The mission was something out of Alice in Wonderland: take a train to a hamlet in the south of the city, walk along cobblestone streets past tempting little shops, turn left on a street called “hope,” look for a window filled with fine linens and warm light and if the adjacent door is propped open, come on in.

My destination was just as dreamlike and quaint as the journey it took to get there. Located in La Butte aux Calles, an adorable, totally remote neighborhood dense with lovely little treasures, La Clarière is a wonderland of hand-printed linens produced in limited series on site.

But if you’re looking for precious chichi motifs with elaborate affect you’ve got the wrong address, La Clarière’s linens are clean compositions of color, shape and weave that blend romance and rusticity. Be they elegant arabesques on rough-hewn army linen, or austere silver moons on buttery-soft cotton, unexpected juxtapositions of material and motif give a light, modern freshness to the designs. Would you expect any less from an interior designer mentored by Andrée Putman?

“The overall effect is unmannered because of the contrast between the patterns and fabric,” says Canadian-born owner Sharon Macdonald who worked for twenty years creating interiors for big-name architecture agencies in Paris before launching La Clarière in 1997. “When I do my work, I cut the fabric into individual pieces and then stamp it as a composition. It’s like its own little world,” says Sharon.

“The idea is to create an atmosphere that if you framed and magnified would becomes like a work of architecture.”

From bed lines and children’s bibs to tote bags and nightgowns, Sharon prints everything on site using a special supply of hand-made stamps crafted out of un-precious materials such as corks and potatoes. It’s a technique she first discovered as a precocious and crafty kid that she’s perfected over the years.

Since most of the fabric Sharon uses is found at the nearby flea market at Vanves, all of her designs are either unique, or available in limited edition. So if you fall in love with that hand-dyed pillow with the green cloverleaf print, or the A-frame nightgown with the rustic red pattern, you should probably pick it up on the spot. Sharon retires colors and patterns until she finds that right support for it again.

But if that’s not special enough, Sharon also does bespoke creations on demand.

Atelier/shop: 8 rue de L’Epérance, 75013, open Wed & Sat from 2:30pm-7pm, or by appointment
Prices: From 12E sachets to 250E duvet covers

I write about some pretty unusual talents on this blog, but couture umbrella maker just might be my rarest find yet. That’s why I’m letting Michel Heurtault, owner of the fabulous umbrella shop, Parasolerie Heurtault, tell the story behind his flabbergasting art.
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“I’ve been obsessed with umbrellas from the time I was three. I have no idea why, but I could spend hours breaking them apart and studying how they opened and closed. I collected all of the umbrellas I could find, and by the time I was eight I was repairing them for people in my neighborhood. Needless to say, my parents thought I was nuts.

I moved from Toulon to Paris when I was eighteen and began working as a costume designer. I eventually opened my own company, Art ‘Scene, where I made costumes and corsets for film shoots, theatre productions as well as fashion houses such as Dior. I poured the most luxurious elements into my costumes.

Throughout the same period, I devoted all of my free time to making umbrellas and parasols. I didn’t want to make them in polyester and plastic like everyone else, so I started researching ways to waterproof and UV-protect noble materials, like lace, cotton, silk and linen. Anyone can put fabric on an umbrella, but my signature is to use only the finest materials, experiment with the cut, and handcraft the finishes so that it become a striking object with a soul.

I use an 18th century machine to cut my fabric into eight panels and then bend and shape them to create the curves and silhouette of the umbrella. The fabric needs to be as taught as possible. The sound of the umbrella when it opens, the stretching and tightening until it springs into place is a sign of quality. The more the fabric flutters the more it catches the wind like a sail, causing the umbrella to shake and break.

I do all of the detail and finishing by hand. I pad the ribs and smock the runners with fabric for aesthetic and practical reasons. It unifies the color of the design, prevents rusting, and helps the umbrella open and close more easily

I consider the umbrella to be a fashion accessory. Not only is it a beautiful item to carry in your hand, it gives you instant attitude and allure. I’m always shocked by the number of people who spend a ton of time and energy on their ensemble, but then ruin it with a revolting umbrella.

Instead of a cigarette, you have an umbrella to play with. It’s the final touch to a chic silhouette.

