Snugly stylish sweaters are the most wanted items in a wardrobe. Without them, you may as well spend the winter in bed. That’s why I dream not of sparkly jewels or wads of cash but of owning an army of grannies who send me a steady supply of gorgeous handmade knits from November through March (yes, it’s that cold in Paris).

Turns out my fantasy isn’t all my own. Sylvia Toth, a Columbian designer who moved to Paris eight years ago, dreamed up a way to battle the bitter winter months by hiring a gang of knitters from her homeland. Lucky for us, she shares the handcrafted gems through WARMI, her artisanal fashion label.

Launched in 2008, WARMI is a Franco-Columbian brand that blends contemporary style with indigenous craftsmanship. Each collection is designed by Toth in Paris then produced in a remote mountainous village in Northern Columbia by a cooperative of women weavers. Though you’d think the name was just a funky new diminutive for “warm,” WARMI means “woman” in Quechua, one of the last living indigenous languages of the Andean region.

“The artisanal traditions in Columbia are very rich,” says Toth who discovered her knitting dream team at a native crafts festival during one of her habitual trips home. “Working with these women brings me back to my roots and builds a link between the two cultures,” says Toth who travels to Tausa several times a years to knit with the women and soak up the local color and traditions in order to feed it back into her designs.

Her whimsical animals motifs, for example, pay homage to masks worn during the annual Carnaval de Barranquilla. Inspired by their wild colors and  graphics, she invents new species for her women to stitch, infusing her knits with a playful, folklore wonder.

In addition to her meticulously stitched graphics are sculptural works that blend art and fashion. “I think of the designs as objects, not clothes, because my background is in design, not fashion,” says Toth who layers organic forms, like leaves in her Eva Bolera, or waves in her Capeline Pauline, to build irregular shapes and volumes.

From complex stitching and embroidered detailing to intricate assemblage, each woman in the cooperative has her own particular strength. Toth not only designs with each woman in mind, she also encourages them to flaunt their personal style, resulting in a collection ripe with charming irregularities and individual quirks.

In additional to their subtle stylistic signatures, each baby angora, naturally-dyed design is tagged with the knitter’s name and the number of hours she spent making it. So when you get compliments on your one-of-a-kind, handmade knit you know exactly who to thank.

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Prices: €50-500
Stocklist: click here for list of boutiques where WARMI is sold
Special Orders/Bespoke: ParisBAO can organize a visit to the WARMI showroom in Paris to commission a bespoke creation. Contact me for more details.

Photos by Fabrice Fortin for Paris By Appointment Only™

You’d think that gorgeous paper goods would be extinct by now. But one of the amazing side effects of our plugged-in lifestyle is a renewed craving for objects that are pleasantly tactile and reassuringly permanent.

No better sign o’ the times is the rising success of Intaglio, an independent printing press based in Paris.

A couture paper company with the friendly appeal of a neighborhood candy store, Intaglio (which means ‘engraving’ in Italian) is owned by Stephan Le Sauter and his wife, Anne. Together the affable duo has turned the rare art of foil stamping (an inkless printing process that permanently presses pigment into paper using weight and heat) into stationery so sophisticated and stylish you wonder how you’ve ever lived without it!

“Our designs are really influenced by the technique,” says Stephan, who learned the tricks of the trade while working at a printing press in San Francisco after college. “My roommate got me a job taking care of the paper stock. After a couple of months I was doing my job in three hours. The rest of my time I spent learning how to engrave,” explains Stephan, who returned to Paris after three years in California to round out his education with three French master craftsmen.

Unlike his tutors, Meilleurs Ouvriers de France committed to perpetuating classic French graphics, Stephan decided to combine age-old techniques with modern typography for a twist on tradition.

“An attractive letter, printed on 100% cotton paper by foil stamping is really one of the most beautiful things. It’s small, but its impact is huge.”

Instead of classical curlicues and frou frou detailing, he proposed chic, understated fonts and designs on luxurious, impeccably printed paper. From the second he placed his inaugural card (his son’s birth announcement) in his shop window in 1996, he realized he had tapped into something. “One mother came in, then another,” remembers Stephan. “And I realized that I could do it the old-fashioned way and become a printer for everybody’s needs.”

His flagship, offices and printing press now take up an entire street in the quiet corner of Paris’ 17th arrondissment where he and his family live. While a second shop, located near the Luxembourg gardens in the space that APC used to occupy, opened last fall.

