Ribbons

photo © Julien Faure

Some pretty ribbons to wrap up the week.

photo © Julien Faure

When you give a bouquet of flowers, why not make it even more special by wrapping a really pretty ribbon around the stems? As Louise de Vilmorin once said, 

they have the advantage of not wilting.

The talented Mme de Vilmorin had just the right, light touch in expressing things of the sort and didn't shy away from writing about simple things like ribbons.

Le ruban n'est pas un ornement superflu puisque son rôle est d'embellir. L'enfant lui-même y est sensible, et je ne connais pas de petite fille dont les mains ne se tendent avec avidité vers le ruban qu'une grande personne dénoue en ouvrant un paquet. Les ficelles sont pour les garçons mais ils n'en savent pas moins qu'un paquet, pour être beau, a besoin d'un ruban.

The ribbon is not a superfluous ornament because its role is to beautify. Even a child is responsive to it. I can't say I have ever seen a little girl who didn't reach out eager hands toward the ribbon a big person was untying to open a package. Strings are for boys, but they know nevertheless, that for a package to be pretty, 
it needs a ribbon.

There's no escaping it; the making of such intricate patterns can't be rushed. With so much artistry, time, energy and talent poured into these little bands of fabric, Virginie Wittmer, creative director at Julien Faure calls the high quality ribbons made by her company  "concentrates of humanity."

Another kind of textile: Marc Bankowsky

all photos from M. Bankowsky

There's nothing quite like fabric in the material world, but that doesn't mean it is inimitable. In fact, I collect or at least mentally record the instances I find other media that express the drapes and folds of textiles, so I'll start showing you some I've found. 

I've admired this screen for several years, but  I've just learned that the designer, Marc Bankowsky, had spent many years of his creative career weaving and making impressive textile installations . A true textilian,  he participated for several years at the Biennale internationale de la tapisserie Laussane and has exhibited his textile sculptures at the Musée d'art moderne of Paris and the Centre Pompidou. 

 Bankowsky's work has been directed towards the decorative arts since the 1990s. He also sculpts and makes very appealingly fanciful furniture of bronze. You can find a full range of his work in bronze, plaster and polyester resin on his site.

Textiles clearly remain important for the artist.

 This hinged screen has something of the drape and drama of Staff swags from the 30-40s as do 

the series of  pieces that follow. 

console

pedestals

frame

The other side of fabrics: brocade vs. lampas

Esther by John Everett Millais

"The painting depicts Esther, the Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, as she prepares to enter the presence of her husband. As she is uninvited, she risks death, but does so to inform him of a plot against the Jews.
Millais borrowed the Yellow Jacket, a gown given to General Gordon by the Chinese emperor after his defeat of the Taiping rebellion. In order to create a culturally unspecific effect, he turned it inside out, producing the abstract patterns visible in the painting."

Wikipedia explains this intriguing detail. The source of information is
Millais, J.G.,The Life and Letters of John Everett Millais

photo Gésbi-St Tyl

A wealth of silk on the back of some Tassinari & Chatel  fabrics.

Esther's gown is brocaded, which accounts for the great expanse of yellow ground. Tiny shuttles have been worked over certain zones on the loom to form the decoration. Like embroidery, the threads appear only where there is pattern, but as this is a brocade, they are woven in.

The lampas fabrics in my photo have supplementary decorative wefts that are mostly floating on the reverse side of the cloth where they are not worked into the pattern of flowers on the front -  the reason for an entire hairy cushion of silk across the back of the fabric.

This is possible when the fabric will not have heavy use, such as with certain curtains or in a museum or other historic reconstruction. Otherwise, a lampas weave uses a binding warp which extends from selvedge to selvedge to better anchor the weft threads to the back. If the fabric had been for upholstery, the decorative wefts would have been firmly bound to the ground, making a heavier cloth.

Wooly desks

source lainesdespyrenees

Are you ready for a little etymology today? 

So many words and expressions relate to fabrics and weaving if you scratch the surface a little.

In French, bure refers to a rough, resistant cloth of heavy weave that is associated with hooded monks, watchful shepherds, and scruffy peasants from the Middle Ages. The name for the cloth derives from burel, a heathery quality of brown, black or ecru wool.

source Orpostal

This cloth was also used to cover tables. Henri Havard described the wool rugs that protected tables from ink and lessened the noise of clattering coins for money changers. 

source planetefacility

In the 14th century, this wooly rug became known as a bureau. 
By the 15th century, it was not only the rug but the piece of furniture - be it bench, table or chest -  together with the rug that was known as a bureau. The meaning, as we all know, went on to include a room for work at a bureau/desk and further, an administrative organization, i.e., bureau de poste, bureau de style,  bureau of investigation....

New heritage at Tassinari et Chatel with Jean Boggio

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

The fabrics produced at Tassinari & Chatel are among the most sumptuous, most refined, most sought-after in the world of historic silks. In addition to exclusive made-to-order lengths for decorators and historic buildings, its Collection Patrimoine  is comprised of historic re-editions that span the centuries from the Renaissance to Art Deco, a treasure for  textile connoisseurs  the world over. Rare are the manufacturers today capable of  producing cloth of this level of technical and artistic perfection, but with a foundation that dates to 1680, this monument of textile history from Lyon has more than what it takes. Through the years, noble stones - Pernon and Grand Frères - have enriched the edifice. Today, the firm continues in the good hands of Patrick Lelièvre of the group Lelièvre.