So many women come to me and say that they’d love to carry a parasol, but that it’s not really fashionable. And I tell them, ‘it’s not just about fashion, it’s about personal comfort.’ When you’re under an parasol you don’t sweat as much, you’re makeup doesn’t drip off, you’re not oppressed by the sun, and of course it’s great for protecting your skin.

Umbrellas have been vulgarized as disposable objects. We throw away 10 million per year in France and 33 million in the USA. During your grandmother’s era an umbrella was a luxury object, you bought one every year and when it broke, you had it repaired. I’m not obsessed with the past, I’m just thinking about a future that’s ecologically chic.”

Shop and Atelier Address: 91 Avenue Daumesnil, 75012, Paris
Price: Starting at €300

Breathing fresh air into the formulaic art scene, Atelier 7 is a chic, discreet gallery that resuscitates the forgotten genre of the Parisian art salon.

A stylish home where people go to mingle with art, and each other, Atelier 7 has the perfect pedigree for the part. The Montparnasse home-studio was built in 1904 by Louis Süe and André Mare to attract the artists who lived in the neighborhood—and boy did it work! None other than Picasso settled in from 1911-1913.

Exactly a century after the two-storey apartment, which butts against the side of the Cemetière du Montparnasse, was built, Louise Brody, a graphic designer, and her architect husband, moved in. Inspired by the space’s unusual artistic past, they decided to make it into a gallery to showcase the work of their talented circle of friends.

“Sharing the space and living with these artists’ work for five weeks is part of the experience.”

For each five-week exhibition, the couple fills their living room with the work of a different artist. Which means their convictions have to be spot on: not only do they have to believe in the artist, they need to love their work enough to want to live it with it, too.

In contrast to the abstract paintings by Nieves Salzmann earlier this year, the walls at Atelier 7 are now filled with the sensual, elegant images of the George Clooney of photography, Ferrante Ferranti, an artist Brody has worked with for fifteen years.

To say she knows the material well is an understatement: she did the layout for the last twelve of his photography books. Choosing which ones to live with was a piece a cake for Brody who carefully curates her space like the pages in her books, shifting images around to get the perfect juxtaposition of forms, composition and color. In the case of the Ferrante, that meant creating the perfect vibrations between his energetic colors and tactiley black and whites.

This sense of intimacy, from the setting to the set up, is what makes Atelier 7 so special for the artists as well as the visitors. “I really wanted to introduce his work to a larger audience, and like other artists, he felt at home showing here,” says Brody.

It’s also a great way to get a feeling for what an artwork would look like in a home, which is something the stark walls of your traditional gallery hardly help with. While Atelier 7 is not your typical home, it gives you a sense of how the art interacts with furniture, shelving and lighting.

Which brings me to the next fabulous part of Atelier 7—not only can you experience amazing art in an intimate setting and meet the artists (Ferranti is there every weekend during the show), you can also lounge around some phenomenal mid-century furniture from Noguchi, Corbusier, and Matégot. If you fall in love with the furniture, the multitasking Brody, who also runs a vintage furniture-scouting agency called City Styles, can help you find some of your own.

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Photographs by Ferrante Ferrante: from December 3, 2009-January 17, 2010 (including New Years day!)
Atelier 7: 242 boulevard Raspail, 75014 Paris
Hours: Thursday-Sunday from 3pm-7pm, or contact me to make an appointment
Prices: Unframed, fine-art prints (€380E-650); Framed, artist-printed in limited edition of 7 (€1300); Color prints on wood support (€800-1400); Black-and-white prints, framed or mounted on wood support (€480-2300).

Photos by Fabrice Fortin and Nicholas Calcott for Paris By Appointment Only™

It’s funny how a deep childhood frustration can become a creative manifesto later in life. Case in point: Maïa, the Paris-based porcelain painter. As a kid, she tried every night to decorate the table with her family’s finest, only to be told to return it to the cupboard for the everyday stuff.

Now, not only does Maïa set the table with beautiful, eye-popping designs whenever she likes, she’s made it her business to make sure that others do too!

“It’s a democratic way of bringing art into the home and a touch of fantasy to the table,” says the first-name-only artist who found a way to bridge the dishware divide between fabulous and functional by fusing the two in one.

