BLOm StONED

extraordinary British garden designer Jinny BLOM has a new line of garden furniture- "SPORE"



"Available as a set of three, SPORE stools are the first in a new range of indoor and outdoor furniture made of a unique eco friendly mouldable stone. They were a commissioned design for a permanent installation at London’s Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, which recently won a prestigious BALI Landscape Award."

in fields of clover

at the Chelsea Harbour Design Centre

Chelsea Flower Show 2007 - Gold Medal Winner -The Laurent Perrier Garden
Jinny BLOM

Scottish Highland Estate~ a Jinny BLOM Design

...a bit gritty

" I believe I will dip my pink and white body in yon Roman tub. I feel a bit gritty after the affairs of the day." W.C. Fields

One requires a fine linen bathing dress, the same in a lace trimmed sheet to line yon bath for keeping the heat in, and Finally a hot toddy...

the lady blushes.

Juene Femoral au Bain, from the French School, beginning eighteenth century, Musee de Parfumerie Fragonard-Paris.


The infamous "La Pavia," Polish Therese Lachmann, once a Parisian courtesan-elevated to Marquise upon marriage, introduced Moorish flamboyance to the city with her inlaid onyx floors, marble and turquoise tile, agate-lined walls, solid onyx tub with gold trim and opal and sapphire encrusted taps. The tub had three taps-one said to be designed for flowing champagne. The bath was crowned with a ceiling and cornice of glass stalactites. Her amorous exploits are legend and La was considered to be one of the most exotic, fashionable and sought after "hostesses" in Paris. Her bedroom was something otherworldly...

oh! to be "La" in Paris.

La Pavia's salle de bain ( photo Ivan Terestchenko)

on to Marie Caroline of Austria's bathroom at the Reggia of Caserta. Marie Caroline-Marie Antoinette's sister, became Queen of Naples in 1769. Apparently this is the first bathroom suite as we know it today. Private and separate compartments were maintained for the bath tub and from there a door led into an area with two basins and a commode with flushing system invented in the 16th century. Marble floors, raised gilt decorations and a painting of the Three Graces decorate the bath niche. The carved marble tub with lion's heads, swagged drapery and elaborate egg and dart moldings is lined in gold-plated silver and the taps are gilt brass.

... like her sister,the ill fated Queen of France, Queen Marie Caroline's daughter, Marie Amalia, became Queen consort of France. Another daughter of QMC, Marie Terese, was mother to the second wife of Napoleon, Marie Louise. ...

"dear Marie."

the Bath Niche of The Queen of Naples

Jeanne Lanvin's Bedroom, Boudoir and Bath are considered to be so influential to French fashion and the decorative arts that the Musee des Arts Decoratifs has installed three of her rooms in their Twentieth Century Wing. Lanvin and designer Armand Rateau created the suite of rooms together. The color we now know as "Lanvin Blue" dominated the bedroom and her very personal collections were used to embellish the boudoir. Madame Lanvin, it is said, never felt nor wished to be a part of the clientele she dressed and felt comfortable only at home or in her atelier. One can thank Madame for the creating the colors Velasquez green and Polignac pink. Her rooms are the epitomy of femininity and sensuality...

"to one's own self be true."

Madame Lanvin's tub, Paul Plumet Art Deco Fresco

Legendary Elsie de Wolfe created a bath at her showplace residence The Villa Trianon that was larger than her bedroom. The Bath as well as the house with its period French Louis furniture was stamped with the ELSIE touch. She lived with her antiques- She bathed with antiques. Elsie adored receiving while in the bath, submerged in her huge tub and surely with her delicate curls wrapped in silk turban. I can see it now. The bath housed a Louis XV chaise percee, a painted marble tub, and a coveted collection of Chinese mirror paintings. Oh so modern carpets, wall to wall , laid over with rugs and a crackling fire kept Lady Mendel toasty...

"viva Lady Something Elsie."

Lady Something Elsie Mendel's Bath

Madeleine Castaing's family home near Leves could bring near tears to her eyes when reminiscing. "It was my grandparents home... A ravishing house...it has a certain mystery about it." According to this legend, she "seduced" clients with the "poetry I'm able to integrate into a house, the intimacy, the warmth, the tenderness." The rue de Bonaparte Castaing's last home,"just above her shop" carried the same mystery for her and the few granted admittance who visited her there. Her pink bathroom, very large, served as bath and Living Room; Madame watched TV here and felt it to be "extraordinary, but so badly put to use." The classically dressed bath with strong bronze appointments accentuate the pinkness of the room, along with the marble tub adorned by a black and white cameo, in the Pompeii style. The Charles X sofa in pink, of course, served to watch the television, basking in the filtering glow of pink...

the "Castaing Style" lives on.

