saddle up

new bag for summer from claire vivier

french fall

le tour les chapelains in southern france. why not?

summer naps in a tree

tree house from la cabane perchée. good video here - in french and still good even if you don't understand. via maire claire maison

simple men's

homecore | men's basics with interest

see more on their site

News from the Coast of France

Looking forward to the new film about Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen & Anna Mouglalis who both look ravishing. The film was presented last week in Cannes.

Aim for White & Blue City Fancy

Photography by Brigitte Wolfgang Drejer. Represented by sisters agency in France, she has a whole category dedicated to *snow*

These selections are from her 'white' & 'city slickers' categories.

Minimal Protection

Maison Martin Margiela has teamed up with Les Ateliers Ruby Paris (featured earlier this winter) to produce a new line of moto helmets. MMM took on this design challenge in celebration of its 20th birthday. The helmet obliquely traces the history of the past 20 years and is covered in the signature shade of imperfect white. 

via yatzer

Happy Blue

via Tina/{swiss miss}

This a short film written and directed by Blacklist's Cisma for Adobe’s Shortcut to Brilliant campaign for CS4 (Creative Suite 4). Goodby, Silverstein & Partners came to Cisma with a 98% open brief - do whatever you want as long as you use CS4 to do it. Full credits on glossy inc.

Toujours Petite

Love everything about this mini-maison. This idea is a bit like what we're working on at El Cosmico. Low-impact Mini dwellings and art shacks as an alternative to gigantic hospitality structures.

These photos are from a feature in Marie-Claire Maison on weekend homes.

Pages that inspire

Creative spirit Pia Jane Bijkerk has a new book out Handmade in Paris. It's available at The Little Book Room. Besides Pia Jane's great book, The Little Book room has treasures a plenty.

Nose Trio

Elegant fragrance trio from Hermés: Eau d’Orange Verte, Eau de Pamplemousse Rose, Eau de Gentiane Blanche
{via le figaro}

Can't beat the texture

......of delicious cotton

linen draps from Caroline et Geraldine.
Hotels that have these kinds of linens are so much more romantic and real.

Breathing Harmonia

São Paulo architecture firm Tryiptyque (French/Brasilian) designed Harmonia House as a building that breathes. Its walls are caged within water pipes that feed the thirst of the building's vegetal ecosystem.

Splurge

Hermes watercolor box & orange 'skipper' necklace. Birthdayvalentinesanniversarychristmas all oh-so far away!

Tables

Wood tables by Donald Judd. Photos by Krista & Adam at Food Shark Marfa.

Metal & wood tables by Atelier 154. 

Outdoors

Starting to cruise for new outdoor seating. Normann's new camping seat is predictably terrific (albeit spendy). Also good is the HAY lounge chair at Midsommar. The nostalgic Frédéric Sofia Luxembourg chair is my favorite though with a stunning selection of colors and great height - perfect for people watching, book reading and margarita sipping. Found at Made in Design.

Food Design Crush: Frédérick e. Grasser-Hermé

French food consultant, Frédérick e. Grasser-Hermé (or Fegh to pals) worked on the Cuis.in Nature project (previous post). She has forged a lively professional path and works on such enviable projects as menu design for Colette and cookbook consultant for people like Alain Ducasse. She is the author of over 20 books. Her website is super cute and worth a good spin round the way. She was featured last year in the NYT Magazine. Take a peek

Le Cusine Vert

I spied these at Maison et Object in January. They had a eco-cafe and these garden exhibits set up. Design is by Matali Crasset in collaboration with Teracrea, food consultant Frédérick e. Grasser-Hermé and Hi Hotel of Hi Life Concepts in Nice. The garden installations come in a number of different iterations: kitchen, vegetable, display, etc. They are designed to incorporate the functionality of a kitchen with the mechanics of a garden. Plus, they are colorful and playful. Visit the entire photo set here.

This Song is a Blues

Vidéo pédagogique
by gbi

These gents make lovely music and this video is pretty hilarious and motivational (accidental perhaps..)
Band 1973 from France

In preparation for Summer

Salon Tsé Tsé always has fun things that are playful, beautiful and inspirational. This is called 'winter coat' and is meant to hold icecream or something cold. The top can be frozen to keep your cool summer treats fresh. Their website is intensely creative and romantic. Read their 'about' page - it is a very sweet story.