Maïa started ten years ago with a teacup, and now hand paints everything from jars and dishes to bowls, vases and tea sets on porcelain made by one of the last remaining artisanal factories in Limoges, France.

Each made-to-measure creation is the result of a two-hour coffee klatch between artist and customer. “I need muses to create, and my clients are my muses,” says Maïa who meets her word-of-mouth clientele at her beautiful, porcelain-packed flat to find out about their preferred shapes, colors, pastimes, and even vacation destinations before crafting an original design

She not only creates entire services, but one-off compliments to your heirloom China as well. So if you have a vintage series that needs a modern centerpiece or an antique set that’s missing a few pieces, she can match everything from Puiforcat to Fornasetti.

Once you’ve agreed on your color, shape and motif, Maia then makes a sample free of charge (with no obligation to buy). If you give the okay, she returns to her atelier to seal colors in place in an 1200° C oven, then numbers and signs the designs with a fingerprint.

In addition to painting porcelain, Maïa is also a classical pianist (she’s giving a free, private concert on Nov 15 in Paris, and you’re invited to come, by the way). Unlike her musical performances, which are beautiful, but fleeting, porcelain allows Maïa to express her creativity in a much more tangible way.

It’s not hard to spot a melody in her artwork as well.  Inspired by the paintings of Vuillard, Miró and Chagall, Maia uses colors and shapes to create a timeless visual rhythm. Expressive yet classical, fluid yet structured, it’s all about complementing contrasts for Maïa, be it on piano or porcelain.

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Prices: Vases (60-300€), Tea Sets (75-120€), Plates (18-50€), Candy Dishes (98€)
Contact: maiaworlds@gmail.com or tel: + 33 6 60 70 18 18
Shop: A selection of Maïa’s designs can be found at Galeries Lafayette Maison (Paris) and Nest Interiors (New York)

Photos of atelier by Nicholas Calcott for Paris By Appointment Only™

Erik Halley’s business card should have weekend and weekday descriptions. From Mon-Fri, this adorable Frenchie can be found at his Parisian atelier handcrafting statement-making accessories for the best names in fashion such as Lagerfeld, Yohji, Givenchy and Mugler (to name but a few). But come the weekend, he trades his tools for the turntables as resident DJ of Club Sandwich, the most glamorous and decadent dance party in Paris.

The two jobs go hand in hand, however. The club is not only his front-row seat to the most inspired and eccentric sartorialists in the city, it’s also a stage to test drive his fabulous new concepts and designs.

Halley has been pushing accoutrements out of the fringes and into the fore of fashion for the last fifteen years. Not only has his wearable art been featured in exhibitions, he was the first designer to ever stage an accessories runway show during fashion week in Paris (see video at end of post).

Be they triple-tiered shoulder pads covered in Swarovski stones, audio headphones with embedded metal spikes, or Kiss-painted doll head headbands, his mischievous, extravagant designs blur the boundaries between accessories and art.

“I’m a big surrealism fan,” says the designer whose lobster logo is a tribute to the movement’s favorite crustacean. “I love the madness of it and the freedom to do silly things.”

Halley’s big break came in 1996 when Karl Lagerfeld commissioned a collection of runway accessories for Chanel. Using a treasure trove of antique pelican and eagle feathers, he concocted a special heat and steam system to shape them into wispy frames for the face.

Sourcing vintage beads in New York, metal trimmings in India, glass beads in Morocco, and antique feathers from old stock suppliers, Halley first customizes his materials in his kitchen laboratory before working them into one-of-a-kind creations. “Various suppliers have passed along technical tricks from the past that I’ve tweaked and developed myself,” says Halley of his DIY designs.

From feathers and metal to leather and crystals, Halley is a maestro of a variety of mediums and techniques. His signature is to mix together contrasting materials for a modern twist on chic, like turning Swarovski crystals on their backs to look like punk rock studs, or transforming Louboutin heels into hats.

His technical and creative playfulness has made him the go-to guy for outstanding embellishments both on stage and off. Not only has he crafted performance pieces for Madonna (an oxidized metal necklace using Indian-inspired trimmings) David Bowie (orchid-shaped feather earrings) and most recently Beyoncé (a crystal degradé bodice designed by Thierry Mugler), he does custom commissions for regular people with a flair for extravagance too.

