Famille Summerbelle

Blue Sky

Hello, where are you?!?

This was taken near Blenheim on the South Island of New Zealand...back in the days when we were traveling the World....

Lotta Nieminen

Hello! Today I am presenting a selection of beautiful illustrations by Lotta Nieminen, the talented multidisciplinary Finnish designer, illustrator and art director based in NYC.
I discovered her map illustrations in the lastest Gestalten book A Map of the World. I love the hand made textures and collages feel to her work and the beautiful colour combinations. I was also very impressed by the identity work she's done for Maeven, a Brooklyn-based vintage clothing store.

Window display illustration for French fashion house Hermès.

Cityscape. Limited edition silkscreen posters produced for Lotta first solo show at Printa Gallery in Budapest, Hungary.

Cover and illustrated map of Paris for a supplement to the French newspaper Le Monde about things to do in Paris and its surroundings.

EST: Editorial illustration for Casamica, the design supplement to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
The letters in Verso Est (Towards East) were illustrated for the opening spread, featuring elements from all the cultures presented in the issue dedicated to Eastern design.

A short break in the sun...

We are back from 4 amazing days in the South of France - Provence and Côte d'Azur, just the two of us while the children where having a great time with their grand parents on the Atlantic Coast (Oh! we so love French holidays!).
It was one of Simon's dream to climb the mythic Mont Ventoux in Provence. The "Géant de Provence", which rises out of lavender fields to finish in a barren moonscape of sunbaked limestone (The Independant).
We were so lucky with the weather as we had a perfect clear day with no Mistral (The very strong wind in the area).
I met Simon half way through his climb at Chalet Reynard. He stopped for 30 seconds to rehydrate himself while I was enjoying a coffee break in the sun on the deck terrace (No I was not following him on my bike but enjoying a relaxing drive with the music on and cheering him up along the way!). The scenery at the top is so breathtaking with views of the Rhône Vallée and Vaucluse. Next time I would love to take my bike and cycle around the area but no way up to the top of Mont Ventoux. I leave this to hard core cyclists!

This part of France is so beautiful at this time of the year as it not too hot and not yet too busy with tourists. We went to Avignon and drove around the Dentelles de Montmirail to visit the charming villages of Gigondas, Beaumes-de-Venice and Vaison-La-Romaine. Every stop was an excuse to eat an ice cream and have a drink of the local Muscat wine for the apéritif!

We drove to the Côte d'Azur to Saint Tropez and stopped on our way to Marseille to the Domaine du Rayol. It is one of the most extraordinary botanical garden I have ever seen. It is overlooking the mediterranean sea and the garden contains a number of areas dedicated to plants of the Mediterranean basin: mimosa, eucalyptus tree, acacia, palm tree...So many birds were singing. It was like being in Paradise!

After this relaxing day in the garden, driving to Marseille was a bit of a shock to be back to the reality of a city in rush hour: traffic jams/angry drivers and a lot of horn beeping!

Marseille is the European Capital of Culture in 2013. Events are happening in the City and in the Provence region for a year.
We stayed in the newly open Mama Shelter and visited the unfinished building sites of the Docks: The MuCEM designed by architect Rudy Ricciotti and the Villa Méditerrannée. Unfortunately it didn't feel like much was going on the city, as a lot of the new museums were closed - not yet finished to be built.

Screen printing our World Map

Back in March I went to Bath for the day to document the printing process of our World map print. The design is hand screen printed in 2 colours using one silk screen per colour. Duncan, the printer mixes each colour by hand, referring to a Pantone reference. Screen printing is an incredibly skilled job and so inspiring to watch - although on that day it was so cold in the workshop that I had to go for a walk to warm up...I really don't know how those guys do it over winter in their unheated warehouse!

Turquoise colour mixed for the job. It is then stored on the shelf for use later.

The first colour run is printed and dried on the racks for a few hours before the second colour is applied.

Close up of the freshly printed map.

Ta da! The finished printed map!

Colour Combo

These colours put a smile of my face unlike this depressing grey sky outside my studio...So i've made a little selection from my Pinterest Colour Board for you to keep on smiling :-)

Left: Claire Desjardins from Saatchi Online Shop.
Right: Pompom from Purl Bee Soho.

