Last
February when Irene Braas, an aspiring upholsterer from HMC
mbo vakschool Amsterdam, Holland,
stayed with us for 10 weeks, we worked on a new collection of chairs
with traditional french style upholstery. She is specialising in
traditional upholstery and she wanted to master the technique with
us. Good luck to her, she is very bright and the school is
exceptional (we will get back on this as we may attend her
final presentation).
But
now is time to present you with our new collection of one-off pieces
and their French Flair: Pampadour_chair & Versailles_chair.
The
collection was inspired by a trip that we made in 2011 to Paris, in
occasion of Maison et Objet 2011.
During the trip we wanted to buy as well french toiles and tapestry style of fabrics and
look at original antique furniture. So under
suggestions of French we visited Marché
Saint-Pierre, Marché aux Puces St-Ouen de Clignancourt, visited shop
and upholstery workshop.
We
got overwhelmed by their love and knowledge of upholstery, fabrics,
furniture and antiques. French have a great tradition in furniture
and visiting Versailles_castles we sow few pieces that inspired us to
explore their traditional upholstery technique.
Like
ours is characterised by the use of hessian, fibre, cotton felt,
hand-tied springs and hand-stitching but the French technique is more
refined and more complex, especially when it came to make the back of
our Versailles_chair (it sticks out like it would have been made with
foam and believe us when we say that is one of the most complicated
thing we ever done!!!).
We
have enjoyed to explore the process and here we have some images to
share with you:
Pompadour_chair
has been recovered with Toile de Jouy from Pierre Marche', velvet and tapestry from Marché aux
Puces St-Ouen. Finished with silk piping and a bandage with rose.
2. Versailles_chair
Versailles chair has been recovered with a design print velvet and plain velvet. The frame has been restored and decorated with gold paint.