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Prices: 90E-skies the limit depending on design.
Appointments: Contact me to be put in touch with Erik

The last place you’d expect to find a master milliner is on a small Parisian street best known for its delicious udon noodles and bento box lunches. But authentic Japanese cuisine is just as rare as handmade hats in Paris, so their co-habitation on the rue Sainte Anne is not so odd after all.

Up a winding set of stairs behind a cobblestone courtyard is the discreet home of the renowned Maison Michel where for a price not more than some designer jeans, you could own a timeless, one-of-a-kind accessory that is guaranteed to turn heads.

Striking in its small, cozy configuration, the multi-room showroom and atelier hums with the sounds of straw weaving machines, seamstresses chattering, the shuffling of hand-written orders and the hissing of heaters baking fabric atop wooden hat molds.

Occupying the same space since its inception in 1936, Maison Michel was rescued from oblivion by Chanel’s Paraffection division in 1996 on their mission to save the heritage of struggling haute couture ateliers

Maison Michel is one of seven such ateliers d’art that now functions independently under the Chanel umbrella, supplying to their Mother Company as well as competing couture brands and independent clients in effort to keeps their skills impeccable honed. It is also listed as an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (Living Heritage Company) along with Bijoux Commelin and hundreds of other French companies recognized for perpetuating traditional artisanal crafts.

Maison Michel’s private clients run the gamut from dandy to diva, and include men on a mission for made-to-measure fedoras, women plotting their flamboyant headgear for a day at the races and soon-to-be-brides looking for an original accoutrement to their wedding wardrobe.

After consulting at length with the brand’s art director, Ludovic Kornetsky, a design is crafted to order and then fabricated by hand on the premises. Count three weeks to two months for delivery and approx 300€ to 3,000€ per hat according to the complexity and material of the design.

Maison Michel Timeline

1936: Hatmaker Auguste Michel founds his company on rue Saint Anne in Paris
1975: After taking over the company with his wife, Claudine, Pierre Debard stocks the studio with refurbished Weissmanns, old straw sewing machine that allow for the creation of large, invisibly-stitched hats. These sizable, wide-brimmed hats catch the attention of designers such as Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent.
1980: Maison Michel starts making hats for couture and ready-to-wear fashion houses such as Chanel, Givenchy, Nina Ricci, Guy Laroche, Lanvin and Christian Lacroix.
1996: Chanel takes over Maison Michel
2006: The first Maison Michel Paris ready-to-wear collection designed by Laetitia Crahay, head of accessories and jewelry at Chanel, is launched worldwide.

Maison Michel Glossary

Bob (Sailor’s hat)—Small Breton hat generally made of fabric with an upturned brim.
Canotier (Boater)—Flat-topped straw hat with a narrow brim.
Capeline (Wide-brimmed)—Lady’s hat with a wide, flexible rim usually made of straw or horsehair.
Cloche (Cloche)—Hat with flared brim (e.g. pink hat above left)
Feutre (Felt)—Non-woven, waterproof fabric produced by matting and pressing hairs or wool (Maison Michel sometimes uses rabbit hair).
Forme (Block)—Full limewood mold in which hats are shaped (Maison Michel has more than 3,000).
La Couseuse (Seamstress)—While particularly cherished for thier fine craftsmanship of large, wide-brimmed, sewn straw hats, seamstresses also make “cut and sewn” hats such as sailor’s hats, caps and other cloche hats using patterns.
La Modiste (Milliner)—Working from an illustration, the milliner is in charge of designing the hat prototype using fabrics such as wool, cotton, silk and sometimes even leather. The milliner is also responsible for the hat finishings and trims.
Le Chapelier (Hatmaker)—Craftsman who shapes felt or straw, passes it through a steam box to moisten fabric, then stretches it on a limewood block before baking it in an oven to set exact shape.
Panama (Panama)—Men’s summer hat (though super chic on women) in very fine, soft, light straw plaited from thin strips cut from the leaves of a palm.
Weissmann—Rare, straw sewing machine capable of making large, invisible stitched hats.

