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• Ask
ten people to define or describe French interior décor one
is sure to receive ten very different responses. To some it might
mean a bedroom swimming in layers of toile de Jouy fabric. To others
it might conjure a room filled with rococo furniture favored by
Madame de Pompadour in the 18th century.
• To
us, it represents more ephemeral qualities rather than a specific
combination of decorating rules or pieces.
• The
best of French style is about risk-taking - whether in home
décor, fashion, architecture, culinary arts, literature.
It is the antithesis of predictable. French style is -- almost by
definition -- fresh, unexpected, thought-provoking, often asymmetrical
or curvaceous, and never, never, stodgy.
• Even
before a trend hits the mass markets, the French will be off in
other directions, offering hip consumers new interior design directions.
• The
veneration of history and antique furniture, fines arts and domestic
accessories also plays a part of French style. The cultural context
is critically important to the French, though not so slavishly
applied as to become predictable in design practice. So while beloved
antique furniture and art may be handed down from generation to
generation -- the room-settings are always in flux - new additions
to collections of fine porcelein, old paintings moved to different
rooms; bold, new colors applied to the walls behind an 18th century
giltwood mirror.
• Dynamism
characterizes the French approach to all style issues. Nothing
is static, the principle is an open-mindedness to change.
Jane
Pierce Losson
Interior Design Consulting
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