Paper-Cut-Project: Artsy Wigs a la " Frank Gehry "

Another exquisite series of paper wigs from the artist duo Amy Flurry and Nikki Salk. They take paper and turn it into art pieces. Their most recent project is a micro-collection for Cartier, inspired by Frank Gehry architecture.

In the Spring of 2010, Amy Flurry and Nikki Salk were commissioned by Hermes for an exclusive Collection of 30 masks. Here are pieces from the collection.

Bear

Horse

Owl

Lion

Ram

Cockatiel

Courtesy Paper-Cut-Project

A Picnic with Hermes!

How about planning a day in the countryside, and have a picnic in a beautiful setting..... A blanket spread across the grass, whispering leaves rustling in the trees, a babbling stream near by, the Spring sun gently falls.... Get inspired with these foodie bags from Hermes.

Sac Kelly Picnic

Courtesy Hermes

Wearable Art: Hermes " Carre d'artiste "

The emblematic silk scarf by Hermes undergoes a dramatic transformation once again after having launched its first edition " Carre d'artiste" in 2008 with "Homage to the Square" by Josef Albers. For its second edition, Hermes has collaborated with French conceptual artist Daniel Buren, known for his sculpure in the courtyard of the Palais Royal, in Paris " Les Deux Plateaux " also referred to as the Colonnes de Buren,  and for his installation of striped posters around Paris and in more than 100 metro stations. Now Buren has his bright bands of color on 36 square inches of hand-hemmed Hermes silk twill. The capsule collection is called " Photos-souvenirs au carre,"a limited edition of print scarves, inspired by the artist's random "photos-souvenirs," snapshots of nature or architectural details from his travels all over the world. A piece from Buren's edition will run around $6,800.

As a material, silk is hyperactive, soft, vibrant, and transparent. In a word, it's sensual. When it is animated by a human body, all its qualities become apparent, Burden says.

The artworks from ‘Photos-souvenirs au carré’ will be presented during the week of the Fiac in partnership with the Kamel Mennour gallery and La Monnaie de Paris, at La Monnaie de Paris – 11 quai de Conti – Paris 75006 from October 20th to November 7th 2010.


Courtesy Hermes

Amazing Window Displays

Like the best advertising and the best art, the windows' statements are nothing if not memorable. Some displays are legendary for their artistry, detail and sly visual jokes.
Here is a selection of  elaborate and spectacular window displays.

Ostrich eggs at the Louis Vuitton store in London. Every few days a new egg is hatched revealing a new shoe, accessory or watch. Very clever !

It took six years to create this one, vintage and miniature mannequins at Bergdorf Goodman in New York.

" Little Red Riding Hood " is the theme for the Hermes store in Ginza , Japan.

Very different from the Ginza store, Hermes -Melbourne window displays feature black cardboard cutouts silhouettes and trompe-l'oeil paper bookshelf.

The whimsical window displays at Bloomingdales NY, that coincided with the opening of  Tim Burton's film "Alive in Wonderland" in March.

Skulls and stuffed animals on the window displays of this strange and weirdest store, The Last Tuesday Society in London.

Summer Scents & Sensibilities

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 Breitner the red kimono,Geesje Kwak posing

image from Hawkwood here

"Let a noise or a scent, once heard or once smelt, be heard or smelt again... & immediately the permanent & 

habitually concealed essence of things is liberated & our true self which seemed to be dead but was not altogether dead, is awakened & reanimated." PROUST

what fragrance moves you?
why?

photograph by Eugene Atget, around 1910

my perfume cabinet

fragrances 
evoke a season, a person, a moment

violets ~ 

Viola odorata

my GranMa carried a violet bouquet at her wedding, Dec. 1918
 the smell of violet, hidden in green

pour'd back into my empty soul & frame

the times when I remember to have been

Joyful & free from blame-Tennyson

in the cabinet, Napoleon Bonaparte presides

as candle by CIRE TRUDON

candle maker to the French Royals since 1643

why should we settle for one signature scent?

the scents that say summer for me-
a rose- a bouquet of violets- rows of tuberose- tobacco- lily

 my grandparents had a field of tuberose each summer 
Polianthes tuberosa

tuberose is night-flowering-the Aztecs called it bone flower

Tokyo Milk fragrances
(click on each fragrance to read the contents)
Poe's Tobacco No.1
Contemplation No.7
Waltz No.14
Ex Libris No.16

NICOTIANA

the overwhelming heady scents of a tobacco warehouse

a constant summer memory for me- en masse, or

the sweet remains of the day on my father's collar

Scents & Buddha
from diptyque- L'Ombre Dans l'Eau

 from Hermes  24, Faubourg

Madame Gres & Summer fragrance

Hermes Eau des Merveilles 

Hermes Eau de Pamplemousse Rose

summery citrus with rose notes

George Trumper Extract of West Indies Lime

a favorite of Pauline de Rothschild so says Mitchell Owens-de Rothschild expert

from the NYTIMES here

Pauline de Rothschild 

photograph here

BELLE FLEUR ~MAYAN TUBEROSE

a heady single note

 around the house, Candles, Diffusers 
in summer I prefer a single note floral, or lemon

AGRARIA~ LEMON VERBENA

CITRUSY fragrances in any form are summer favorites

inexpensive & addicting- 

VOLUSPA ~PANJORE LYCHEE

notes of lychee fruit, pear, sweet cassis

ANTICA FARMACISTA ~CASABLANCA

this- a fragrance and flower I could never fore go in the summer

Lilium Regale, drooping their heavy heads 

my own in the garden

"that was the moment I first saw the lilies. and that was the moment when, having seen them,I mentally signed the contract to buy the house...I had to possess those lilies...The lilies were a variety known as Regale, and they stood in rows of glistening white down the whole length of one side of the kitchen garden.a faint breeze was stirring, & as they nodded their heads there drifted towards us a most exquisite fragrance.never before, in any garden of the world, have I seen such lilies; their loveliness was literally dazzling;the massed array of the white blossom was like sunlit snow. nor was this shining, shimmering beauty merely the result of mass, for as I walked closer I saw that each individual blossom was a perfect specimen, with a stem that was often four feet high, bearing on its proud summit no less than a dozen blossoms." BEVERLY NICHOLS

Fumée d'Ambre Gris

John Singer Sargent

& Incense
  ESTEBAN ~CEDRE
the only one I use year round.

 Eau d' Teou

by Dissey & Piver

a label for the perfumer with Chinese figures & a dressing cabinet

my perfume cabinet is in the bedroom

 

 a rare perfume cabinet made of marquetry from the 18th century used for traveling

from the Natural History Museum in Paris

 

"Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it." Patrick Suskind



Hermes here
Diptyque here 
the Style Saloniste writes about Coup de Foudre by DelRae Roth here
Read the extraordinary post by Hawkwood about the sitter of Breitner's painting here
Rose C'est La Vie draws violets here
a Tobacco History here
Tobacco warehouse image here
the Esoteric Curiosa on the Baroness here
LUXE APOTHECARY here from Voluspa candles here
Fiquet Bailey on green here
Dissey & Piver label, 18th c. cabinet images from The Book of Perfume,by Barille & Laroze
Das Perfum by Patrick Suskind here
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