EMPIRE DESIGN™

Riviera Cocktail

2009-08-22T15:48:00.017+09:30

This week has been impossibly busy and it was remiss of me not to have posted earlier and further to the point, I still do not have good photographs of the boiserie panel to post ... I will post some soon.

After a dreadful week, for reasons (and/or persons) best left unmentioned, I took some time out today and lay on a couch in the sunshine to recuperate. Just by chance, I happened to turn on the television and was treated to a screening of 'Riviera Cocktail', a documentary on the life and work of the Irish photographer Edward Quinn. I can recommend this sort of thing for anyone who is feeling even the least bit under the weather ... I am almost entirely recovered!

A website dedicated to the photographer, through which it is possible to buy photographic prints, books and a DVD of the film, also provides the following biography:

Edward Quinn, born 1920 in Ireland, lived and worked as a photographer since the 50’s on the Côte d’Azur, which was during the “Golden Fifties” the playground of the celebrities from the world of show biz, art and business. The rich and the famous came to the Riviera to relax. But the movie stars knew how much their off-screen image counted and Quinn was at the right place at the right time and was able to get spontaneous and enchanting images which catch the charm, sophistication and chic of a legendary era. Amongst a great number of celebrities captured on film by Quinn may be mentioned Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot, Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Aristoteles Onassis, Maria Callas, Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham.

In 1951 Edward Quinn met and photographed Pablo Picasso for the first time. Their friendship lasted until Picasso’s death in 1973. This encounter with Picasso was to be greatly influential to Quinn himself and to his subsequent work. Quinn is the author of several books and films about Picasso.Since the 60s Quinn concentrated his work on artists, amongst them Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Francis Bacon, Salvador Dali, Graham Sutherland, David Hockney. In the late 80’s an intense relationship, similar to his friendship with Picasso, linked Quinn to Georg Baselitz.

Since 1992 until his death in 1997, Edward Quinn lived near Zurich with his Swiss wife Gret who is continuing to take care of the extensive photo archive.

Highly recommended! A must for anyone needing an afternoon reprieve from dismal circumstances

Better times ahead ....

A Labour of Love

2009-08-15T12:05:00.014+09:30

As the spring weather starts to warm, I am about to commence restoration of a boiserie panel. It is important in these matters, when using certain mediums, to have air temperature and moisture levels within the right range.

I have spent much of the morning perched at the top of a step ladder, examining painted bell flowers and swags of roses with the aid of dental tools in an effort to make a judicious decision as to the areas of of the delicate decoration that will need the build up of layers of paint removed, without damage to the underlying structure. At the moment the panel, removed from a demolished wing of a chateau, is a dusty pea green and still has the sooty hand marks of the demolition workers on it.

I have photographed the panel but the image was taken in low light and I hesitate to post it, perhaps I might when I have a good image of the finished piece. I will re finish the panel with a studio mixed paint, the solution just strong enough to float a little graphite powder in it, for an impeccably original looking blanc casse finish.

To keep me inspired and focused I have posted some images from my archive of some lovely boiserie panels.

above and below, panels from the Hotel Girard (now a school).

Chateau Parc Rothschild

Scent of a Colour, Tea Roses

2009-08-11T21:40:00.000+09:30

"Beautiful in their irregularity, distinct in their properties, unique in appearance, we confess that we admire them above all others, and that their charms for us would depart were they aught else" said the great rosarian William Paul in 1848.

Tea Roses, which were in their hey day between 1880 and 1910, are to a very great degree forgotten roses. With fewer petals than most old roses, they remain unsurpassed for elegance. Lusciously scented with elongated buds and drooping blooms that tend to nod, they evoke a world of lost charm.

With thoughts of the the unfurling petals of Maman Cochet and the creamy shell like blooms of Devoniensis I have posted some images of deliciously feminine interiors that, like Tea Roses, teeter on the the edge of sentimentality, but are rescued from the fate of cloying prettiness by a sure sense of design.

Hal Williamson, October 08 Home Beautiful

Christian Berard deserves his own post

Hal Williamson, October 08 Home Beautiful

Adelphi Fabric, Designers Guild, photographed by James Merrell

Savigny Silks, Designers Guild, photographed by James Merrell

Paolo Moschino at Nicholas Haslam
Devoniensis

I first saw Hal Williamson's beautiful interiors in a post by Habitually Chic and I felt, on reading her words, that she was a little puzzled as to why she loved the images that reminded her of the Ritz and Laduree. The answer is to be found in the elegant restraint that is so evocative.

There is quite a groundswell in the rose growing community to rescue these roses, the best remain in the warm climate of California and in New Zealand and Australia. I am reminded of a Tea Rose of quite a different colour, the great survivor, Lady Hillingdon, and of a quotation that has been quite wrongly attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, as it was Lady Alice Hillingdon who first stated, amongst a great many other controversial things, "I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall"

Lady Alice Hillingdon

and her namesake photographed by Mary Beamond
in an Adelaide Hills garden

Heavy Roses, Steichen

2009-08-08T15:37:00.014+09:30

Heavy Roses, Voulangis, France, 1914, is said to be the last photograph taken by Edward
Steichen in France before the Great War.

'Heavy Roses' seems to capture forever the closing moments of the fin de siecle that preceded the collapse of Europe into darkness. Evocative of summers long past, I can never think of the image without imagining the colours of the petals, their margins fading to mauve, with their heavy scent. All summer long, I keep bowls of heavy roses on my table and next to my bed, I hold the colour in my mind like a fragrance.

The rich painterly quality of the image resonates with Steichen's youthful aspirations to be a painter, aspirations abandoned after the war, when he destroyed all of his paintings. Later Steichen went on to become a curator at the Museum of Modern Art for fifteen years and was responsible for many important exhibitions. He became chief photographer for Condé Nast Publications in 1923, publishing regularly in Vogue and Vanity Fair for the next fifteen years.

Returning to the scented colour that words fail to capture, I have found some images to share a little later.

Love ... by the Numbers

2009-08-02T09:35:00.006+09:30

thank you Marie-Lan Nguyen (J astrow)!

Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour (Psyche revived by the kiss of Love). Marble, 1793.

executed by Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757–1822) at the commission of Colonel John Campbell, 1787; later purchased by Joachim Murat, 1801, housed at the Louvre, Department of Sculptures, Denon, ground floor, room 4

EmpireLady is a little tattered today and, feeling all of her 235 years, seems beyond the reach of the reviving power of love, but finds beauty in its stead. The image is of course as perfect as its subject: a split second analysis of the composition will reveal a perfect use of the golden section, as does its subject, through which the divine proportions seem to tumble.

