Ooh La La: Dipped Chairs From Atelier Charivari

Occasionally, the sweetest finds are also the rarest ones.  Take, for instance, the pair of dipped chairs featured in these days’s post.  Painted by the very literally and figuratively Parisian Atelier Charivari, these 50+ year old beech bistro chairs have been given new life with a coat of grey and a hint of pink.  With the addition of little felt pads on the feet, these lovingly restored seats are at as soon as classic — just appear at these lines — and modern, what with last year’s explosion of colorblocked reputation on runways from Paris and Milan to New York and L.A.  As it usually does, last year’s style trends are now creating their way into house furnishings and accessories, and while colorblocking is no exception, we’re also fairly enamored with the pop-of-color-to-modernize-a-neutral therapy this pair has received.  The juxtaposition of an architectural grey with a light pink hue appropriate for a macaron shop storefront is at once edgy and feminine.  And if in the future the trend dies and along with it the owner’s affections, a simple dip into a matching grey or slick, glossy black will do the trick just fine.  As they say in Paris, “Tout vieux est nouveau encore” (everything old is new again).  Oh, of course, and also: “ooh la la.”

Photo credits: Atelier Charivari

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Sitting Fairly: Cool Modern Day Chairs & Accents By Marco Sousa Santos

There’s contemporary design that’s organic in type and pleasing to the eye, there’s contemporary design that provokes and ignites with its progressive stance, and there’s modern design that’s kind of an eyesore serving no true objective whatsoever.  Being fans of the former two and not so a lot the latter, we’re admitted fans of Marco Sousa Santos’ function with the Portuguese furnishings brand, Branca Lisboa.  His most current collection, featured now in the business’s 2013 catalogue, is predominantly white and ash blonde, with hints of bold, bright color to break what could otherwise turn into monotonous had been it not so goshdarned fairly.  The blend of components employed in his cool modern day chairs, like the achingly simple wooden side chair that fades into a comfy however nonetheless straightforward compound of white foam and rubber at the spine, make for a subtly elegant and understated collection of furnishings. Says the brand itself of its processes and vision: “By uniting Portuguese craftsmanship traditions with contemporary aesthetics, BRANCA aims to reignite the bygone era when merchandise were developed with patience, expertise, information and integrity, aiming to really reach the level of a high-end international item brand.” We’d say it’s carried out just that indeed.

Photo credits: Marco Sousa Santos for Branca-Lisboa

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