The Swelle Life

Swelle on Houzz.com: Pastel Mid-century Modern

You may have noticed the widget in the first sidebar that always shows some neat furniture or decor items. It links to my Swelle Ideabooks on Houzz.com, an incredibly inspiring site for endless daydreaming about spaces and the things that make you want to live in them. If you don't already know it, you must visit. You will return, I promise you. 

Since being asked to contribute, I've created five Ideabooks featuring 20 products  each that fall within a theme I've chosen for that month, with my thoughts on how it might work in a space (and I love it!). My fifth collection is Pastel Mid-century Modern, my tied-for-all-time-favourite architectural and interior style. (I think you  know what the other one is, and there are four idea books for that.) The George Nelson sofa is shown in black but colour options are available in your mix of candy and pastel colours which would look like a paint-by-numbers set of paints. Imagine the combinations! 

Each product links to the website where I found it so you can get full details and order. I admit it can be torturous! But it's too dreamy not to indulge.

Saving the 'Gone With the Wind' Dresses

You would think the costumes from one of Old Hollywood's most iconic films would be preserved with the kind of care afforded to newborns. Yet the velvety brocade and feather embellished garments from the epic Gone With the Wind were not treated as precious, they were tortured! Well, not intentionally so, but some do look a bit nasty now as a result. Compare the Technicolor emerald green and brilliant gold of Scarlett O'Hara's curtain dress as seen above on the set to the faded mess it is today:

Ack! Was it pulled from a swamp? How did it and other important pieces from film history wind up like this? It's a combination of factors. The dresses endured decades of traveling on display and had been on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. They were dry-cleaned multiple times, sprayed with disinfectant - likely Sudol, similar to Lysol (that can't be good) which could have affected the rate and nature of the fading (no kidding) - and displayed in department stores. However, streaks of 'brown mustard' discolouration remain an unsightly, dijon-esque mystery.

Some pieces, such as the burgundy ball gown, have retained the depth of their colour, but Scarlett's veil is unfortunately a lost cause. Brittle, creased and too fragile to be handled, it has booked a one-way plane ticket to Miami and is learning to lawn bowl.

Associated Press was invited to observe the restoration process undertaken by the Harry Ransom Centre at the University of Texas and gave us these photos of the costumes in their current state. It will cost $30,000 to restore five dresses which, according to the Yahoo article, are from the collection of David O. Selznick which was acquired in the 80s. The producer of Gone with the Wind died in 1965, so I'm guessing his family took possession of the collection. All of this is about getting the pieces in good shape for a 2014 exhibit to mark the film's 75th anniversary.

So how does one approach repair on garments that just can't take any more? The Ransom Center has enlisted the help of the University of Texas' textiles and apparel technology lab to analyze the fibers in the faded areas. New technology will allow the fibers to be examined without being destroyed.

Cara Vernell, an independent art conservator who specializes in Hollywood film costumes and is doing the restoration work explains, "We do not add color back. That would be me, this lone individual in the 21st century, deciding what that was going to look like 75 years ago. It's unethical. You just don't do that. We honor the history and we honor the piece."

I get it.

Photos from AP

Versailles Series: Marie Antoinette's Petite Chambre

I've been dying to get back to my tour of Versailles! We're back on track now with Marie Antoinette's bedroom. I know what you're thinking, "This can't be it." Well, this was just one, her bedroom in the Petite Trianon, her private chateau (which really was private - husband Louis had to ask permission to enter, not that he really cared to).

It's very modest in contrast to its salons, though surely better than anything we have, but still very small (which is why the angles in the photos are short):

Either she was incredibly petite or she liked to sleep in the fetal position. I don't think she had a choice here!

The reflection in the mirror looks odd due to my crude eradicating of the tourists (yes, I know I am one, too, we're all guilty of ruining each other's photos) 

Marie Antoinette's other 'throne'

Now I found this a bit odd. As you stand in the doorway to her bedroom you will find a tiny salon to the left. I guess this was her ensuite sitting room and there's nothing strange about that, but it just felt so awkward, kind of shoehorned into the space. Though still lovely and not lacking in the handcrafted detail of the grand salons, done in white with gorgeous silvery blue tapestry accented with lots of gilt, of course.