ELIZABETH PEYTON .... live forever!

2009-07-28T21:27:00.024+09:30

My favourite contemporary artist is without doubt the American painter, Elizabeth Peyton. Perhaps because as far as age goes, we are almost exact contemporaries.

I first saw Peyton's work many years ago at Sadie Coles, and of course I wish I had bought a piece then! These days her pint sized paintings come at a price approaching the $800,000, a small but exquisite etching that I enquired about recently is listed at $10,000. I have however bought myself a copy of her book and a copy of the illustrated programme of the 'Live Forever' exhibition with text by Laura Hoptman. I have included these books in the Amazon selection that you can access through the right hand side bar 'Empire Bookshop.' Just click on the image of the great stack of collapsing books .

The London showing of 'Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton' opened this week and runs until the 20th of September 09 at the Whitechapel. The exhibition is a 25 year retrospective and is far more comprehensive than the smattering of images posted here. I am recommending it to my friends over there, perhaps it will come down here one day, but in the meantime the books and these images will have to suffice:

I have read scathing British reviews, don't believe a bit of it! The works are luminous and intoxicating, printed or electronic images don't really do the work justice. As for the subjects (the source of much of the aforementioned criticism) yes they are celebrities, you'll find Kurt Cobain, Johny Rotten, Liam Gallagher, Marc Jacobs etc, etc ... but rendered as they are, celebrity is almost irrelevant. The work has been criticized as lacking emotion, perhaps the truth is that the images capture thought .... the act of thinking rather than feeling; introspection rather than the emotion laden communication that the populous applauds when focusing on celebrity.

Peyton's history is absolutely fascinating, you'll have to read the book .... but the influences are clear, Courbet and Hockney come running right at you. I struggled trying to narrow down a selection of images to post, then gave up and posted everything I had.

Elizabeth Peyton ..... live forever!

A Chair for EmpireLady?

2009-07-26T13:30:00.018+09:30

Sitting comfortably?

EmpireLady is flapping through some old magazines and thinks that she might like a new chair or perhaps two, the old deckchair having suddenly lost its appeal. Some years ago EmpireLady very deliberately stole a little something from the striking individual pictured above, justifying her actions on the basis that Wallis, in her time, had stolen something rather important herself .... the King. EmpireLady's theft was of just a little bit of style ... namely Wallis' curious and terribly elegant way of sitting. An examination of old photographs will reveal that Wallis' perceived beauty is largely as a consequence of the way that she held herself (in addition to keeping herself trim on an excellent diet of lettuce and vodka). To sit properly, one needs a proper chair:

Jansen Chairs are of course absolute favourites. EmpireLady who adores the faded grandeur of original upholstery is very taken with this mid century pair, beautiful, well formed and capacious with strong neoclassical lines - from Greenwich Living

If proportion is everything, then the chair below, sold by Meirelles, has it all. It's not Jansen by any means and it really does need work on the upholstery, but at 820mm wide and 880mm high and with a similar depth (imperial 32" by 34") it is capacious without having the height that might otherwise break up a room intrusively. The dimensions, the depth in particular indicate that it is by no means a banquette. Chairs with these proportions seem to come up at auction described as 'an old chair from a photographic studio' and it would not be a surprise if this were the case here.

Of almost identical proportions are the mid century pair from Jansen below offered by Blend Interiors. Regrettably, EmpireLady's penchant for 'living in collapse' seems to have extended to her budget in so far as it extends to their five figure price tag:Back to the deckchair ....

Captivated by: Light and Proportion .... Soane

2009-07-22T14:56:00.027+09:30

Queen's House, Greenwich: the Tulip Staircase, Inigo Jones (courtesy of RIBA Library Photographs Collection)

EmpireLady has been rather taken aback by descriptions of Palladian architecture that she keeps coming across, descriptions that fail to draw any distinction between Palladian and British Palladian architecture. Not to put too fine a point on it, this morning she was threatening to post a savage review on the subject, but was dissuaded and has retired to her deckchair.
She does have a valid point as, in addition to being separated by centuries, the distinct qualities of the two styles are largely a response to latitude itself, to the qualities of natural light.

The attraction of the true Palladian villa is to found in the cool airy interiors and shady loggias that are a necessity in the glorious Italian summers. Whereas in Britain, where the sun sits far lower in the sky, a sky that is overcast for three quarters of the year, the first devotees of Palladio might have felt dismay when it was observed that this transplanted style, with its mouldings and pilasters, designed to catch the sunlight and cast sharp shadows, faded into blandness and that the small windows and blank walls created interiors that were dark and depressing.

The architectural response to climate came in the form of large vertical, sliding sash windows designed to assist in the regulation of temperature. In addition arcades and loggias were glazed and fireplaces and chimneys quickly became architectural features of the new hybrid style. Further to this the damp weather led to the walled dusty Italian courtyard being replaced by seamless rolling acres of park as at Chatsworth in Derbyshire.

Chatsworth House
basking in the last rays of the sun (courtesy of 'The Age')
is absolutely not a feature of the Devonshire countryside.

EmpireLady's apparently unabashed enthusiasm for the qualities of natural light and her obsession for classical proportion are such that it appears that she has come to believe that the Soane might be her spiritual home, could she perhaps be just quietly moved in to some sort of accommodation there? Not that anyone would consider offloading her, or even suggesting such a thing. In her defence, it must be said that Soane’s Museum really is a joy to behold; a wellspring of inspiration, in that there is always something new to discover in its labyrinth stashed full of archaic fragments. This quality is perhaps best described by the artist Cerith Wyn Evans whose words were published in a leaflet produced on the occasion of the exhibition 'Retrace your steps' at the Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 1999:

"I was always very stimulated and inspired by the relationships, the interstices in the Soane Museum, the conversations that are happening between various narratives, various objects and these extraordinary vistas that you come upon by accident and then you catch a reflection of yourself ....... It is an incredibly complex, stimulating place and no one visit is ever the same as the next ......... The Museum reveals various superimposed and merging states of light constructed by Soane. Visitors encounter direct, indirect, reflected, broken, dispersed or refracted light."

image courtesy of www.soane.org

The Soane is also a testament to the fact that classical proportion can be applied the smallest of spaces and objects. The lessons that are learned from the most beautiful architectural creations can be applied to the smallest vignette, it is really a state of mind. There is a link to an interesting site on classical proportion in the text of an earlier post on Miles Redd (besotted). EmpireLady would of course just love to rattle on in a review of the museum, but that's what books are for! Click through into the Museum site which contains its own labyrinth of resources that are regularly updated. One can now be delighted by the possibilities afforded to the imagination by the information and image that have been posted below: dinner at the museum

at a fee commensurate with the possibilities offered by the experience, the offer states:

The Museum's reception rooms, domestic in scale, are particularly suitable for small or medium sized dinners and receptions. Pre-dinner drinks are served in the elegant double Drawing Room on the first floor, recently restored to its original 'Patent Yellow' colour with yellow silk curtains and authentic carpet. An optional pre-dinner short guided tour of ground floor rooms can be given by a member of the curatorial staff. Dinner is served in the 19th century candlelit setting of the ground floor Library-Dining Room where diners are surrounded by mirrors reflecting the Pompeian red decoration, the Greek cases and other works of art.