From wedding invites and birth announcements to business cards and thank you notes, every Intaglio design is made-to-measure. After you choose your typeface, layout, paper stock, and letter pigment, a magnesium foil stamp die (carved metal plate) is made with your design. The plate is then hand finished and placed in an original Heidleberger machine where it seizes, heats and depresses pigment, producing a permanent de-bossed lettering without the use of any ink. If you’d like an embossed detail added, Intaglio has a battalion of hand-engraved stamps to choose from, too.

In addition to their custom products, Intaglio also sells ready-to-wear collections of artisanal cards, notebooks and paper towers at both of their Paris locations. But be warned: one visit to their shop and every other paper thereafter will pail in comparison.

That’s why my order’s on its way.

Intaglio: 3 rue de Fleurus, 75006 and 91 rue Lemercier, 75017
Prices: Greeting Cards (€3/piece), Business Cards (€150 for 100), Birth Announcements (€300 for 100 w/envelops) Wedding Invites (starting at €5/piece)

Photos by Fabrice Fortin for Paris By Appointment Only™

Just like her distinct, handmade jewels, Valerie Sloan’s shoebox of a boutique is striking despite its diminutive size. Maybe it’s because there’s usually no one in it.

When she’s not upstairs with her slowly growing clientele, the former sculptor can be found downstairs in her atelier handcrafting new pieces for her couture bijoux collection.

Looking for a way to transform her love of volumes and textures to a smaller, more manageable format, Sloan switched from sculpture to jewelry in 2000.

“Sculptors are often burdened by the weight and size of the objects. I quickly realized that I could continue making sculpted objects that were precious to me through jewelry,” says Sloan who opened her shop, Valslo, in early 2009.

Using an ancient technique called “lost-wax casting,” she first sculpts her design out of a block of wax, studying and smoothing its every facet with a battalion of tools. Then she carries her delicate wax carving to a nearby foundry, where it’s transformed into a one-of-a-kind jewel in silver or gold.

Since her brand is still budding, she produces one piece at a time, which means that the design on display is the only one in stock. If it’s not your size, Sloan has to go through the whole process again. This slow, non-commercial method would drive any ambitious entrepreneur nuts, but Sloan wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I like to tailor-make things, the idea is for people to order something personalized and timeless,” says Sloan, who treats each piece like a future heirloom.The fit and comfort of the jewel is as important to Sloan as the overall aesthetic, which means that she’ll spend hours polishing the inside of a ring just to give it a silken feel. The shiny interiors also offset her predominantly matte surfaces.

“Unlike shiny metals, with matte surfaces you can see how volumes have been sculpted through the relationship between light and shadow. ”

Inspired by everything from a crack in the wall and a fleeting shadow to the rocks in her garden, her designs have a palpable personality to them. Physical symbols of passing thoughts and observations, the collection runs the gamut of emotions, from tender and romantic to raw and blunt. Even though there’s a coherent current running throughout, the range has three distinct styles.

The first is feminine and precious (both literally and figuratively) with light, delicate forms adored with Tahitian pearls green sapphires or specked quartz. The intermediary range consists of asymmetrical shapes with continual curves. The final unisex group in massive silver is the most weighty and  industrial.

While there are occasional earrings and necklaces throughout, Sloan (if you haven’t noticed) is a ring lady with an incurable passion for wedding bands. “I like the idea of a symbolic jewel, especially one that represents the union between two people. It’s a beautiful example of idealism.”

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Valslo: 10 rue du Perche, 75003 Paris
Prices: €500-1500, depending on design and material
Atelier visits: On request, contact me for details.

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)

Over the last ten years hundreds of French fashion artisans have been given the ax at venerable houses by number crunching executives sending production overseas. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure…especially when centuries-old savoir-faire is heaped high in the bin!

Taking advantage of luxury industry’s shortsighted greed and indifference towards its own heritage, Chavernet, a new Paris-based couture house, is putting Paris’ forgotten couturiers back to work.

While only two-years-old, Chavernet has already carved a visionary niche in the word of high-end fashion. Promising a modern take on old-style craftsmanship at remarkably tame prices, the brand is the clever brainchild of two Parisian entrepreneurs, Maxime Liebens and Armen Der Agopian

“Most luxury brands adhere to the ‘Made in France’ mystique, but the truth is that the majority of their clothing is constructed overseas,” explains Liebens, who named the brand after his great-grandmother, Louise Chavernet, one of the first women to own her own fashion atelier in Paris.

“We wanted to go back to the source of couture and produce dresses in Paris using the best materials and savoir-faire.”

What Chavernet offers its word-of-mouth, international clientele is as crazy as it is chic. In less than a week (aka the average length of their client’s trip to Paris) they will design, produce and deliver an original couture cocktail dress to your Paris abode.

