Newyork Blog: 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?