Anyone for dinner?

Treasure Hunt: Mirror Mirror on the Wall

2009-07-10T18:20:00.006+09:30

or....the one that got away!

I feel cross with myself! I love venetian mirrors, in particular the plainer variety. Recently I had considered buying one just for myself. Of course, it was the one that got away! If I had been buying for a client I would not have hesitated, but because I was intending to buy for myself, I procrastinated and waited and waited (largely out of guilt .... as I don't often buy things for myself, its now a very long time since I have bought another mirror) and now I am telling myself off, because I really did love it.

In Australia mirrors, like the pieces pictured below, are more difficult to come by than the more elaborate variety which are so much easier to obtain. Anyway, I am now sending out the word and I will email this post out to the relevant parties. This is what I'm after, the larger the better. I am cautious about importing because of the fragile nature of the article, so this time I am looking closer to home.

I collect mirrors (and this, of course, is why I was feeling guilty about buying another one) and not because I am in love with my own reflection but rather because of the wonderful prismatic glamour that they lend to an interior. I love the different kinds of glass and silvering and I can pick in an instant exactly whether I am looking at mercury or silver or something else entirely. In my living room I have a very large french Directoire mirror, darkened with age, and I can not imagine the room without it

The reason that I adore these mirrors in particular is that they are great mixers. I have approached two people who are in the business of bringing in the ornate crowned reproduction mirrors that seem to abound, and I have been told on both occasions that plainer mirrors would not sell ....well for the record, I disagree. ( I think that you might be able to tell that that this post is going to be emailed to the aforementioned individuals as well).

If you don't believe me, about just how beautiful these mirrors are, check Jan Shower's site as pictures really do speak a thousand words!

Here is Miguel, whose lovely French accent always charms me,
capturing himself in the one that got away!
Of course, I am not at all cross with Miguel, who is blameless in this situation.
In any event, it is impossible for a lady to be cross with a Frenchman for any length of time!
Note the 'subtle' charm .... could I be on a winner here?

Captivated by: Miles Redd as Featured in 1stdibs Style Compass

2009-07-10T17:23:00.010+09:30

I have often noticed Miles Redd's work featured in magazines, Domino in particular, with fabulous photography by Tim Street-Porter and I have always liked it, but I must admit to being too busy to have checked his website until this weeks Style Compass on 1stdibs ..... I was immediately besotted. I have posted some images as much for my record as anything else.

photography Tim Street-Porter, via 1stibs
"I do look at minimalist interiors with one big 'design stroke' but my style is all about layering using different elements"

the following images are from milesredd.com
photographs by Tim Street-Porter

photography Tim Street-Porter, via 1stibs

I declare my absolute admiration for these images of eclectic layered interiors that are underpinned with design skills that ensure practicality and a really clear, perhaps inherent, understanding of classical phidian proportion, the latter quality being reminiscent of the sense of proportion demonstrated by both David Hicks and Veere Grenney. In the hands of a person who does not have an understanding of proportion, an eclectic collection can so easily deteriorate into chaos, but not here! Here is the work of someone who can play with these principles to the extent that the interiors do not actually appear deliberate. There is an order to the composition that is so often found in the interiors of British palladian houses, an order so strong that it seems to almost transcend decay. I know it well because phidian proportion, together with an obsession with the qualities of natural light, are two of the mainstays that underpin my own work.

Of Far Away Places: Tunisia, Hammamet, Leila Menchari

2009-07-05T00:18:00.029+09:30

This 1920's garden and house in Tunisia remains a beloved destination for its owner, Hermes design director Leila Menchari who faithfully maintains its free spirited aesthetic. The house and its grounds, photographed by Guillaume de Laubier, were featured in the Australian edition of Vogue Living of August 2003. The garden is also the subject of a book that I have used as a reference, 'A Garden at Hammamet' co authored by Michael Tournier, Barbara Wright and Leila Menchari.

the front entrance of Dar Henson, owned by Leila Menchari,
photographed by Guillaume de Laubier
(click for a much larger view)

As a young girl, Leila Menchari wandered up from the hot sands of a beach in Tunisia and, led on by a black cat, found herself in the cool green depths of an enchanting garden. Palms rustled overhead, creating shafts of light. Earth paths led through a tangle of exotic plants - cactus, eucalyptus, agave; the air was scented with datura, white oleander and jasmine.

A pool in the gardens of Dar Henson,
at the end of which sits a columned dovecote.
photographed by Guillaume de Laubier

This magical garden belonged to Jean and Violet Henson, a bohemian Anglo-American couple of aristocratic bearing who had settled in Hammamet in 1925 following a life of adventure full of travel and art with friends including Man Ray, Cocteau, Berard and Serge Lifar. Their home, Dar Henson, was a low white washed house of colonnaded courtyards and spacious rooms, surrounded by a series of gardens filled with fountains and scattered throughout the lush foliage were ancient roman columns and pediments, part of Jean and Violet’s extensive collection of antiquities from Carthage and other archeological sites.

a lily pool at Dar Henson across which one can see the Gulf of Hammamet
photographed by Guillaume de Laubier

This experience was to Leila Menchari's life, she would eventually become the Hanson’s spiritual daughter. She was fascinated by them, absorbing all their otherness and their world of eclectic treasures culled from their travels and the friends they made along the way. In their double height living room, heirloom furnishings were paired with lamps by Giacometti; photographs by Horst and their extensive collection of books, while drawings by Christian Berard and other notable artists hung along the hallway’s pale lilac walls.