That second mirror on the outside wall seems strangely placed?

 
    

Lots more to come next week (and the next week, and the next week...)!

Photos © The Swelle Life

Caaaashmere!

Cashmere is one of those few universally adored things,  who wouldn't want to feel incredible softness against their skin? There's a reason premium toilet paper boasts of its likeness to it! (It's still not quite the same, though I appreciate the effort.)

So where do we get the fibres that make the coveted cashmere knitwear we all lust after so luxurious? The cashmere goat, and the whitest and therefore finest is said to come from Mongolia who produce the second largest quanties behind China. If I had access to a baby cashmere goat I'd be rubbing my face in it, too. It doesn't get softer than the little ones.

The double fleece hair, consisting of of a fine, soft undercoat mingled with a straighter and much coarser outer coating, is naturally shed during the spring moulting season and collected for the textile industry (the goats don't even know what they're missing!). It then goes through a mechanical process called de-hairing that separates the coarse hairs from the fine hair, preparing it be dyed and converted into yarn, fabrics and garments.

I used to make felts and have used cashmere fibres which I blended with fine merino. This produced the most gorgeously soft felts, and whenever I worked with the cashmere I had to snap myself out my ritual of rubbing the wispy fibres through my fingers. And I admit to sitting with the 'top' - that's when fibres that have been carded and combed for feltmaking - in my hands as if I'm holding a little bunny. That is some magical hair.

Versailles Series: Marie Antoinette's Chateau, the Petit Trianon Pt. 1

Originally built by Louis XV between 1762-1768 for his long-term mistress, Madame de Pompadour (who did not wear a pompadour), the Petit Trianon was eventually given to Marie Antoinette by Louis XVI when he became the King of France (and let's not forget Navarre) in 1774. Unlike the elder mistress of his grandfather who died four years before its completion, Queen Marie actually did live in it.

At 19, she'd already been married for five years after being shipped off from Austria by her mother to marry the future king of France and didn't care much for her royal duties.  She spent much of her time in the (relatively) little chateau and its gardens with her few friends, and later with her children.

It is said that even King Louis wasn't allowed to enter his wife's domain without her permission (impressive) and that he really didn't mind. (You can take that both literally and figuratively - he was more into his hobbies than his wife and they didn't consummate their marriage until 1777, according to a letter Marie Antoinette wrote to her mother. However, considering they were 15 and 14 years old when they married it makes the whole thing far less gross. )

And our tour continues! (The really cool rooms start with the next post.) As you walk into the grounds of the Petit Trianon you see...

 
 

 

     

  

 

Have you seen that Seinfeld episode where George's dad puts a pool table in a tiny room and every time someone goes to shoot they slam their cue into the wall, themselves or someone else? This room reminds me of that.

 
 

 

  

 

 

 

 
  

Everything must be gold!

 

 

 
   
 
 

 
 

 

Lots more to follow and it gets better. This tour is a slow burner!

Photos © The Swelle Life

Interview: Textile Designer Angela Hooker

  Owl feather print textiles by Angela Hooker in collaboration with Felder Felder, AW11

Prints are bringing fashion to life in a way not seen since the 1960s, and textile innovation has opened up exciting new concepts in garment design. Getting dressed is now even more fun! London-based design duo Felder Felder have established their brand as the go-to for a rock n' roll look with a sophisticated twist, their last two collections bursting with textural techniques on dyed leather and layered prints on an array of fabrics and opacities. This dynamic new dimension to their signature edgy look is the result of their collaboration with brilliant young textile designer Angela Hooker.

I wanted to know more about Angela and how she works so we had a conversation - lucky for us she doesn't spare any details!

So you're from Paris?

Yes, I was born in Paris 14e. My mother is French and my father is English. I came to live in London when I was 17, to study at the Central Saint Martin's and never left. I used to go often to Paris while a student especially, to visit family and friends. These days I go less often, only once a year for a few days during Paris fashion week at the moment.

Parisian and London style are quite different, Paris being about easy elegance while London nurtures individual expression. Your techniques with slashed leather, bright hues like cobalt and fuschia, and textural richness created through digital prints as seen in your work with Felder-Felder for their Spring 2011 collection, would suggest that the London style got into your head. Or did you arrive with these kinds of ideas and develop them in your time at CSM?