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Price: 300€ to 3,000€ per hat according to the complexity and material of the design.
Timeframe: Count three weeks to two months for delivery.
Appointment: You may contact me to help schedule an appointment
Inside tip: If you can’t afford made-to-measure, opt for the house’s ready-to-wear collection which is distributed worldwide and fabricated using the brand’s famed artisanal techniques.

All images courtesy of Maison Michel

It’s only my fourth post but I already have a confession to make (and no, it’s not about the cutie above).

One of the reasons why I’m doing this project is to satisfy my longstanding curiosity for people who pursue unusual professional paths. I have never been blessed (or cursed, perhaps?) with a burning career calling, but I am fascinated with those who are—especially when their shtick is super obscure.

Working as a journalist has served me well in this department. Interviewing someone is like having a giant question pass printed on your forehead. From challenging and quirky to just plain personal, you can ask your subject just about anything.

For me, the ultimate “jackpot conversation” is when I walk out of the experience with a juicy slice into someone’s life and a completely new window into the world.

That’s how I felt after my visit to Avenel L, a year-old workshop and design firm dedicated to the art of woodworking.

It wasn’t because the space was ravishing (see above!) or packed floor-to-ceiling with gorgeous handcrafted furniture, but because after two hours speaking with the boys behind the studio I realized that I had unearthed something much larger and exciting than I had expected.

Without sounding overly dramatic, Avenel L reassured me that France (which has been suffering from a bad case of mild depression for at least a decade) was on some kind of self-healing path via its kids.

Picking up, dusting off and reviving some of France’s vanishing crafts, young artisan-designers are propelling the country’s weighty handmade ”heritage” into the 21st century with beauty and bravado.

What’s interesting about this new creative wave is that it’s not simply about preserving aging skills, but using them to anticipate the aesthetic tastes of tomorrow.

Avenel L is in many ways the most striking example of this movement that I’ve yet to see. It should come as no surprise, really. The founder of this fresh-faced trio is the award-winning “ebeniste’” (cabinetmaker) Ludovic Avenel. In 2007, at the ripe old age of 23, Avenel won the outrageously prestigious Liliane Bettancourt pour l’Intelligence de la Main, an award given each year to a French artisan in a specific field.

His masterpiece Empreinte (Imprint)—a duo of virtually-identical art deco commodes created using two sets of materials, one modest (cardboard & aluminum) and one luxurious (mahogany & shagreen)—showed off his sleight of hand savvy and technical dexterity.  It also helped him score the 50,000E cash award to jump-start his own company.

Avenel didn’t need to look far for qualified designer-craftsmen to join his team. All he had to do was recruit two of his friends from his Alma mater, the Ecole Boulle, France’s Harvard of artistic crafts. Like Avenel (now 25-yrs-old), Christophe Bret (23) and Steven Leprizé (22) had also been afflicted by the rare-for-France entrepreneurial bug.

Had all the dust in the studio clouded their minds or was something shifting here in France?

“There’s something changing in the world of artistic crafts, especially for designers our age,” says Bret, who looks like he should be playing Game Boy rather than giving an insightful analysis into his cohort’s professional ambitions. “If you look back only ten years ago, most of the graduates from Ecole Bulle went into restoration right after school. The emphasis was on technique, not original form. A new generation is looking for ways to merge the artisan with the artistic,” adds Leprizé, who has coined the term objects functionnels artistiques (functional artistic objects) to describe their work.

Wood is at the heart of the Avenel L design philosophy. Everything—from custom-crafted commodes overlaid with fragile shagreen (160,000E), to embossed leather  jewelry boxes (4,000E)—begins with the sturdy stuff. It’s what warms the designs and grounds their daring, sculptural shapes in the real.

Bound by a common commitment to innovation and quality, what sets Avenel L apart from most other design studios is their ability to handle every facet of conceptualization and fabrication.

That kind of A-to-Z expertise doesn’t come cheap, nor is it achieved overnight, so you won’t be hobbling out of the studio with a cabinet on your back. Make an appointment, speak to the kids, tell them what you like, they’ll design it, built it, and send it your way. An original work of furniture art made by baby-faced craftsmen who are helping to heal the French psyche? Try topping that!