The garden's cultured artistic owners became Leila's mentors, encouraging her to study painting at the l’école Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Since 1977 she has been responsible for concocting the most alluring window displays for the Maison Hermès store in Paris. I refer to the Polyglot, who writes that generations of Parisians, and those who regularly make the trip to Paris, will tell you that Hermès’ store windows are meant to make you dream. That is why crowds jostle for position to catch a glimpse of the fantastic scenarios crafted out of silk, coral and leather that are a voyage into the imagination of their creator, Leila Menchari. Her poetic displays have included a huge origami horse that looked as if it had been created from one of Hermès famous silk scarves, gazelles grazing amongst stacks of fine china piled high with colorful macaroons and Tuareg jewelry laid out on petrified wood that recalled the African Sahara.

I patiently await the delivery of a second hand edition of ' Tales of a Wanderer' by the author who is described as Maison Hermes Visual Magician

I make this post in anticipation of its arrival:

The gilded Hammamet story started in the 1920s with Georges Sebastian, a Romanian millionaire businessman with aristocratic connections, who purchased nine acres of land just along the beach from Hammamet's medina, creating a villa that Frank Lloyd Wright was to call "the most beautiful home I have ever seen". George Sebastian was an extravagant man. During the 1920s and 30s he partied like no one else on the north coast of Africa, and his hospitality to people like Gide, Klee and Beaton inspired other members of the fast set to set up home in Hammamet.

It's a fashion that has continued to this day. In 1966 the American painter David Dulavey built Dar Dulavey - Dar is an Arabic term denoting a house, but not just any old house, usually the most distinctive dwelling in its part of the town. In 1974 the Italian architect Tony Facella Senso created Dar Senso in the old medina. The former Italian prime minister, Benito Craxi, was a near neighbour. Nowadays the popularity of this Tunisian resort has got out of hand. For three miles south of Hammamet stretch the boulevards of a newly-built Hammamet Sud with 47 Las Vegas-style themed hotels. Here you can stay in mock-Roman opulence, in a pseudo-Greek temple or a Moorish theme park with hookah pipes and Turkish baths, all safely controlled by security guards and electronic gates. Luckily, old Hammamet survives to the north, at the neck of the Cap Bon Peninsula.

It is still possible to travel to the ancient walled medina to find what drew Americans like Wallis Simpson, Paul Bowles, author of The Sheltering Sky, and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Once upon a time this was the place where European and American artists came to discover themselves. Paul Klee came here in 1914, confessing breathlessly in his diary, "Colour and I are both one: I am a painter!" Andre Gide visited too, The Sitwells also trekked out to tranquil Hammamet before World War II, as did Cecil Beaton and Baron Hoyningen-Heune, chief fashion photographer for Harpers and Vogue during the interwar period. The stars of the Comedie Francaise built their summer homes there as did American socialites like John Henson and his British wife Violet, who were later to foster the talents of the inimitable Leila Menchari.

Dar Othman via commons.wikimedia

It is possible to get an inside view of life among the 1930s glamour crowd with a visit Dar Sebastian, the villa that George Sebastian designed and built with the assistance of a local mason - who used nothing more sophisticated than a series of rods to make his calculations - is open most days and accessible from the Avenue des Nations Unis. Purchased for the state by President For Life Habib Bourgiba, it is now the Centre Culturel International D'Hammamet. Admission costs two dinars, visitors are free to wander and there is an informal cafe service run by the side of George Sebastian's marble swimming pool.

Because of the high standard set by George Sebastian, the vision encapsulated in some of the villas of the 20's and 30's is breathtaking, especially those which occupy the eastern wall of the medina and face out towards the Gulf of Hammamet. From the outside they are simple and with white walls, blue-painted doors, traditional cupolas, the only sign of the electronic age being the vast variety of antennae, dishes and aerials on the roof tops. Most of these houses are still privately owned, and it takes a personal letter of recommendation to get a look. One or two are available to rent, but the rates exclude all but the seriously wealthy: Dar al Qamar, for example, comes complete with servant and cook for a sum in excess of £10,000 a month.

the tiled floor at the Dar el Medina, via Flickr

the Dar ben Abdallah via commons.wikimedia

Dar el Medina stairs, via Flickr

Dar el Bey, via Lamsin Cultural Programme

Despite Leila Menchari's career, her travels and the fascinating people she’s met along the way, Princess Grace of Monaco and General Charles De Gaule to name a few, Menchari considers her most important role to be that of the keeper to the Hanson’s legacy. After Violet’s death, Leila watched over Jean, who eventually bequeathed their villa to her. Today she is just as devoted to the villa and its gardens, which inspired the perfume she created for Hermès, "Jardin en Méditerranée". Every summer, when Hermès reluctantly spares her for a month, she returns to Hammamet to reconnect with her past and remember where her dreams first took root. She is quoted as saying that she still thinks of herself as "just a guest" and says "I'm caught between two civilizations, two coasts of the Mediterranean. I bridge that gap". She continues to maintain the garden in all its untamed exuberance, with its broken columns, ancient stones, huge terracotta urns and random paving. Plants find their own way to survive. Lizards, frogs and birds make it as much their home as hers. Peacocks wander the terraces of Dar Henson and roman architectural fragments form the Henson's tomb.

Musing On: Oranges and Penguins

2009-07-04T13:19:00.032+09:30

Over the last few days EmpireLady has determined the need for
a therapeutic dose of orange....

the perfect antidote to winter misery?

EmpireLady is so pleased with the orange trees outside her windows. The trees are a great source of fascination, evocative of distant memories of the fruit that used to appear at Christmas time, wrapped individually in purple tissue paper.

A text on the Psychology of Colour states 'orange is shown to have only positive affects on your emotional state. This colour relieves feelings of self-pity, lack of self-worth and unwillingness to forgive. Orange opens your emotions and is a terrific antidepressant'.

Perhaps this affection for orange has crept up on EmpireLady
as she recalls french doors, curtained with 70's Hicks linen

However, now fully dosed with its forgiveness promoting properties,
EmpireLady has made a visual list of all things orange:

available via Penguin

Ever since the creation of the first Penguin paperbacks in 1935, their jackets have become a constantly evolving part of Britain's culture and design history. The books have become design classics. All of the following are available through Bloomsbury

Available through Bloomsbury

EmpireLady's favourite fellow orange-obsessive Margaret Olley is perhaps Australia's most prized interior and still life painter who, at 86 years of age, continues to demonstrate a fierce disregard for trends and fashion. Her exquisite compositions of flowers, fruit and objects have an inherent grace, the arrangements are always elegant and the objects always beautiful. She first came to public attention as the beguiling subject of Dobell's portrait which took the Archibald prize in 1948, these days both the portrait and the lady are regarded as national treasures. Is Miss Olley a testament to the therapeutic properties of the hue for improving the temperament? The interview posted below illustrates the question:

"There is no more passionate supporter of the arts in this country than the indefatigable, ever-inspirational Margaret Olley," Edmund Capon, director of the Art Gallery of NSW, said in 2006, when Miss Olley was honoured in the Queen's Birthday list for her services to art. At the time it was estimated that she had given the Art Gallery of NSW 130 works worth about $7 million, including important lithographs by Picasso, Cezanne and Bonnard. In 2005 she donated a colour drawing by Edouard Vuillard which she had expressly purchased for the gallery.