Their signature LSDs (little silk dresses) are all made by hand in Paris by a team of expert dressmakers (a 92-yr-old insider pointed them to the city’s best) using end-of-season couture fabric sourced throughout Paris.

“There are a lot of clients who are fed up with the whole circus of shopping in a giant fashion flagship and who just simply want a beautifully handcrafted original dress.”

Chavernet’s “One Woman = One Dress” motto caters to a very real desire to own something stellar that no one else but you will ever be caught wearing. Less obvious, but nonetheless priceless, is the exhilarating experience of buying the dress, which goes something like this:

Step 1: Come to Paris, but before you do, make an appointment with Chavernet.
Step 2: Think about the dress of your dreams and collect visuals to help you describe it.
Step 3: Meet with the Chavernet commercial director, designer as well as the couturier assigned to make your dress. At the end of your meeting your measurements will have been taken and a rough sketch made of your dress.
Step 4: Receive a definitive sketch with material samples the next morning at your hotel.
Step 5: Once you have approved sketch and materials, a muslin prototype is produced and sent over for fitting.
Step 6: A second prototype is produced in your chosen fabric and sent over with a couturier for the final fitting.
Step 7: Once you give the okay, the dress is made and delivered to your hotel.
Step 8: Traipse around Paris in your fabulous, new, custom-made frock.

Just a word of advice: if you plan on fitting into your dress by the time it’s delivered, you might want to lay off the macarons.

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Price: 1000E-1500E, depending on complexity of design and choice of fabric and finishes.
Further reading: How Luxury Lost Its Luster (by Dana Thomas); Chère Haute Couture (by Janie Samet); Luxury Considered (report by Ledbury Research); Agenda Inc.

When Oprah got snubbed by Hermès a few years ago she should have immediately rung Chanel. Not Chanel, as in Coco Chanel, but Guy Chanel (yes, you heard me right).

Guy Chanel is a lone ranger on the high plains of fashion and home accessories. Working alone out of his atelier on the outskirts of Paris, he handcrafts a variety of one-of-a-kind designs using leather, crocodile, ostrich and other fine skins.

From saddles, handbags and wallets to belts, briefcases and even lamps, every Chanel creation is made-to-measure and constructed by hand using artisanal tools and techniques (ask him to show you the giant wooden tweezer he uses to hold small things in place when he sews).

By keeping production slow and steady, his solo operation turns out discreet, logo-less products of unparalleled quality and detail that are built to last several lifetimes.

Before launching out on his own in 1989, Chanel (whose name has no connection to the fashion brand) worked for fifteen years as a saddle maker for Hermès. At the time, everything in the company was made in the atelier above their flagship shop (now only saddles are made there, the rest is done in Pantin). So, when saddles orders were slow, Chanel would jump to bags and belts or any other small accessory that needed expert attention.

When he struck out on his own, this polyvalence set him apart from his peers and helped attract a diverse crowd of fine leather fans, from collectors, interior designers, and fashion stylists, to equestrians and even Michelin-starred chefs.

Unlike most artisans, Chanel caught the craftsman bug not through his family, but via a childhood passion for horses.

“I started riding when I was seven and rode competitively until I was twenty-five. Professionally, I wanted to do something linked to horses. I couldn’t be a jockey, because I was too tall. Veterinary, no, because I wasn’t good enough in school, so, I wound up making saddles.”

While saddles comprise only a quarter of his output today, they remain the heart and soul of his business and have earned him international recognition amongst the equestrian set. Riders from across the world, as well as aficionados that collect them as sculptures, swear by Chanel saddles for their show-stopping blend of comfort, beauty and performance.

“My clients have pretty classical tastes, so they’re more likely to play with color and materials than the design of the object.”

When you can build a saddle from scratch, a watchband may seem like child’s play, but Chanel pours equal attention into every one of his designs. Chanel admits that it takes the same amount of time for him to make a bag as a saddle (forty hours) while wallets belts and cardholders take a tenth of that.

In addition to made-to-measure designs, Chanel can also personalize, refurbish or repair. So if you’ve got a vintage accessory (Birkin or otherwise) that needs fixing up or some expert TLC, Chanel can give it a new lease on life.

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Prices vary depending on complexity of design and materials: handbags (1500-50,000 €); saddles (2800-25,000 €); wallets, card holders, change purses, belts (200-3000€).
Delivery: Count four-eight weeks.
Appointments: Contact me to be put in touch with Guy Chanel.