Madame Castaing's lounge

"WW" Wallis Windsor. Much has been written and I have been smitten. I poured over the auction catalogs of the style icon years ago and marvelled at the objects she and her once Prince, once King amassed. Nothing could possibly replace what the two lost and elevated her to Duchess and he became the Duke. She was the titan, she-the leader, the best turned out. I think WW knew when to pour it on and when to go tripping lightly. Her bath, decorated to look like a tented pavilion, was created by Russian stage designer, Dmitri Bouchene. The bath is whimsy in the extreme- full of tendrils of lavender and the like with butterflys fluttering amongst the vines and flowers. Over WW's simple tub, a mirror and a sketch by Cecil Beaton done in 1936 hang. The colorful gouaches and prints on the walls surrounding the tub- from Bouchene, are New Year cards framed by the Duchess in simple gold leaf. Last but not least on striking lavender towels, etc. in script..

"WW."

WW's tubby

(photograph by Fritz von der Schulenburg)

Our leading man, Fields may have been heading in this direction. Basically, One only requires soap.

Gal in distress - an original photograph, movie still

( partial bibliography. Diane Von Furstenberg, The Bath. Mary- Sargeant Ladd, The French Woman's Bedroom. Phillipe Daverio, Porcelains and The Industrious Aristocracy of the Eighteenth Century. Hugo Vickers, "A Wash with Elegance," World of Interiors. )

the House of Beauty and Culture- thank you

thanks for the hook up... you're always Welcome at Our House

(the Muppets and Marisa Berenson sing...)

more Du Pré

...after the musical interlude posted last night- I listened and watched the entire Concerto and as I always am- swept up in the " watching." Jacqueline Du Pre was a force , Youth and Brilliance possessed by a cello. There is a fascinating movie about the Elgar performance by Du Pre in 1967 .

from emi classics

Rosa 'Jacqueline Du Pré', a Modern Shrub by Harkness, introduced in 1989, taken at West Green House, Garden Hopping,
can't wait for mine to bloom this year.

a musical interlude

a favorite musician, composer, composition, instrument-
how could I resist?

objects of desire

Frances Elkins-the designer painted by Fred Lyon

"The Elkins Chair" by Bobo Intriguing Objects

The inspiration for the chair :

1937 Design of a Card room by Frances Elkins.

(read more about FE by clicking this link)

and then there is THIS Elkins piece:

An original Japanned desk with Frances Elkins provenance

Francis Elkins English Japanned Secretary (see more pictures, from Richard Norton Inc, Chicago IL. (on 1st dibs)

England
Late 18th / 20th Century
A late 18th Century Lacquered Slant Front Bevelled Mirrored Secretary with later refreshed Japanned Decoration executed in London under the direction of Francis Elkins for the famed Kersey Coates Reed House, Lake Forest IL by architect, David Adler.

Isn't it wonderful~

My own Zurbarán

Saint Casilda (isabel/ elizabeth) by Z.

...right now the Frick Museum has a wonderful still life by Francisco de Zurbarán’s (1598–1664) Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose on loan to them from the Norton Simon Museum. Zurbarán is one of my many favorite painters and I actually have his Saint Isabel on as a screensaver right now.

Still Life with Lemons and a close-up by Z.

close up of Saint Apollonia by Z. at the Louvre

I've always found myself finding resemblances with this person and that person- call it a gift or a curse- It is inherited from my mother. This happens all the time, on the screen, in a magazine, looking at paintings, Anywhere. People that pass in and out of my life are etched Everywhere.

It is Proust's character Swann that draws comparisons to people and paintings throughout the novel. There is a superb new book I was given for Christmas- Paintings in Proust: A Visual Companion to In Search of Lost Time by Eric Karpeless. It is a fascinating look at all the paintings or painters referenced in Proust accompanied by the Proust passage.

How SURPRISED I was when on my niece's Facebook page- MY VERY OWN ZUBARAN! Liz and friends from her stay at the Penland School of Crafts in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She spent time there the summer after her freshman year and studied printmaking. The occasion was a parade of sorts-pictured with fellow artists-and wearing a helmet made by a metal sculptor. Liz is now a graphic designer in Chicago.

my own Zurbarán~ lucky me!

Saint Apollonia

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the Green White House

fantastic pic from eat the view

What a delight to hear that today the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden is officially breaking ground.

Again- Michelle Obama goes right to the heart of all that is good about her ascendancy as FIRST LADY. She knows what is what, current and important for children. The vegetable garden teaching experience phenomenon is growing, what better place than at the White House. Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington will help her dig up the soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot in a spot visible to passers-by on E Street. (It’s just below the Obama girls’ swing set.) Students from the school, which has had a garden since 2001, will also help plant, harvest and cook the vegetables, berries and herbs. (NYTIMES read the entire story)

Alice Waters , a champion of locally grown, organic food, has been trying for more than a decade to get first families to set an example for others by gardening and her Edible Schoolyard is now a nationally recognized program that takes school children out of the classroom and into the garden and the kitchen.