Late last year on September 19 it was announced that Margaret Olley had signed a personal cheque for $1 million to enable Edmund Capon to secure Paul Cezanne's post-impressionist painting 'Bords De La Marne' for $16.2 million for the Art Gallery of NSW. "I told him before he went on holiday that if he found a Cezanne I would give him a million dollars," she says. The money was the proceeds from her latest exhibition, kept in an art trust for this purpose. Miss Olley, now 86, has been a prolific patron of the visual arts throughout her life and this donation is perhaps her most dramatic gesture, done in public to inspire others also to donate to the cause. About 85 per cent of the price of the painting has been raised so far. She has also donated either her own work or examples from her private collection to regional and metropolitan galleries throughout her life, usually without any fanfare.

In an age where investing in art has become a national obsession, here is someone who happily gives hers away. Her paintings are now in the blue-chip category but she still prefers a simple life, part of her philosophy for happiness. Miss Olley comes from a humble background, being raised near Lismore during the Depression. As a young child she remembers not getting any pocket money unless she made her bed. As a student in Sydney she paid her way through art school by grape-picking and painting theatre sets for two shillings and sixpence an hour. "I learned generosity at my mother's knee," she says. "My mother and father were the most generous people. My father caught more fish than we ever needed, so he gave the rest away to neighbours. He grew his own vegetables, so he gave them away as well. I learned from them that giving is much better than receiving."

She has had periods of great struggle. She once bought a small property near Newcastle and paid it off through her painting. This was before her work sold for anything close to today's values and she came close to losing the place. She can recall sleeping with the cheque-book open next to her so that she wouldn't forget to make the next repayment. "I worked hard to make myself independent by painting ..... if you're doing what you want to do, it doesn't cost much to live."

Miss Olley states "As you get older, you move to a point where you can give back to society .... the world would be a much better place if all the retired teachers, accountants, plumbers and butchers were encouraged to give back a little bit of their knowledge to society." Giving back is what she has done by helping fund the acquisition of the Cezanne painting. She calls it the most important work in the gallery and hopes it will inspire a new generation of artists in the same way that his work inspired her as a young woman. She sees it as a great investment in social as well as financial terms. "My donation is just the beginning," she says. "I hope that everyone gives what they can."

Biggest break When I came down from Lismore and went to East Sydney Tech [now the National Art School].

Biggest achievement Handing over the money for the Cezanne is the most important thing I have done. I've never written a cheque for a million before. I had to ask Edmund: how many 0s?

Biggest regret None. Regrets are a waste of time.

Best investment Friendships. Unfortunately I've always preferred the company of older people, so that makes it pretty difficult at my age.

Worst investment Buying that property in Newcastle, I suppose. I'm much happier living here in Sydney.

Attitude to money It's only paper, isn't it?

Personal philosophy I don't understand the current obsession with the "me" and the "I". The best way to exist is to forget about yourself and just get on with it.

gum blossom at Christmas time

Orange makes other colours just a little more alive.

To illustrate the point:

the image from the Cupcake Room reminiscent of David Hockney's
'Nichols Canyon Road'

and 'A Bigger Grand Canyon' at the Australian National Gallery

another British David

Katherine Weber's tiger lilies

an Ebay find

beloved of Liberties in the 70's, time for a re-run?

Lilium Superbum, quite rare in Australia, lie dormant in the garden

L'Occitane

H is for Hint and for Hermes, from Donna Parker Habitat.
EmpireLady would very much like one of these.

Favourite Things: John Derian

2009-06-27T15:43:00.040+09:30

THINGS I LIKE
EmpireLady could not have said it better!

If EmpireLady were to have to make a list of her top ten favourite artisans,

John Derian would certainly be in that list.

EmpireLady was astounded by Mr Derian's work on first seeing it some years ago, the initial reaction being a sense of relief, as she had earlier formed the impression that she had been aesthetically marooned in the Antipodes in an Art scene that was moving, at that time, in a very different direction. (Apologies to the Australians) but then again, any Australians reading this will probably recall being aesthetically brutalised by their fellow countrymen at some point.

EmpireLady seems to have assumed that everybody spends hours in Museums and that it is preferable to have a museum at home too, it is inevitable that she finds Mr Derian's work intoxicating to the extent that with a twitch of anglocentric narcissism, she feels immediately compelled to re-categorise Mr Derian as British. This, of course is a compliment but along with being impossible it is also rather unfair. America, and for that matter Australia, have so much to offer intellectually, aesthetically and creatively. As an antidote she creates a mental list of the many appeals of the New World and shares some of them here. Begrudgingly she includes Mr Derian in the American list, despite feeling compelled to check his biography... just in case ....

Henry David Thoreau, Walden.... a first rate, hard copy C19th blog!

KWID, which EmpireLady seems to admire despite not actually being a fan, could be nothing other than American, over stated but revealing a passion for an almost primal use of materials, bone, turtle shells, rain forest hardwoods, leather, stone; motifs of disembodied stylized heads and buddhist hands. EmpireLady's response (being a product of a culture that has elevated understatement to an art form) is to sense the restless rustling of the New World behind the aesthetic scheme; to be reminded of tobacco and sugar; of exploitation and indifference and an overwhelming desire to please. EmpireLady perceives no cultural inconsistency between the Playboy shots of Wearstler (formerly Gallagher) that abound on the net and the work executed through KWID. This is a glamour that does not depend upon subtlety for its impact and for that reason it is fascinating and intoxicating in a very American way. Almost romantic from afar.

With reference to the above, EmpireLady advises that when one is photographed without ones clothes, one should consider wearing a triple strand of pearls, that point being illustrated with great verve by the Duchess of Argyll, the subject of an earlier post

Babe Payley, Truman Capote deserving of lots of posts

Paul Pincus, EmpireLady is a fan

New York in general

Paris Hilton imagined through Andy Warhol's dead eyes, it is such a pity that he did not live to see her .... what a match it might have been.