Left: Emily Green watercolours.
Right:Gypsy curtains handmade by Babylon Sisters.

Left: Apartment Therapy.
Right:Harlequin Cushion by Wool & Wool Stool.

Left: Super Soft Merino Wool by Purl Bee Soho.
Right: Still Life from Purl Bee Soho.

Left: Color Wheel by Moses Harris, (1766). Moses Harris's chart was the first full-color circle. The 18 colors of his wheel were derived from what he then called the three 'primitive' colors: red, yellow and blue. At the center of the wheel, Harris showed that black is formed by the superimposition of these colors.
Right: Designed by Inaluxe.

Drawings & other things

Have a nice weekend and happy holidays to the parisians! I cannot wait... we're off to Provence for few days next week - just Simon and I - while the children will be in l'Ile de Ré with their grandparents. I am so looking forward to chill out and sleep :-)

The Guide to Paris with Children

I am very excited to share with you the new book by New York based travel editor The Little Bookroom. I am pleased to have the illustration from our collection Un Dimanche à Paris featured on the cover.

The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children by Kim Horton Levesque is a very well documented guide for sophisticated parents who wants to have fun with their children in Paris.
I love the size of the book as it is small enough to put in your handbag and carry everywhere.
It is organised around places to Play, Eat, shop and Stay.
You will find museums, the best parks and activities to do with your children. Child friendly restaurants,cafés and features all the best boutiques for French children's toys and clothing and even yoga classes with your child in the Jardin du Luxembourg!
The author also recommends trustworthy childcare, english-speaking playgroups, seasonal events for families and rainy days ideas!

With love from London by Jenny Bowers

Beautiful illustrations by Jenny Bowers. I love the way she uses the geometric shapes of the Union Jack flag to create playful patterns!

Have a nice week-end!

Darling Clementine

Darling Clementine illustrations and paper products are so insipring. I love the dark colours of the Harvest collection. They also have a new website showcasing a range of their beautiful work.

Ana Kras & Curio Magazine

The first time I spotted these colourful wool lampshades was at Nanashi restaurant in Paris (the one on Rue de Paradis, 10ème). Then I've seen the Bonbons lampshades in severals interior magazine, but I never really quite knew who designed them, until few days ago when I read the second issue of Curio online mag featuring the lampshades with an interview of Ana Kras, the Serbian designer based in New York City. Each Bonbon lamshade is hand made by Ana and is one of a kind.

Photos credits: Nicole Dufour DuRocher

Enjoy your weekend!

Wall tatoo

Stunning animal illustrations drawn unsing Posca pen by French duo Alex et Marine:

Utopia Goods

I received an email from Sophie Tatlow and Bruce Slorach from Utopia Goods this morning and comletetly fell in love with their patterns and vibrant colours. Every print references an aspect of Australian faune & flora or history. Some patterns are hidding little koalas, kangaroos and cicada which is Australia's loudest bug!

Initial drawing of the Flowering Gum Feast print:

Flowering Gum Feast Cushion.

State of Waratah cushion in Indigo:

Little Cute Mokkasin

I am delighted to share with you images of one of my favourite blog & online shop Mokkasin owned by Sofia, a Swedish mum of 4 beautiful children. She is also an amazing photographer and stylist. I love her blog where she shares snapshots of her creative girls making things around the large dining table, their family trip to Paris or simply showing views of her sublime cosy home...

The Princess and the Pea with paper pompom styled by Sofia!

Her children pulling faces in Bonton Photo Booth... check out our Paris canvas bag to carry all of the family belongings!

Mokkasin is a stockist in Sweden of Famille Summerbelle products and it is such a pleasure to have our prints, mugs and trays so beautifully styled by Sofia!

NYC screen print map.

World map.

How was your Easter week-end?

I hope you had a fun weekend and ate lots of chocolate!
We decided on saturday morning to go to the seaside for the day. It's about 1h30 to drive to the West coast of Normandy to the charming harbour of Honfleur.
We arrived for lunch to enjoy the famous local dish moule-frite Mussle and French fries. Then we drove on the pretty coastal road to arrive in Deauville for a walk on the beach. Not surprisingly we were only a few motivated people looking for seashells as it was so cold and windy. We ended up eating a large gauffre -pancake- and we drove back home while Lucien slept in the car.

