Fabric Houses – de Le Cuona

Tags

curtains, de le cuona, designer fabrics, fabrics, paisley

DE LE CUONA

What they have to say –

Bernie de Le Cuona

Bernie de Le Cuona founded what is now the world’s largest own brand linen collection in her kitchen in 1992, and to date has extended the name to include both paisley and eclectic lines as well an accessories and furniture collection. Her fabric designs are most notably the extensive collection of linen textiles with a luxurious drape and handle, wide range of hand woven paisleys, and eclectic mix of rich textured materials that accomplish a look of soft glamour and understated elegance. By harnessing unique methods such as metal detailing and the use of materials like alpaca wool and eel skin, she has evolved the brand into a company with an urban edge to compliment their previously known subtlety.

De Le Cuona’s unwavering commitment to the environment has lead to them  housing a wide range of eco friendly material and all natural product as well as a dedication to sourcing all fabrics from mills found in England and various parts of Europe. Their product can be found at their international flagship showrooms as well as distributors all over Europe, Australia, Asia, South Africa and the United States, (we being one).

What I find…

I love this company, their products suit my interior decorating style being an eclectic mix of natural but luxury fabrics. The look is always opulent but in a very understated way.

Fabrics are not only beautiful in their appearance but are so well constructed and finished that they are a joy to work with. We get consistently good results whether using the cloth for curtains, blinds, upholstery or accessories. Many of the linens are tumbled which means they lose their starchy finish and this helps to prevent the creasing usually associated with linen.

We used the fine wool paisley for curtains and a heavier linen for the Roman blinds

Detail of the upholstered pelmet and Roman blind in two complementary de Le Cuona fabrics

The branded accessories, cushions and throws are beautifully designed and exquisitely finished.

Contact us for details, brochures, prices etc..

 

Ponderings on Gold Leaf

The other day had me pondering a look that’s not usually my style of design.

Another designer  was exploring options for cladding a wall in a gold and silver finish.  This got me thinking…                                                                                                        I suggested that he look at actual gold and silver leaf on an Amourcoat  surface.  Armourcoat are specialists in wall finishes, polished plaster, metallics, and sculptural surfaces. When lit the sculptured contours of the surface create fabulous effects as they cause light and shade to fall across the wall.  I thought that finishing this with gold and silver leaf would be stunning.

Armourcoat Sculptural Wall - Coral

Quite often you have what you believe is an original idea but it rarely is.  As I began to do a little digging I discovered this wonderful image from www.gildingpros.com. It pretty much summed up what I had suggested!

Gilding from left to right onto a sculptured surface

Silver and gold leafing have become very popular in recent years particularly as a furniture finish. I’ve used silver many times but hardly ever gold, certainly not in its pure form and then only to enhance detail, curtain pole finials for instance.  Personally I find it just too yellow, too brash, too… golden.                                                                                   However if you were to look at imitation gold leaf (a combination of copper and zinc) which is sometimes refered to as ‘schlag’ or ‘Dutch gold’ you will find it available in many tones from very coppery red through to pale silvery gold.  In addition varigated finishes and patinations are available. This inspires all manner of different, softer looks.

Varied tones available in imitation gold leaf

For purchasing materials Ken Bromley Art Supplies is a good place to start but more specialised suppliers such as Wrights of Lymm have a wider selection of colours (see above) but their tools are more professional than craft based and therefore more expensive.

I’ve dabbled with the art of leafing for my own interest (with varying results).

Its fun and I thoroughly recommend trying it.  Experiment with both real and imitation leaf – the advantage of real is that it sticks to itself and is, therefore easier to use than the imitation however it is pricier. Choose something small to start with, a vase, mirror frame or old dish,  probably not a wall at this stage!

Having a go…

Watch one of the many youtube videos which give advice on ‘how to’.  This one by Susan Abdella is easy to follow and a good starter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcpcSjqovBM

Give yourself plenty of space and work in a clean environment since you will drop little bits of the precious metal everywhere. You get quite adept at picking them up with a dry brush but if you have messy tendencies and over do it with the glue you really will get frustrated as everything sticks to your fingers!

Using the professionals..

For clients we always use a professional gilder. Sebastian Wakefield www.paintersandgilders.com  or Angela Beaumont www.angelabeaumont.co.uk are two I can recommend. Both in Yorkshire but both willing to travel.

My Pinterest Board  ”Ponderings  on Gold Leaf”   http://pinterest.com/judithharrop/ponderings-on-gold-leaf/

Casalis – Slumber

Tags

bean bags, casalis

MORE THAN JUST A BEAN BAG!!!

Excited!!  We just specified these for a contemporary family room.

Belgian company Casalis launched these fabulous  SLUMBER  bean filled poufs at Salone del Mobile (Milan furniture show) earlier in the year.

 The covers are made in a three-dimensional knit fabric, composed predominantly of  kid mohair and merino wool (luxurious but hard-wearing) with some Lycra to keep the elasticity.

I think they are the most stunning bean bags.

They’re smart and stylish, versatile, practical and you can’t stop touching them….

Contemporary swags & tails

The tailor in me loves it when we get to produce a swag and tail window treatment.

The client took a leap of faith since she was intending to have short straight hanging curtains to the radiator cover. The fabric chosen is ‘de Le Cuona’s’ very beautiful but understated fine wool paisley, so a simple pair of curtains would have been a very suitable treatment. The fabric has a lovely drape quality and swings and falls in such a natural way.

However I felt that the space between the window and the wardrobes wouldn’t give the curtains room to ‘be’ so I suggested we get a bit more adventurous.

We planned the style and sizes of the swags and then produced a toile (mock up pattern). Useful, as the centre swag needed increasing in size.

The swags and tails were lined and interlined and pretty much all hand sewn. We used a lovely tassel trimming from Houles to finish the swag edges and a lovely silk mix velvet in deepest aubergine to line the tails.

A ‘Fabricant’ antique cream pole with the lovely pomegranate finials to hang them from.

LOOKING FOR WALL LIGHTS

The best part of this afternoon was spent trying to find a pair of gilt Rococo style wall sconces for a reception hall.

We decided on this lovely gilded tole wall bracket from Tindle. The scale and height is good for the space but the gilt colour is far too golden. The metallic in the Zoffany wallpaper we are using is a very warm silver rather than a gold colour.

“No problem” said Tindle, “send us the wallpaper with the colour you are looking for and we’ll get you a sample made.”

“Fantastic…and the surcharge for a special colour?” I asked

“No extra charge at all”

I shall have them look at a warm antique silver, an antiqued ivory and silver and also a darker oxidised silver which I am hoping will be a stronger contrast against the wallpaper.

This  is why I choose to work with companies like Tindle. The hassel free service they offer lets me have the detail I need to offer my clients.

Lets see what they come up with…