It would be possible to go on and on and on but perhaps the most reassuring thing to do is to post the images received from the last two New York Gift Fairs, the work of an intriguing American, Mr Derian, whose work you should go out and buy straight away:

paperweights

decoupage platters and trays

Dromedary Loveseat in Libeco Linen at centre

Cove Sofa and Fritillaria Chair

Field Bench in Libeco linen

Cove Sofa in Libeco oyster linen

decoupage platters

all images courtesy of John Derian

In the Garden: Longing for Summer!

2009-06-24T20:59:00.013+09:30

It is deep mid winter and EmpireLady, who loves to garden, is longing for sunshine. With this in mind EmpireLady is planning a patio garden and is sourcing some echeverias for mass planting in large containers. These images will just have to keep EmpireLady going through the winter gloom:

echeveria elegans (in winter)

echeveria secunda glauca

echeveria secunda

image from flickr, a wonderful planting

Echeverias Perle von Neurenberg and Lola with sempervivum

echeveria setosa

Musing On: Under an Acorn Tree, thinking of Virginia Woolf.

2009-06-21T12:48:00.023+09:30

It is midwinter here in Australia and, with the shortest day of the year drawing to a close, I have found myself rereading Virginia Woolf.

image courtesy of Barnes & Noble
who state on the jacket:

'Women must have money and rooms of their own, Woolf told her audience, if they are to write fiction. They must have the liberty "to travel and to idle, to contemplate the future and the past of the world, to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream." They must write books on every subject and fertilize every field of knowledge with their own understanding; and their writing must draw on both the masculine and feminine parts of themselves, for "it is when this fusion takes place that the mind is fully fertilized and uses all its faculties." Then, when the next woman is born whose gift is a match for Shakespeare's, her talent will be allowed to bloom.'

Virginia Woolf's room at Monk's House

Despite the rain, I was reminded of summer and then of summer in one house in particular. It is hard to imagine that this tiny cottage is in South Australia, but that is exactly where it is, near Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, tucked under a giant oak tree. The sensitive restoration project was inspired in part by 'Monk's House', owned by Virginia Woolf from 1915 until her death in 1941. The photographs taken at the end of summer, on Valentines Day, do not show the garden to its best advantage!

Acorn Cottage, built prior to the proclamation of the state of South Australia and was once a Public House (Pub) know as the 'Half Way House', located on the old bullock trail south of the Old Mount Barker Road.

The cottage is comprised of a honeycomb of rooms, not all of which are shown

the summer garden, exhausted by the heat

the windows flung open to let the summer breeze through the cottage

The original shingle roof underneath the iron roof was a home to several bats prior to restoration

If walls could talk.....

The remains of the old bar, from behind which refreshments were once served, has been retained in the bedroom.

I am reminded of summer

I MUST HAVE ONE!
image via Amazon (currently out of stock)

Treasure Hunt: A little note

2009-06-19T17:29:00.010+09:30

This little post is for K********, this is the tea table, I think that it is charming:

kind regards, B.

Favourite Things: Portrait of a Lady

2009-06-11T15:11:00.053+09:30

It is winter here. Today, and for the next few days, I am in quarantine with flu from Mexico! How exotic, I have never had a house guest from Mexico before and now I am thinking about Frida Kahlo and her portraits. This is an entirely new experience for me. My neighbours have been kind enough to come to the window with a box of food to be left at the door before beating a hasty retreat.

With Frida on my mind, if I were to have my portrait taken now I would have to do my best and fashion myself in the mode of the 'Victorian decline,' a sort of The Fall of the House of Usher look (my mother does it so well and with so little prompting). However blogging and tamiflu seems to be a better, albeit unstylish, option.

There is little that lends a more evocative elegance to a room than a portrait, they offer a wonderful opportunity for juxtaposition. The portraits that I love are strongly neutral, they do not reveal too much of the painter's intent and allow the viewer to make their own mind up, this is particularly true of vintage portraits because the level of disassociation allows the viewer to make their own associations with the piece.

image via airspaces

In terms of modern portraits this evocative quality is rare but is certainly to found in the work of British born, Australian based artist David Bromley with whom I attended classes at Art School in what now seems a lifetime ago. I am a great admirer of his work, which deserves a whole separate post

David Bromley's portrait of Louise Olson (of Dinosaur Designs),
a 2008 entry for the Archibald Prize

To anyone who has reservations about hanging a portrait of an unknown sitter, I would say that it may be useful to consider that living with a portrait of someone you know all too well might be far more trying!

Recently I was admiring James Merrell's astoundingly beautiful portfolio when I came across these images which illustrate the point far more eloquently than my words:

James Merrell

James Merrell

James Merrell

On inspecting a blog called My Book Covers, a compilation of brilliant jacket designs by Random House designer Megan Wilson, I was thrilled to find an image from the painting of Sir Herbert James Gunn, the subject being his second wife. I have not actually seen the original but I know his other work well. I would love to know where the original hangs, if you know, please tell me! I have also posted images of his other portraits below

Sir Herbert James Gunn

My fascination with these mid century portraits is perhaps due to the fact that they seem to crystalise the end of an era , effectively the closing years of the British Empire. It is perhaps easier to regard them with the affection that comes with distance and loss.

Gunn's 1930 portrait "Pauline in the Yellow Dress" was originally controversial as it depicted his wife, an elegant, wealthy woman wearing make up and an elaborate dress in a period of austerity,'' when clothing was still rationed and women found it difficult to acquire cosmetics. When first exhibited in the Royal Academy some 14 years later it was described as "the Mona Lisa of 1944." I can still remember seeing the painting, as a child, in a museum at Preston, it puzzled me as I looked and looked and looked but I still couldn't work out what the lady was thinking!

'Portrait of Gwen' 1925 the artists first wife

EmpireLady, resident muse, is insistent on the posting of even more Gunn portraits, perhaps just one in particular .... the subject being a Lady who meets unreservedly with EmpireLady's approval, the Duchess of Argyll, the subject of the most infamous British legal case of the twentieth century, the Argyll v Argyll divorce case of 1963 better known as the ‘Headless Man’ case, where the central evidence was a photograph – taken possibly with the only Polaroid camera then in the country which belonged to the Ministry of Defence – taken of a naked man whose head was cut off the top of the frame and in which the naked Duchess, in her mirrored bathroom, was identifiable by her triple string of pearls. Throwing caution to the wind, EmpireLady is of the opinion that this is simply the most stylish way to wear pearls and is certain that Boris agrees.