Brocante de Chatou

This weekend we visited the annual antique fair on the island of Chatou (West of Paris) called La Foire à la Brocante et aux Jambons. It is one of the largest antique fair in France with more than 800 stalls. I try to go every year as I love the atmosphere there. (see here for last year post).
The fair is also famous for the French terroir food like sausissons, huitres (oisters), barbecued ham, foie gras & cassoulets. Yum!
The children were bored rather quickly, they only wanted to eat chunky French fries and pancakes... I don't blame them, I never liked following my parents to brocantes and flea markets when I was their age!

So, do you fancy developing your business online?

Simon has just started a new business SISU Web Co, to help small businesses and creatives develop their websites. I obviously wanted to share that news with you - in case you needed help - but thought it would also be fun to share how things started for us.

We started Famille Summerbelle some 5 years ago now (it was 5 yrs on 15th Feb!). Time sure flies when you're having fun!

I was working as a set designer in theatre and having just given birth to Ophelia, I wanted to spend time at home with her and continue working as much as I could.
Starting a business felt like a natural next step. I had a lot more time to design at home and a new enthusiasm for interior decoration having a new baby room to decorate.
I remember looking at Bloesem everyday and thinking to myself that one day I would love to have my work featured on this beautiful blog…and my dream came true a few months later!

I think we had the business up and running within about six weeks. Perhaps what made it easiest was that I was married to someone who could build a website. Creating a business online has given us so much freedom. The week after we built the first proper e-commerce site we actually went travelling for three months, leaving Famille Summerbelle in the safe hands of Simon's mother to send the orders! I can't believe we were that cheeky! You can view images of our World tour here.
We've also moved to Paris - keeping the business in the UK (this time in the safe hands of the wonderful Priscilla our studio manager).

We work some odd hours and it takes time to build a profitable business, but we get to spend a lot of time together as a family.

For all the trials and tribulations, I'm proud of what we've achieved and I'm still blown away by how easy it is to one minute be selling to someone in Brazil, and next minute in Sweden!

If you want to contact Simon about your own project, you can email him here or visit the site.

Home

Ophelia's drawings. Last year calendar by Lollipop is still on the fridge. I like to keep it up just to remind me what we did a year ago.

I was very spoiled for my birthday. I received a beautiful card from Ophelia, a delicate necklace from Simon and this XXL woolen scarf from my mum.

Zadok Ben-David

I wish I had seen this space-specific floor installation Blackfield by London based artist Zadok Ben-David. It was quite a while ago, the exhibition was touring around the World between 2006 and 2009. Has anyone of you lucky to see it back then?
The display was containing up to 20.000 hand painted steel etched flowers deriving from 19th Century Victorian encyclopaedias. It is so beautiful.

This week we are in the Alps skiing with the children. It is very sunny so I'm just about to switch off the computer and go skiing with the children and Simon...See you later!

Elle Deco Buy of the Month: Ludo Le Lapin screenprint

We are so happy to have Ludo Le Lapin screenprint featured in the latest Elle Deco UK Shopping page 'Buy of the Month'. The colourful rabbit print can be a fun feature to add to your Easter decoration!




Just a note to apologies for being so inconsistent posting on the blog at the moment! I have been traveling back an forth to the UK recently and I am also working on a large scale map featuring the South of Paris to be permanently displayed on the floor of a builing. It's a very exciting project but I cannot say more at the moment. As soon as I can i'll post some images!

Paris Deco Ideas for Kid's rooms

I was delighted to receive in the post the new Edition Paumes book: Paris Deco Ideas for Kid's Rooms. The book is full of design details and interior inspiration grouped in different themes such as Walls, Fashion & Textile, Colour, Toys, Little Ideas etc...Ophelia and Lucien's bedroom is featured amongs others beautiful and quircky bedrooms of creative families (Petit Pan, Agence Violette, The Collection, Charlotte Gastaut, Olivelse....)