While living in Paris I was designing fashion for myself and also worked for a little while at Malhia Kent's workshop. The company is well known for designing "fantasy tweeds" for which Coco Chanel is famous worldwide. They mainly do weaving and traditional textiles. I was 15 years old; it was my first paid job.

Central Saint Martin’s was a splendid eye opener. We had lectures and projects at college with designers and artists such as Gilbert & Jorge, Grayson Perry, Eley Kishimoto, John Galliano’s assistant Elisa Palomino, to name a few. Their advice and opinions really opened my eyes on all the opportunities and directions I could take as a designer, a real confidence boost and inspiration. I learned to think outside the box. My goal as a fashion and textile designer is to create original pieces, fresh textiles - London is the best place to embrace such projects in my opinion.

How wonderful to work with the tweeds at such a young age! How much were you taught in school regarding techniques? Did you find your style largely through experimenting on your own?

At college we were given the facilities/equipment to create, such as a great library, a print studio and a design studio. We were trained on the basics of pattern cutting and we also learned the basics of dying and printing. Then it was all up to us, we were free to do pretty much what we wanted with no commercial restrictions. I learned the most from my fellow classmates. The school is mainly there to teach you that you can do whatever you want, just get your hands in there. Central Saint Martins taught me to open up and build confidence in my creating process. Before I went there I had piles of designs on paper and I was never sure what to do with them. At Central Saint Martins I actually executed them 3D, all my ideas became real and achievable.

Angela Hooker's dyed, slashed and twisted leather in collaboration with Felder Felder, SS11

So it was at CSM that you met Daniela and Annette Felder and you collaborated after you graduated. What were your plans before you began to work together?

Daniela and I were in the same class for three years during our BA Fashion Print at Central Saint Martins. Annette did a fashion journalism/marketing-oriented BA course, nonetheless she was around all the time with us on the second floor of the Charing Cross Road building, where fashion print students hang out for breaks next to the print room. They are always together so if you meet one you’ll meet the other.

After I graduated I started working as an assistant designer for Manuel Vadillo and then became a brand specialist at Selfridges for Balenciaga. Nicolas Ghesquiere, Balenciaga’s head designer, is for me the top designer of our generation, an inspiration. I love his androgynous silhouettes and classic Spanish tailoring. As a brand specialist I got to assist the buyer on a trip to Paris for the Spring/Summer 2008 laser cut collection, one of their best. My favourite piece was the robotic metallic trouser-suits.

Felder Felder stocked one of their early collections in Selfridges. It was a wonderful surprise when they came to the shop to give the staff a brief lecture on their collection; this is when I discovered that they were already established as a brand. Later on I asked them if they needed help for textile designs and printing and that is how we began working together.

Where did your palette and print inspiration for Felder Felder AW11 come from?

The inspiration for this textile collection comes from the uncontrollable beauty and breathtaking power of nature; from a barn owl in mid air to thunder in a midnight blue sky. This was applied to create the the "owl feather" digital print, printed on silk and canvas - we did a petrol green version as well as a warm grey; the goat hair, hand dyed in petrol green; and the thunder blue leather which was hand tie-dyed.

How do your currently create your print samples?

I either take fabric and leather from Felder Felder's studio or I go and buy my own around Brick Lane, Dalston and sometimes Shepherds Bush. I also go and buy a few dyes and spray paints from art shops. I’ll then create a few textile ideas, three to seven samples I already have in mind and want to try out. The next step is to go and do some research for my colour palette and textures by going to exhibitions, libraries and on the Internet. I then start experimenting and developing my textile ideas in 3D. Once I’m happy with the samples I will start designing digital prints in the same style.

Are you interested in creating your own designs to apply your prints and textiles techniques, under your own label?

I believe teamwork works best for me. At the present time I am interested in working on digital textiles and embroidery in collaboration with more fashion labels. I'm also looking to do a lot more work with soft furnishings textiles. If I ever were to have my name in a label it would be in partnership with another one I believe - needless to say that individuality counts but teamwork is dynamite!

So how does your creative process work in a collaborative project? Do you see the designs and hear the concept of the collection first and then go to it? Or do you all sit down first and brainstorm that way?