The history of the proceedings are counter pointed by the statements of complacence and almost hypnotic self-regard that survive in sources such as the Duchess’s autobiography 'Forget Not' written in 1975. Resoundingly well-dressed and astonishingly coiffed (an auburn, baroque-swirl bouffant was her trademark), Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, to no one's surprise, was famously self-involved. Described in her own words, "I had wealth, I had good looks. As a young woman I had been constantly photographed, written about, flattered, admired, included in the Ten Best-Dressed Women in the World list and mentioned by Cole Porter in his hit song You’re the Top." Here she is:

She once told the New York Times, "I don't think anybody has real style or class any more. Everyone's gotten old and fat." More to the point, she described herself as "always vain." To the end of her life, her superficiality remained superbly intact, as evidenced by one characteristically vapid quote: "Always a poodle, only a poodle! That, and three strands of pearls!" she said. "Together they are absolutely the essential things in life."

The Duchess was duly divorced, and her life became a desperate scrabble to cling on to the high life from which indebtedness and notoriety remorselessly excluded her. Despite her cataclysmic fall from grace the Duchess made sure that her house at 48 Upper Grosvenor St was a linchpin of society in postwar London, with visitors such as Noel Coward, Cary Grant, Anthony Eden and John Paul Getty. A few years ago ago the house was sold. The agent’s brochure says rather coyly: “This great address is exemplified by her indomitable spirit.”

Her Biographer Michael Thornton wrote “After the case, people thought Margaret would go abroad or disappear from society, but she refused to do that. She never skulked or wore dark glasses, she just went out and about and carried on hosting parties. Some people stayed away, but not for long — in the end, they all came back. She was very courageous.”

When one considers what part the house played in the duchess’s downfall, it seems odd that she kept the bathroom exactly as it was. The house is listed and so is the bathroom, not because of what went on there but because it is so gloriously Art Deco, with mirrors on all four walls, on doors and handles, even on fake Greek columns. There’s also a bath big enough for two, naturally, and a pale-blue leather loo seat. At the top of the house is an ornate cupola, etched with flowers and in a good order. The main bedroom is large, with a faded bed canopy, his ’n’ hers wardrobes lined with pale blue silk, and, bizarrely, two doors into the passage.

Another lady entirely, but fascinating all the same, available at Mossgreen :

Lazzollo "the Socialite"

In the Garden: An answer to a Gardening Question

2009-06-11T10:23:00.020+09:30

Like many an aesthetically driven person, I find it impossible to limit myself to the indoor world. I think that I might be a passionate gardener. I say this because I bear the weight of the disapproval of various family members who have been inconvenienced by my gardening activities which have been known to occur on a large scale, sometimes involving heavy machinery and on one occasion a crane and a semi trailer.

These days I endeavour to be a little more subtle in relation to the extent of my horticultural ambitions so as not to incur the wrath of people who who prefer my cooking. I now have the wisdom to wave my hand over an area and, with a very airy, innocent expression on my face, state that I am going to 'sort of plant some things' and that 'it will look nice'. I have two gardens, one which is sun drenched and mediterranean and the other which I am making into a sort of a big orchard surrounded by meadows (note the purposeful vagueness here).

A little while ago I noted a question posed by another blog author in A Bloomsbury Life about climbing plants suitable for growing up a wall 'facing away from the equator'. I use this term because I live in Australia where southern walls are shady and spring is in October, and as a gardener, I still feel upside down and back to front even after many years. A most useful plant for smothering a shady wall in a warm climate is the self clinging hydrangea petiolaris:

the above images are via ebay.fr, posted by a french ebayer selling bare rooted stock.
In France you'll see this plant described as hortensia grimpant
but it is widely available at most good nurseries

This particular climbing hydrangea is charming in a beautiful and simple way, the kind of thing that song thrushes will nest in. It does take quite a while to take off as the plant will insist on developing a good root system before lurching upwards at an eventually quite rapid rate. The flowers are only ever white and it is tolerant of a wide range of soils so long as there is plenty of well rotted compost dug in. As with any creeper, water is essential until the roots become widespread enough to reach beyond the line of the eves to the areas that receive rainfall. In a Mediterranean climate, drip irrigation may prove to be essential.

Another contender is the self clinging virginia creeper parthenocissus tricuspidata , although on a shady wall it will only tend to dominate the upper reaches. The images that I have posted below are of the Fountain Inn which was close to where I lived as a child in Cornwall. If my memory serves me correctly, the wall gets morning sun but is still subject to a lot of shade by virtue of the rather steep adjacent buildings and the very narrow street:

Hanging baskets are now very out of fashion and seem to have been deemed un-chic by local landscape architects. This makes them especially attractive to me as I am becoming increasingly bored with the stylish, spiky armies of cordelynes and cabbage trees ensconced in pretend sandstone that are featured in the newspaper. I have posted a picture of the Fountain in the quiet season in order that you can see the structure behind all of that abundance.

Before I get myself into too much trouble here, I must say that I do love sculptural plants, I collect echeveria, it is their formulaic overuse that aggrieves me.

Old Favourites: More from the V & A

2009-06-08T19:55:00.006+09:30

As promised, I have posted a few more images, all available in extra large sizes as prints or canvas transfers at reasonable prices by mail order from www.vandaprints.com

Furnishing Fabric, Pierre Chareau (1883-1950) block printed linen

Wallpaper, from Dodington Hall, near Nether Stowey, Somerset. Hand-printed in colours from wood blocks on paper. England, 1770.
Astoundingly.....1770 and not 1960!

Poster, China 1920's.
I love both the composition and colour!

Old Favourites: Blue Bird for Bloomsbury

2009-06-07T17:29:00.001+09:30

Being a complete novice to the art of blogging, and in order that I might politely introduce myself, I have posted this image especially for Ms. Lisa Borgnes Giramonti of A Bloomsbury Life. I have vetted Mr Lear and have ascertained that he is possessed of all of the characteristics listed in the 'A Bloomsbury Life' post of June 4th.

'The Dark Blue Bird' by Edward Lear (1812-88). Ink & watercolour, one of six. England, 1880.

(another V&A treasure available through www.vandaprints.com)

Long celebrated as the author of "The Owl and the Pussycat" and recently rediscovered as a landscape painter, Edward Lear has emerged as one of the formidable figures of 19th-century England - a larger-than-life and gloriously eccentric Victorian, part naturalist, part artist, part raconteur.

Something for Everybody!