So what is new in 2013?  The savoir-faire gained through the centuries has met with the ancient tradition of contemporary design. After all, those cherished historic designs were contemporary at some point! Following in the footsteps of Revel, Pillement, and more recently Lalique and Karbowsky, Mr. Jean Boggio has worked with the mill to create new fabrics every bit as worthy of the silkweaver as his predecessors. It's is history in the making.

photo Gésbi /St Tyl taken at the Tisserand Bronzier d'Art  stand of Maison & Objet

Majestic lampas (brocade), Ispahan

photo Gésbi /St Tyl  taken at the Tisserand Bronzier d'Art stand of Maison & Objet

Not many designs have been more fertile in textile history than the pomegranate. Ispahan places the mythical fruit among heady roses in a swirling Persian garden, at once lavish and playful.

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

Baroque spirit and bizarre style: this may be Jean Boggio's first textile collection but he is no novice to textiles. He has not only chosen the quintessential textile fruit for Ispahan, but his design calls to mind that brief but exuberant period of Bizarre silks from 1695-1820, where fruit, flower and fantasy (very strange objects sometimes) are caught in a vortex creating lively, asymmetrical, sometimes surreal designs. The 18th century fabrics typically have a juxtaposition of brocaded decor with damask vegetal or shadow elements that give a moving, 3D quality. Here, note the artistry of multiple weave patterns in the decor. Instead of a damask ground, there is finely etched foliage created by the weft.

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

The preliminary drawing of Jardin d'Eden from the hand of the artist, Jean Boggio...

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

and as interpreted on the looms of Tassinari & Chatel.

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

The effect is exotic and modern in this smooth, etched satin. Funny, I see a wink to very ancient techniques, 

just a suggestion of a Safawid incised twill here in this luscious, breathable atmosphere somewhere along the Silk Road. 

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

Soliman Border

To my way of thinking, borders are some of the most refined textile elements for --- 

the elegant underlining of the contours of the velvet settee, drawing your eye to the moldings of the ceiling, tailoring the edges of the curtains.... We don't see enough borders, so it's nice to see this one and to know that Ispahan is available as border, too.

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

Breaking with the vegetal world, but continuing the vocabulary of the designer, Petrouchka represents an acrobatic frolic with the stars, sun, and moon as props for the joyous jugglers who dance in pairs over this silk and linen brocatelle. 

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

Cushions made of Petrouchka and Soliman 

photo Gésbi /St Tyl 

The exotic baroque world of jeweler-silversmith and furnishing designer, Jean Boggio, is filled with themes of dreams, dance, and jungle flora with a style that has a certain affinity with Armand Albert Rateau.(I've written of the furnishings here.) The aesthete has an exhuberant, warm style and is clearly smitten with Tassinari & Chatel; he has an entire collection of vests fashioned with silks from the Collection Patrimoine that he wears close to his heart!

How to woo

photo St Tyl

This is the continued story of "Amour x  4" from my other blog,
Le style et la matière. 

It is a tale of courtship that, though unsuccessful, undoubtably left a lasting, if amused impression on la belle -- and textile traces in the wardrobe that she brought with her to France.

photo St Tyl

Ann Coleman's father met the Mandarin, Mr Woo, on a journey to China in the 19th century. Around 1877, Mr Woo traveled to the United States to study the American postal system in view of modernising the Chinese Imperial Post. As a guest of the Coleman family in Pennsylvania and in keeping with Chinese customs of propriety, he asked for the hand of the last born daughter, Ann, who was two years old at the time. Mr Woo gave many presents to his host as proof of his intentions including his portrait and this embroidered coat.

The coat in question is at the château of Villandry which Ann Coleman later called her home with her husband Joachim Carvallo.

An army of handkerchiefs: Avec armes et bagages dans un mouchoir de poche

"Il ne fallait donc pas se moucher dedans!"
"So I oughten't have used it to blow my nose!"
photo: St Tyl

 Mouchoir: linge de poche, ou vêtement de cou. (...) Les mouchoirs de cou, autrement dit fichus, se font en matières très differentes, depuis l'indienne et la soie jusqu'a la gaze, la blonde et la dentelle. C'est une des parties essentielles de la parure.

Handkerchief: pocket linen or clothing for the neck. Kerchiefs may be made in very different materials, from cotton indiennes to silk  and gauze, 

orris and lace. 

It is one of the essential parts of attire.

Dictionnaire universel du commerce, de la banque, et des manufactures...1838-1841

 photo St Tyl

"Handkerchief" comes from the French word couvre-chief, head covering. Hand-headcovering? Let's not even consider headkerchief and neckerchief.

Pictured above: "Le medecin dans la poche." 
Very handy indeed!

Avec armes et bagages dans un mouchoir de poche 
is an exhibit about printed handkerchiefs as used in the army.

photo St Tyl

Aretes et os dans le gosier

Fish and other bones in the gullet

photo St Tyl

Coups à la tête  -  Douleurs de dents

Blows to the head  -  Tooth aches

photo St Tyl

 Mouchoir des connaissances utiles/ handkerchief of useful knowledge

detail: "How to remove old rust stains from linen and cotton fabrics"

photo St Tyl

"Sizing for cloth of wool, silk, gauze and other articles of the sort"

photo St Tyl

"How to recognize if a wool cloth contains cotton" 

The humble handkerchief as a societal phenomena. This exhibit shows just how important this ordinary little item could be in the context of soldiering and its use as means of communication before being supplanted by films for the enlisted. Of the mutiple intentions and uses - historic, commemorative, fashion accessory, first aid supply, article of hygiene-  I've chosen to show the instructive side of these little squares of cloth.  

If we were to transport them into a fuller context of society, we might speak of gesture, modesty, flirtatiousness, theatrics, affectation, romantic souvenirs.... Snif...anyone have a Kleenex?

Musée de l'armée