With Felder Felder we work in collaboration. We have a first meeting regarding the inspirations for the new collection, silhouettes, fabrics and colours. I will take notes and contribute to the first stage of the creation in our brainstorm meeting.

From there I create new textile samples especially for the Felder twins label - I have a week or two to come up with six to twelve new textile creations and up to a hundred digital prints. They might choose three to four textile samples and one digital print. The twins develop a new collection from there. We have weekly meetings during that stage too as the textiles and the collections grow together. The samples will merge with the designs and change slightly during the process; for example the colour of dyes might slightly vary. It gives me the time to perfect the textile production sides of things, too.

With the lightning fast pace of fashion and the very short timelines to come up with brilliant textiles and prints, there's no time to wait for inspiration. Are you able, each time, to leave a meeting and go right into creating for the collection? What would you do to faciliate the process if it didn't come together instantly?

I am always up to date on fashion trends and am looking for inspiration non-stop on a daily basis, as I really enjoy it. I always have my A6 sketchbook with me in my back pocket, so if I have an idea walking down the street, on the bus, in an art gallery, I can sketch them straight out and go home to sample them.

By the time the meeting for the new collection comes I already have a selection of ideas and mood board of my own. A first meeting with Felder-Felder develops my ideas and finalizes them towards one strong direction. I will sketch during our meeting, take photographs; translate visually what they expect for their next season and make sure I understand their vision accurately after our first meeting. I get started straight away on samples the same day.

Right now, for example, I’m already sampling for next season, sketching and brainstorming ideas that I will finalize after this week’s show. I always try to be ahead, it’s more exciting that way. The only thing that would facilitate the creating process would be for me to have 24-hour access to a print workshop, ideally my own!

We hope you will one day, Angela!  You can follow Angela Hooker's work at her blog

 

Photos: Header by Felder Felder, Mahlia Kent by Angela Hooker, the rest by Denise Grayson

Interiors & Exteriors: Saltburn-by-the-Sea

  

Now I love our beach, the aptly named Longsands that spans Tynemouth to Cullercoats, and the neighbouring idyllic King Edwards Bay with the Priory Castle overlooking the North Sea from its beautiful, craggy cliff. But last weekend I really fell hard for the beach and seaside community of Saltburn-by-the-Sea in North Yorkshire. We were visiting our lovely friends in their new home in Yarm for the first time and they spoiled us in all kinds of ways, and one of them was taking us to their local beach to share the beauty.

Not only was the beach gorgeous and expansive with an impressive look-out pier, there were all kinds of charming little shops, restaurants and ice cream stands, and of course anything one needed to surf (no, I didn't, that would look ridiculous).  It was a clear, sunny day and people from all over had come to pretend it was spring. I have never seen a queue so long for fish and chips, and in England that's saying a lot.  (It was worth the wait!)

This post  is for this week's Interiors & Exteriors feature and it's long enough sticking to the theme, so I'll post the beach shots separately. Are you craving fish and chips now? I am.

In the town, just a quick uphill walk from the beach, there were some great shops. I was already lagging behind and we needed to eat lunch so I didn't go in, but I wanted some photos of the wonderful window displays of Northern Lights Interiors

As I was snapping away I saw a woman smiling from inside - you can see her below! and I smiled and waved. As I headed down the road she came out after me and asked if I'd take photos of the storefront, they'd been having trouble getting them without cars in the way and I was happy to oblige. I even had a man ham it up for me!

 

We passed a random rusted-out door that appeared to lead to nowhere with a keypad right in the middle. I'll bet if you pushed the right numbers it would transport you to another dimension. Prove me wrong!

  This photo would have been so much cooler if I'd waited just 10 more seconds...

 

On display at Arts Bank were lamps and tables in vibrant patchwork by Jane Atkinson and a metal sculpture by Ray Lonsdale. Each contains a 'secret meaning' in the form of an object placed in the head. Now, if I'd read the brief beside this life-size contemplative man instead of taking a photo and reading at home, I would have looked and been able to tell you what was in his head! 

 
   

Photos by Denise Grayson

Lu Flux's Personal Toile de Jouy

A couple weeks ago I covered Lu Flux's SS 11 collection Over the Hills and Far Away and wondered as to the origin of the print on this wonderful men's outfit and women's dress, knowing Lu there was a story behind it. And it turns out there is!

