Chez Pascal Palun: Recoup' & Treasure

Love it or leave it, the Provencale "brocante, linen and found object" look is here to stay. Maybe as a reaction to the frantic, digitized and depersonalized world we all inhabit now, and certainly fueled by an economy that encourages us to all "make do with what we have", as well as a desire to save the environment, people respond warmly to old things that are resurrected, refashioned, and given place of honor in homes.

Pascal Palun has long been a favorite of mine for her wire sculpture chandeliers. She lives in and works in Avignon; her influence is worldwide. Her chandeliers hang at l'Escale and adorn the home of John Malkovich. And according to my friend, Jaclyn at the gorgeous blog Haute Home, even Anthropologie taps her immensely creative ways with old things for their imaginative store displays and identity.

Now a peek into her own home. She has furnished it with things she has found at flea markets, garage sales and on the street; found objects that have weathered through to find their way into her heart and home. For Pascal, living with old things is "not looking backwards..on the contrary, it's a way to reconnect with a history, to give to old things new value and another dimension..it's the mysterious difference that exists between an electric lightbulb and the light from a wax candle."

Her glamorous wire and fantasmagoric creations are the result of an aesthetic formed in Pascal by her grandfather, who was a bricoleur (handyman) and taught her to repair beautiful old things, and her father, whose passion for automobiles gave her a taste for mechanics and manual work.

What do you think of her home in Avignon? Do you love it or leave it?

photos above are of Pascal Palun's home in

Avignon and are the work of Joanna Maclennan for

Living Inside

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above are photos of Pascal Palun's

atelier in Avignon where she does her

magical work

these photos appears in

Cote Sud, December 2007

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for help creating a beautiful new look

for your home or event virtually

anywhere call or email me

kit@kitgolson.com

650.302.6883

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

The Exquisite Greet of Belgian Pearls

If the gorgeous pearls on her header aren't enough to capture your heart immediately (see below), maybe a castle in Belgium? Maybe the stunning modern interiors carved out of elegant ancient places? Maybe the inspiring images Greet curates and share with us on her new blog....do go to Belgian Pearls & see for yourself! Chic Provence loves her site!

ALL photos courtesy Belgian Pearls

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in the New Year, it's:

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

Rudolf Stingel: Staggering Art From Building Materials

Stairway at the Grand Palais Exhibition, Fall 2008

As an interior designer, it was with great interest that I spotted a silvered insulation panel hanging on the walls of the Biennale des Antiquaires at the Grand Palais in Paris in fall 2008.   

At first glance, I thought it had been an embarrassing oversight on the part of the Facilities Management, but on closer inspection, I found some scrawling across its surface, thus revealing itself as....art. Jarringly incongruous with the usual Bonnards, Bougereaux, and Breugels at this show, I was captivated with this piece. 

2007 Installation at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC 

of Silver Insulation Brilliantly Lighted by a Chandelier, 

and Where Visitors Wrote on the Celotex Insulation Boards

1991 Installation of Orange Carpeting as Art in NYC Gallery 

If you ever doubted the ability of color to reflect in your rooms, 

believe it or not, these are white walls 

I wasn't the only person curious at the Paris show in Fall 2008

Further research revealed that its creator, the slightly subversive Rudolf Stingel, has a penchant for using the prosaic everyday tools of my trade...carpeting, insulation, chandeliers....to create stunning, unforgettable and brilliant installations that engage and enrapture his audience, if not baffle them. 

Is this that royal man parading down the street sans clothing....;-)....? 

There are lessons for us interior designers to be found in studying Stingel's art:

• never underestimate the powerful impact of a single element when used in large amounts
•  use what you already have on hand
• invite others to give their input
  
• light your work exquisitely
  
•  hire a great publicist
•  reflected color counts....a lot

The 225 cm x 210 cm piece I saw in Paris?    700,000 euros.   That's  $1,036,000. 

An emperor could buy a lot of new clothes with that!

photos courtesy of the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, 

New York and Art or Idiocy?'s photostream

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Kit Golson Design 

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

 Chic Provence Interior Design

Elegant, Sustainable? Yes: My Table for Dining By Design

Well we do use what we have these days, don't we? It's a fiscal challenge to keep up with the very latest design trends. In post-Obama inauguration, I say do what you love with what you have. And do it with all your heart.

This amazing chandelier was made from found things. It graced an exquisite setting to the adoration of the critics. It did not cost much money, but it took time, energy and intense creativity to bring it to light.

Table for DIFFA's San Francisco Dining by Design:

Tresors de la Mer

Tresors de la Mer Chandelier Made

Entirely From Found Objects

{It's For Sale!}

Design concept? You are out to sea in your little boat and your anchor catches on something. It's this rusty old basket pulled out of the ocean and after the mermaid slithers out, you find it is filled with treasures like old mercury glass, silver, coral, shells and crystals. You have found Tresors de la Mer much to your delight!

It's was handful, this chandelier and tabletop. But it didn't cost the moon, and it treaded softly on the earth; every single component is a reused item, including the IKEA table underneath it all.

Table Settings Featuring Cloches Made From IKEA Bowls,

Vintage Limoges China, and Vintage Coral-Specked Wallpaper

Featured in the San Francisco Chronicle!

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CONTACT:

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design