We’ve just received these lovely photos of a project using our transitional wallpaper. The wallpaper was applied to the walls of a medical consulting room and they make the space look calm yet so inviting.
Many thanks to Angèle at Entre les Murs for sending us these photos.
We’ve just received our order of bright, soft merino wool throws from our friend Thomas Eyck. Looking at this photo – I just want to dive in!
New in today - merino wool throw
We asked our friend Karla to take some photos of the shop. We all love the black and white photo
Above is a photo of the entrance and below is our main window. When I look at the window display, I feel like springtime is really here. I love the colours of the Mint chairs and the Eleanor Pritchard blankets set against the background of the wood panelling wallpaper.
the Collection shop
33, rue de Poitou
75003 Paris FRANCE
tel: 0033 1 42 77 04 20
Ceramics from Chris Keenan
If I was collecting ceramics I would be very keen to acquire some of Chris Keenan‘s work: Chris left behind his career as an actor to become a potter. Through a chance meeting with Edmund de Waal, well-known potter and writer, at his studio in Sheffield, he became a close friend and later was Edmunds’ apprentice. Chris has developed his very individual style of pottery, making only in porcelain with either tenmoku (a dark glaze), celadon or a combination of both.
Chris makes functional porcelain pots including one-off bowls, flasks and lidded jars, together with a range of domestic ware – cups, beakers, pourers and teapots. A few years ago he designed a range for Habitat called Sora and I’m the proud owner of a few pieces.
Rocking bowls
If you want to discover more of Chris’s work, go to his website
Allison Grant
Yesterday Karla sent me some photographs she’d taken of our wallpaper used for the interior of a beautiful new shop in the Marais. La Fée Maraboutée has just just opened on the Rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais. There are some beautiful clothes on display and the architect selected our ‘Some British Birds‘ wallpaper for the interiors.
This wallpaper consists of hundreds of British birds drawn by the musician and artist Edwyn Collins. Edwyn Collins’ music is part of my youth! He’s the Scottish musician and songwriter who started in a band called Orange Juice and after a few years with a solo career, gained worldwide recognition with the song ‘A Girl Like You’ in the 1990′s. If you’re still not sure who I’m talking about, have a listen here.
In 2005 Edwyn suffered two strokes which left him paralyzed on one side. As part of a plan to regain his mobility he started drawing birds. This was no mean feat given that he had to draw with his left hand, having lost control of his right hand after the strokes. Luckily for us, Edwyn’s friend Katja from Elli Popp saw the potential in the bird drawings and developed them into a series of wonderful wallpapers. When I look at these wallpapers I see the work of a man with talent and courage – a man who didn’t give up.
It’s wonderful to know that Edwyn is making music again and is also performing live. Edwyn Collins and Katja Behr – thank you! You make my heart sing!
Allison Grant
Today Sophie Cordey sent me the first of a series of photos of some of our products. Here’s a quick look before they go onto the website. I love their simplicity
and another…..
and another……..
Wallpaper outside
At the moment we are paying a lot of attention to Tracy Kendall’s cut and stitched wallpaper. I’m really pleased to be offering ‘In the White room’ wallpaper as a single length. But did you know that Tracy produced ‘In the White room’ in Tyvek for a landscape architect at the Chelsea Flower show last year? Here’s a picture of it. She was really pleased with the result which apparently stood up well to lots of wind and rain during the week of the show!
To see more of Tracy’s wallpapers, click here.
Allison Grant
Terence Conran – The Way We Live Now
Design Museum, London
If you happen to be in London this spring, its worth taking a trip to the Design Museum. I had the chance to visit recently and really enjoyed the exhibition on the designer and entrepreneur Sir Terence Conran. Conran turned 80 last year and it was fascinating to read about his childhood, to see his early drawings and to witness countless demonstrations of the drive and spirit which pushed him to set up so many businesses. There’s no doubt that Terence Conran has had more impact than any other designer of his generation on everyday life in contemporary Britain. It’s fantastic to see that he’s still at it.
The exhibition closes on the 12 April, so not much time left. Here are a few photos
Allison Grant
We automatically think of putting wallpaper on our walls but here are some other projects using wallpaper.
Below is a fairly large scale project from my own home: These cupboards are used for coats and shoes in our hallway. Its a project I did nearly four years ago and the cupboards still look good despite very heavy use. The cupboards are the PAX range from IKEA. I bought them with IKEA hinges but without the doors, so they weren’t expensive. I then had doors cut to size in MDF at my local DIY store and before mounting them onto the cupboards, gave them a coat of white matt emulsion. I then cut up strips of our ‘Scrapwood’ wallpaper in all three shades and pasted them on horizontally, in a haphazard way. I even left gaps which are difficult to see.
There you have it – customized cupboards!
Here is another example of doors covered in wallpaper. I took this photo in the ladies toilets at the Design Museum in London. Its the adhesive border from Custhom, that you can find on our online shop, applied to the toilet doors! I thought it looked great.
Below is a photo of an old mirror decorated with one of our hand-painted adhesive borders designed by paper maché artists Les Farfelus Farfadets
Here is a photo taken by my colleague Guyonne in her kitchen. She pasted our ’Plates’ wallpaper on the inside of her black open-out kitchen cupboards.
Make your own coathook with a piece of MDF, some simple wooden knobs and a striking piece of our Ribbon wallpaper.
Hello
My name is Allison Grant, I’m english and I’ve been living in Paris for ten years now with my husband and four children. I opened the Collection interiors shop in 2003.
I’m very passionate about design and craft and the overlap between the two. I’m also a great believer that your home and the things you live with can have a huge influence on how you feel every day.
I believe its important to buy sensibly too; more and more I try to think carefully before making purchases for my own home and I try to apply similar rules for the products sourced for the shop. I want our customers to buy products that are not only beautiful and functional, but they need to last too. I do believe that if we buy well, then we can educate our children to do the same.
I love products with a story behind them and when I’m in the shop in the Marais I can tell you the stories behind nearly all the products we have. In this blog I’m trying to do the same thing, so I hope you enjoy it.
Allison Grant