CHINOISERIE DEFINED (FOR ME)

A few days ago a romp through some of my favorite blogs brought me to a question about a usage in trade terminology. For whatever time I've known the term Chinoiserie, to me it has meant some sort of Oriental themed drawing on a lacquered surface. While wandering the blogosphere, I came across mention of Chinoiserie and the photos shown were of furniture pieces that were plain. Not plain in the sense of having no style but plain in that there were no Oriental figures, wobbly little trees or ladies with umbrellas painted on. That sent me on a search for a definition of Chinoiserie. Wikipedia has a full page of interesting information. Google Chinoiserie and the Wikipedia definition should be near the top of the page. I kept looking, promising myself to go back and read the whole thing on Wiki. I found a page advertising the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show from which I harvested the photo above. The definition given on that page is: "Western Art that incorporates or imitates Eastern design elements and techniques - a popular conceit across numerous styles for the past 400 years". Hmmm. That doesn't answer my question.  But wait, there's more: "Asian motifs, real and imagined, such as pagodas, parasols, flowers and birds have adorned all manner of architecture, interiors, furniture, decorative and fine arts". Chinoiserie. Who's gonna argue with San Francisco?

BTW, I'm also going back and read some of the links that showed up when I googled San Francisco Art Show. One could express great joy in the internet if there weren't so many glitches and opportunities spoiled by hitting the wrong button. I did that while writing this blog and it took forever to find the definition again. The next page that came in response to my query was just like the one I first saw in every way except there was a tiger where the Chinoiserie had been and no definition. Nothing if not tenacious. Some call it stubborn.  I found it again so that I could share it. 

PRUNELLE...

This is a repeat of a post from the old blog with a few edits to make it timely.  Not outdated, I think, since I've seen a lot of purple in design blogs in recent weeks so I brought this back.. 

 

I read a number of home decorating magazines itermittently. It's my business. There was a time when I stacked them up month by month. Would you believe I once had ALL the Victorias ever published? I miss Southern Accents terribly.  I buy Veranda sometimes and wish Elle Decor were more available to me.  Others I pick up sporadically or sometimes a friend passes one on.  I like shopping for magazines from a rack and just will not trust the mailman to deliver one unscathed.

In this brave new internet world we have some wonderful decorating and design blogs - there are so many but I've found some I can trust to offer inspiration regularly.  We'll link to them when we can. Two years ago there was a piece on The Peak of Chic about colors and how their names are more interesting in French than in English. The color being discussed was called prunelle by some famous designer. Purple. Brownish purple. The color doesn't sound any more appetizing than it's namesake but it is a fantastic design color for upholstery or accents. I would love to do a room with dove grey walls and shades of grey, prunelle and yellow in upholstery and accents.  Perhaps red.  I think a rich bullfight red and prunelle would be luscious next to each other.  It is a well known decorator maxim that every room should have a dot of red or black.   Notice I didn't say "pop".  I don't want anything to "pop" in my rooms.  I'm bored with the use of the word in fashion and decorating. 

Would I do the walls of a room in prunelle? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe.  Is it a new color or a new name?  In the same evening I browsed some clothing catalogs and found that JJill knew about prunella since there were at least six items in the online outlet close to that color. Come to think of it, I have an old and worn Life Is Good t-shirt that is faded prunella. I knew I liked that color.  Don't go looking at JJill now.  Remember I first wrote this post in 2009. 

The photo above is of Italian prunes and the one shiny one is the best exemplification of the color I could find. Isn't it rich??

~ Sami