Grace Kelly at the beach.
Grace Kelly at the beach.
Interior Designer Jacques Grange’s Paris home is nothing short of perfection. And I”m not only saying this because Grange is my top favorite designer. The classic details of the 18th century architecture sings in perfect harmony with a mixed of Art Deco and contemporary furniture with 18th and 20th century pieces and Objects D’Art. “Harmony is a question of eye and personal feeling; there is no recipe” says Jacques Grange. And he sure knows how to accomplish that to perfection. His book, Jacques Grange: Interiors, published in 2009 was one of the first International Interior Designers book I got and it’s still today a major sourse of inspirations for me.
Jacques Grange’s Paris home overlooks the lush gardens of the Palais Royal and it used to be home to the novelist Colette. Colette’s stepdaughter offered the apartment to Jacques Grange in 1990. Grange, not having the money to buy the apartment back then, he instead rented and finally bought it in early 2000’s. The oack paneled library above is warm and inviting.
I love to get a sneak peak into designers’ world and get to see a little bit of their workspace.
Pablo Picasso in his studio via here.
Kelly Wearstler in her office.
Valentino, working his magic. Below is his London home office designed by Jacques Grange.
I’m inspired by outdoor spaces a lot lately and these ones do it for me.
P.S. Below is a picture of how our deck looks like now after the winter. I’ll be working on it on my spare time to make it cozier and more habitable. I’ll be showing you the process.
On Wednesday I attended an invitation by Joel Woodard whose wife is Susan North, Sr. VP of Design for Schumacher, to “A Celebration of Chintz” at Schumacher in the D&D building to honor the legendary Albert Hadley. Susan has been working for the past year with Hadley to reproduce a beautiful English chintz he first used in Mrs. Nancy Pyne’s house more than 40 years ago. As life would have it, after 40 years Mrs. Pyne still had in her possession faded remnants of the fabric which she lent Schumacher to reproduce. The fabric is offered in very chic shades of charcoal, pale grey and ivory, and a crisp indigo blue and white, and a soft sepia-hued colorway. The fabric is made of a lightly calendared fine cotton ground that gives it that light glow and makes you want to sleep in it because of its softness. This Chintz fabric called “Pyne Hollyhock Print” is absolutely gorgeous because the flowers are not of the typical small size but big and don’t overwhelm. Unfortunately I am a little bit of a procrastinator and by the time I asked for a sample they were gone but you can see the fabric here. You can see pictures of the event here.
The most important moment of the night for me was when I had the pleasure of meeting Hadley. It’s admirable to see how humble he is. He is incredibly humble and sweet. We briefly talked about Parsons, design in general and the Pyne Hollyhock print. We shared some laughs after I recited one of my favorite quotes by him “you can never do anything for a slob.”
“But names really are not the point,” he says. “It’s what you can achieve for the simplest person. Glamour is part of it, but glamour is not the essence. Design is about discipline and reality, not about fantasy beyond reality.” Albert Hadley I guess this quote by Albert Hadley can explain my answer to how he has remained humble and grounded. Two of the main qualities of class that are priceless.
Albert Hadley from Adam Lewis’s Albert Hadley: The Story of America’s Preeminent Interior Designer