Festoon/Garland

A festoon or garland (‘guirlande’ in French) is a string of ribbons, flowers, fruit or foliage draped between two supports often used to decorate surfaces in the Greek and Roman period. This type of ornament had a great revival in the Renaissance and later on in the Neo-Classical period.

MILLE-FLEURS

Mille-fleurs (French), literally means "thousand flowers" and refers to a background made of many small flowers and plants. It was a popular motif in tapestry and other applied arts and crafts during the Middle Ages in Europe. Mille-fleurs style was most popular in late 15th and early 16th century French and Flemish tapestry, with the best known examples including The Lady and the Unicorn and The Hunt of the Unicorn. The term is also used to describe Oriental rugs with a similar design, originally Persian but later produced in much of the Middle East and Mughal India – the medieval European style may have been influenced by Persian miniatures or carpets. (Source Wikipedia – detail 18^thC Indian carpet)

COLOURS AND TEXTURES FROM THE 1950'S

Browsing a local antique market one day, I totaly unexpected, found this set of sample books. Binded in bordeau-red carton, looking nothing attractive at all. To my surprise they contained these very nice textures and fairly bold colours!

UPCYCLING CARPETS

SALMON SKIN

IT'S A BIRD !

I have always been a huge fan of patterns with birds. As a child I was fascinated by the busy patterned wallpaper in my room. It had a pink background colour patterned with a grey and white Toille de Jouy-type of design. Hidden between romantic farm houses and fully leafed trees, I discovered tiny little birds. During my hunt for retro borders (see earlier post) I was trilled to find these lovely creatures.

NEW SHUTTERS

Spring is in the air and summer will be here soon. However heart breaking sometimes, a good shutter comes in handy when the sun is reflecting your computer screen. A less painful solution is this printed venetian blind made by Luxaflex. A great product AND ideal for surface pattern design.

The Rebrith of Ikat

COLOURFUL PATCHWORK

They are never really out of fashion, reinvented over and over again:

THE PATCHWORK.