I'll just relay what Lu told me:

"The prints are drawn by my good friend and many time collaborator Neil O'Driscoll (he also makes my films each season). A very talented man! The toile de jouy is in fact personalized and is made up of pictures of me and my boyfriend Alex, our dog Burt Wellington and many of our friends which is so so lovely."

Isn't it? How great would it be to have you with you friends, furry ones, too (I love that her dog's name is Burt Wellington!), immortalised in a toile de jouy? I've always loved this style of print, especially in blue, and it flows right into Lu's style of storytelling through clothes. My first recollection of the toile de jouy was in my aunt's teenage bedroom when I was very little (looks awesome under Shawn Cassidy posters). And I think on a quilt, too, also at my grandparents'. Both in blue.

A little background - the toile de jouy originates in - can you guess? - France! in the late 1700s in Jouy-en-Josas, a village near Versailles. The factory that manufactured it was founded in 1760 by German-born Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf, (1738-1815), a textile entrepreneur. According to Quilter's Muse, the factory at first produced only floral designs block printed with wood blocks. In all, more than thirty thousand block print designs were utilized to print fabric there. Imagine the archives!

As for who printed Lu's, I think I know, but I'm quite certain it wasn't done with wooden blocks!

Intergalactic Transport Blackmarket: For Quilts, of Course!

 

 

Can you say your quilt is made by an Intergalactic remnants trader? You can, if you buy one of Jimmy McBride's aka Stellar Quilts hand embroidered creations. I have never, ever seen quilts - or anything else from an independent craftsperson/designer, well he's a textile artist actually - promoted this way. I pity anyone trying to top this film featured on Etsy for ingenuity, it's a tall order. Traditional craftsmanship combined with forward thinking has limitless potential for new concepts that appeal to what lies within so many of us these days - a yearning for that nostalgic feeling, and the wonder of technology. They can co-exist! I love McBride's message that no matter how advanced we as a civilisation become, we will always need comfort and warmth.

Do you remember when you were a teenager and started going over to guys' houses (only when parents were home, Mom and Dad if you're reading this - and they were gay!) and you first saw their bedroom (as you passed the open door on your way to the bathroom) and you saw that they still had a space-themed bedroom? McBride's quilts are the perfect transition piece from space-loving boy to man, so if you're 15 and you're still into your planets and stars and spaceships and beginning to feel a little uncomfortable about it but you aren't ready to pack it all in for the grey or navy striped bedspread, you don't have to leave it all behind - you can still have planets and stars plus nebulas, spacestations and a scene depicting an "attack on the energy collectors surrounding V838 in the 3rd quadrant occupied by the Reni"! Each quilt tells a part of McBride's intricately woven space odyssey so if you really want to indulge in the fantasy, oh boy can you! And you've invested in a piece of art you can really live with.

Pillar in the Carina Nebula

 

Hey, wait, it's ok Mom and Dad! That's (my brother) John's room I'm remembering! It was like being in Battlestar Galactica. Which reminds me that the only non-girlie thing I ever wore was Battlestar Galactica running shoes when I was 9. I don't know what happened there but they must have been the only pair Buster Brown had in my size at that particular time my feet grew another centimetre. That's the only place my mom would take us because they measured our feet properly and sold proper shoes. In other words, they didn't sell Sparks. I remember one day we had to take off our shoes at school for some reason and I was the last to grab mine from the pile to put back on, and the teacher held them up and said 'Whose are these?' and I sat there looking around thinking some dummy doesn't even recognise his own shoes. The other kids had to remind me they were mine. I tried to pretend that of course I knew they were my shoes, I was just taking my time getting up. Me and those BGs, we just didn't gel.

'How Much Silk Does a Silkworm Silk?'

In the spirit of showing the processes behind the final creation - that's not a non-sequitur but rather a reference to a theme that runs through this blog - here's a video presented by Summer Rayne Oakes in which the model, author, and promoter of sustainibility in beauty and fashion takes us through the story of how silk is made by and procured from the silk worm. It's a lighthearted illustration of a process that's quite astounding if not a bit nasty, if you care about these little silk-spinning caterpillars. But there is a kinder way! The downside is, the silk isn't as good.