Pretty Old Cars!

 

 I took my daughter to the auto museum here in Brussels the other day. She was really excited at the entrance and lost interest when she was told she could not sit in the exhibited cars. Me? I just wanted the Alfa Romeo.  Do you know that sound you make when you see a really well-made handbag that's stylish, classic and just with the right shade of "all you" but the price says "move along pleb" ? It's a kind of surprise moan-shout-groan. That's the sound I made when I saw the Alfa Romeo.

Is it the case that everything made before 1990 was made better? Cars look so plastic today. And, how cute are those Cinquecentos?

So just how old were the cars at the Auto Museum? Well, the carriage, immediately below, was used on the occasion of the wedding of Napoleon III to Eugenie de Motije  in 1893.

Cute huh? Some days I really appreciate Brussels. It gets so cutesy in certain spaces. And then at other times it's just a giant old confusing mess covered in graffiti. Bless them though. They do try.

The Things You Love

I am a bag lady? Are you a bag lady? You're a bag lady if you can't leave a Brocante shop with fewer than five tchotchkes. And that's why I love Deborah Buck. I love Deborah Buck of Buckhouse because she has a really good eye for putting tchotchkes to pretty use. I love that her vignettes inspire you to live with the things you love--the things you've acquired over time. This kind of home décor is great because nothing looks too contrived; and by using personally collected objects your home doesn't look like you copied it from a catalogue.

 

Buck seems to like arranging her vignettes with certain common threads: grouping similarly coloured objects together or objects of similar material; linking and creating themed imagery by grouping objects from the same culture/country/religion; mixing new or modern with older or shabbier objects; adding glamour to antique sculptures with the use of modern jewellery; giving her vignettes life with the use of flowers; and creating a background /setting using paintings or framed art.

 

I think I love her work because a single vignette can look like a cohesive work of art on its own--actually they each look like still life paintings. To take random objects and create cohesive still life/vignettes is quite inspiring. Very talented indeed.

Pretty.Old.Stuff: Collectibles

I think it amazing the way people live with the things they collect. This collection belongs to the photographer Géraldine Cario.  The photographer's Paris apartment was featured in Côté Paris. It seems to be the case that people who follow creative pursuits need to be surrounded by inspiration, and invariably, their spaces usually have an artful display of the things they collect, the things that inspire them.

Geraldine's space sent me on the hunt for other displays of collectible pretty, old, stuff.

Via Here

 

 

 

Via Here

 

 

Via Here

 

 

Via Here

 

And while I do not follow any creative pursuits outside of this blog, I myself enjoy being surrounded by collectibles. Below, the built in wall/bookcase in my home office.

 

Share with other collectors of objects if you like.

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Coco Chanel at the Saatchi Gallery in London

 I stumbled on a little ditty which says that Chanel is opening a new exhibition starting October 13, 2015 in London. The exhibition will cover three floors of the Saatchi Gallery (yes, Nigella's Saatchi) and will highlight the inspiration behind the brand. I dare say a bit of Lagerfeld's work will take center stage. Deservedly so, I suppose. Sometimes I think Lagerfeld does service to the brand and sometimes not.  But I just hope they have on display a number of Coco's mementos and pieces from her apartment at Rue Cambon 31.

Photos from Anne Street Studio and Harper's Bazaar

 

Head over to Saatchi Gallery for more on the Mademoiselle Prive Exhibition

Antiques and Interior Designers: The Battersea Antique Fair

 

Every year since 1985 the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair is held in Battersea Park  in London and showcases everything from museum-quality items, collector's items, quirky antiques to unusual pieces for furnishing the home. The fair brings together antique traders and interior designers/personal shoppers. This year the fair runs from September 29-October 4.

 

I like that one of the exhibitors demystified the fair by saying that half of their sales are made to young people between the ages of 25 and 40. Young people love antique and brocante---if you want well-made furniture pieces that are affordable you may simply have to go to the flea market.

 

On the Continent especially, it is rather rare to find newly-made furniture crafted from good wood and with exquisite cabinetmaking skills for an affordable price (i.e. young person's budget). My dining table which is brilliantly made out of cherry wood came with me from the US and I couldn't ever find a similar piece of furniture in Brussels for the price I paid for it in the US.

 One of the things I love about these types of fairs is the inspiration. Wonderful ideas are found on how to upcycle old world objet d'art.
 

 Also you get to shop among some brilliant interior designers and learn from them right on the spot. Shadow them, see what interests them, chat them up, and ask about the value of buying one piece or another.

Do not be intimidated. For a long time I assumed that shopping for antiques was a wealthy person's pastime. In Belgium, especially, you can be cured of that belief. Think and ask about provenance--especially for art. Also don't forget to keep your eye out for jewellery!

Get more on the Decorative Antiques and Textile Fairs Here