Alice Waters

the White House Garden Layout

Sam Kass, left, an assistant White House chef, and Dale Haney, a White House gardener, at the site of a new vegetable garden on the South Lawn.
(photograph by Stephen Crowley-NYTIMES)

no gowns are in the works~ this one worn by Verushka

and YES, there will be ARUGULA.

"Eruca sativa"
Giorgio Liberale and Wolfgang Meyerpeck
Woodcut
from Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501-1577)

an AESTHETE'S LAMENT

a real inspiration to my decision to start a blog~ after taking a breather, an AESTHETE'S LAMENT is back and continuing to inspire.....

the real voyage of discovery

consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Proust

photograph from my collection

Blown Away- Bella, Bella

(photograph by Fritz von der Schulenburg- World of Interiors)

It is hard to know where to start when thinking about Isabella Blow. I recently mentioned her to one of my up to the moment friends and she didn't know who Isabella Blow was. Makes me wonder? Where do I start? I've seen many pictures of this stylish woman, this muse, and fashion Icon.

a Steven Meisel portrait of Isabella Blow in her Belgravia flat wearing Horsehair Helmet by Treacy

To begin~ Blow is credited for discovering model,writer Sophie Dahl, Alexander McQueen and the milliner Philip Treacy . Her collaborations with Treacy were the subject of a 2002 exhibition at the London Design Museum, featuring all the hats made for her by Treacy. A book by Treacy, When Philip met Isabella, featuring some of her most outrageous outfits, was published to accompany the exhibition.

photograph by Zanna

Isabella Blow's London flat has just been featured in The World of Interiors, mar.- written by Natasha Garnett and brilliantly photographed by Fritz von der Schulenburg. This interior is what seems the most au courant about Blow.

For me, the private interior can reveal much about its inhabitant. Isabella Blow's Belgravia flat does not disappoint. Her grandmother had lived in Eaton Square and Philip Treacy said "when Isabella was low she would walk down the street and go and sit on the step of her grandmother's house- and that gave her comfort." Anyone can understand this longing to reach back to a memory of a loved one-especially a grandmother- a time when as a child we were blissfully happy.

Isabella's friends Seng Watson were architect, Camilla Guinness-designer. Guinness relates Isabella Blow's packet of decorating ideas arriving at her office with a copy of an entire illustrated book of George IV and notes in violet ink pointing out colors she preferred. One labelled "Flesh Pink!"- pointing to the King's cheek.

Shimmering Purple wallpaper, Treacy Hats-displayed as beautiful Art, Candlelight day and night, Antiques, an eclectic mix of period style chairs, Baroque doors that once graced a ballroom, a Crystal Chandelier from Isabella's grandmother (Doddington Castle-the family home), and a "papal" table from the same, Modern art, A video installation in the fireplace with flames filmed at Hilles, Detmar Blow's family home.


A mix to delight the eye. unstudied Theatre. Whimsy. Period details. Historic references. Personal style.

Perhaps my favorite page in the article- A Turkish disco ball, graphic painting of the Duchess of Windsor by Simon Periton, Books and Books, Hats float on the wall and display on swan-like hooks.


The Bedroom with a beautiful antique velvet pelmet and drapery , plumes, feathers above. Antique mirrors and modern wool work art.

Isabella's Venetian Lace Wing Hat by Philip Treacy on a plum velvet window seat in her drawing room

Isabella Blow wearing Venetian Lace Wing Hat-photographer unknown- Treacy said Life was an occasion for Isabella-reason enough to wear his hats.

Isabella's Minaret Hat becomes ART .

beautifully transcendent photograph by Donald McPherson, Isabella wearing P.Treacy Disc Hat

The Ship Hat by Treacy rests on the mantle along with Treacy's Warhol collection-the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe, personal photographs and a finely detailed mosaic mirror in lilacs and lavenders. The flat feels as if someone just past through and dropped precious bits, creating one still life after another-

Isabella Blow died, age 48 in 2007. Her friend Rupert Evert spoke at her funeral in Gloucester Cathedral where she had married in 1989. " You are a one off, a genius friend, your own creation in a world of copycats and I will miss you for the rest of my life."


More posts about Isabella Blow in future.

lovely dubliners

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

rather than any of this wearing o' the green, etc. here are these glimpses of lovely Dubliners~

bono kisses the Irish flag~




dvorak- a favorite~

(the paper cuttings are from an Irish scrapbook spanning the years 1847 to 1869)

without envy

"with a few dozen flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures, and some books, I live without envy."

~ Felix Lope de Vega

portrait by Tristan -1614.

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