oberkampf factory was set up in the 1750’s to print their cotton fabrics. When I arrived, it was just me at the Museum of Toile de Jouy and when I left there were a couple of ladies. The museum has a wonderful archive of toile de jouy– a few you can see below.