2009-06-06T17:02:00.004+09:30

I have to admit to a sort of wallpaper addiction (Gracies, de Gournay etc).

via Domino (Feb. 2007) photographed by Barrie Benson

As a child I was enthralled by the studio and home of two of my mother's close friends who specialised exclusively in wallpaper design. So of course I was thrilled to see a like minded soul at work whilst admiring the posts in 'A Bloomsbury Life'.

Inspired by the large de Gournay panel pictured above, it was the peculiar addictive properties of wallpaper that led me to the Victoria and Albert Museum archives. I thought I should share the invaluable resource available at the V & A http://www.vandaprints.com/ Largely based on wallpaper and fabric design, the designs are available in custom sizes as prints and canvas transfers, and yes they do ship overseas. Pricing is excellent for rolled prints and canvases. Standard sizing is up to 1250mm with larger images available as custom orders. Available collections include stunning mid century photographic images and a multiplicity of antique and vintage of graphic designs. I'll post more over the coming week:

Wallpaper with flowering shrubs and fruit bees, on a pale green background. China, 18th century.

Wallpaper Fragment. The Thorn Damask Pattern. Machine & woodblock print. c.1838.

Wallpaper panel. Tempera. China, 1725-50.

Bird Pattern Wallpaper, by Luise Delefant (active 1950s), from The Oman & Hamilton wallpaper catalogue. Breisach, Germany, c.1955.

Wallpaper from a book of wallpapers. Lyon's Stripe. England, early to mid 19th century.

Wallpaper. Paper impression from a copper plate of a textile design, from the Bromley Hall Pattern Book. England, late 18th century

Old Favourites: Style is a Simple Way of Saying Complicated Things

2009-06-03T21:54:00.001+09:30

Well, that is what Mr Cocteau told me this morning as I tried to stare down the complicated day that lay ahead of me. Having run out of time I leave you with a snap of an original vintage Cocteau print from the April 1937 Harpers Bazaar:

Titled: " L'elegance en 1937 - Robe du Soir - The incomparable Coco, Madamoiselle Chanel "

Inscribed: "In her white silk crepe dinner dress, her magnificent multi-colored jewels and her hair ribbon.-Hattie Carnegie"

241mm x 330mm

An Eclectic Background

2009-06-01T21:32:00.000+09:30

As a runaway teenager my aesthetic journey began when I funded my way through art school (then later for some bizarre reason, Law School) by working for seven years with the irrepressible Coco Renee, running an antique clothing emporium. Captivated, immersed in ephemera and vast, ever changing quantities of vintage clothing and antiques. I learned to buy well, to attend at auctions and seized every opportunity to work with stylists from the SA Film Corporation and various producers who inevitably gravitated to the emporium.

But my mother's worst fear was that I would become a dilettante and a little later, at her insistence, I read law and went on to become admitted as a Legal Practitioner and focused on Crime but aesthetics remained an addiction. I have never truly been able to separate myself from the antique trade, influenced by the likes of Spencer Swaffer to whom, like many expats, I am truly indebted:

It was only later that I branched into interior decoration, remodelling and later making chandeliers and sconces, an ideal outlet for the frustrated metal smith. It was then that I came across Maison Bagues and Jansen and became what my mother feared the most ...... a dilettante.

two images courtesy of www.thursdaysantiques.com

A Road Well Travelled

2009-05-31T09:40:00.000+09:30

I've had a passion for twentieth century art and literature for as long as I can remember, it was only after several years at art school that I came to work in the field of design. The way that creative thinkers have felt compelled to overcome society's insistence on living a a life more ordinary has always held a fascination for me. One of my very favourite books, originally purchased because of my interest in Jean Cocteau, is 'Writer's Houses'.

Written by the former editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue and Casa Vogue, who now works at French Vogue, Francesca Premoli-Droulers. A cursory glance at the stunning images of remnants of mid-century life lived without surrender will reveal a parallel aesthetic trajectory along which the likes of KWID may have traveled. I remain fascinated.

On another note entirely, I've been looking at some flooring solutions and came across this last night. Being a total devotee of the great British decorator David Hicks, I felt compelled to share it:

David Hick's iconic 1960's designs have been set in stone by Studium. Nine of the motifs, including my favourites 'Isfahan' and 'Fiorentina', have now been reproduced by his son Ashley Hicks as floor tiles in marble and limestone. Prices start at $75 per square foot. I'm still waiting on Australian pricing, which may prove prohibitive considering the tyranny of distance. More details are available at http://www.studiumnyc.com/

EmpireLady: Resident Muse

2009-05-30T21:25:00.003+09:30

Empire Design is home to a resident muse: EmpireLady, she is somewhat misleading about her age, which is somewhere between 35 and 235 on a bad day. Having recently mastered the use of a very old typewriter, she likes to make a contribution to this blog.

We warn that there have been occasions when EmpireLady has been banned from the blog, and in fact the office in general .... largely as a consequence of a range of difficult behaviours, usually brought on by a somewhat inappropriate fascination with Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and Madame Arcati, with whom she is strictly forbidden to communicate.

On the whole we must say that EmpireLady can be most charming, despite a somewhat brittle temperament. She is a lover of modern art who rather approves of Daphne Guinness and Oscar Wilde and is currently to be found in a deckchair, on the lawn, reading a text on the demise of the three great European Empires in the C20th and is applying what she has learned to her obsession with ephemera from that era, stating: one must understand that the art of 'living in collapse' requires just a little more style .....

First Post

2009-05-29T13:51:00.000+09:30

Well, this is my very first attempt at a post. I have been reading Blogs for quite some time now, and I must say, with enormous appreciation.

My spelling will reveal me as British, as my ever vigilant spell checker reminds me, but I am based in Australia. I am one of those people with a curious double-life. Half of me engages with the world in my capacity as a Legal Practitioner specialising in Crime, and the other half (seemingly on the run from the law) operates Empire Design, a company specialising in Interior Decoration, Design and Antiques. As opposed as these two realities first appear, they are both based on disciplined problem-solving and a sometimes vast cataloguing ability. Despite this, life remains a balancing act. This Blog will not be about the law, although it is possibly about my escape from it!

It is my sincere wish that this visual list of inspiring things, of interests and obsessions, will be enjoyable. I have struggled to think of where to start, and I can not think of a better place to begin than with someone who was Coco Chanel's muse who I am sure would have been a blogger ..... if he could have been a blogger..... and this is a photograph of his desk below, the inimitable Jean Cocteau.

I found this image, unattributed, on a French website but I suspect that it should be properly attributed to the photographer Erica Lennard.

Cocteau's House at Milly-la-Foret and the man himself below