Coinciding with the Easter celebration I am proud to include in our blog another painting by international Mexican artist-architect Jose Manuel Lira
His specialty is to make children happy with his ideas and paintings and that transpires in the themes he selects for his watercolors.
This image titled "Fugaz" was commissioned by a Florida theme park as a poster announcing the presentation of the play "Alice in Wonderland"
The original painting (Copyrighted) has been executed in watercolor, technique much favored by Mr. Lira.
We are offering a very small series of only 20 signed high quality giclee prints in full color measuring 8.5"x11" for
$ 35.00 each including shipping anywhere in the USA. International shipping and insurance will be quoted upon request.
This would be a lovely addition to a child's room!
Please contact us through this blog or to designfaa@gmail.com
The early 70’s found me with a new showroom opening the door to high-end interior design in Argentina.
We were always looking for unique pieces either vintage or antique to utilize in the very exquisite rooms we were decorating for clients.
Argentina is well known for the quality of the antiques that once adorned the great French style palaces of the gilded era thus it is not difficult to find smashing pieces of furniture or accessories.Please follow this link for an outstanding book on the subject. GRANDES RESIDENCIAS DE BUENOS AIRES
Unfortunately once you start buying you “become” a collector and don’t want to part with some things.
At that time I was fortunate enough to meet a young “antique peddler” whose mission in life was to find objects of desire and bring them to me for a hefty price.
Among the myriad of things I bought from him was a piece of ecclesiastic fabric that came from the Lucchesse area in Italy and was conservatively dated to the late XVIII century and I had no choice but to keep it for myself.
Created and hand woven for ecclesiastic robes this glorious fabric depicts all the exquisite detail and the metallic weave that made panels from that era worthy of being in museums. The fabric, dyed with natural tints, has faded through the decades and acquired an insuperable hint of irregular salmon/coral shades reminiscent of a sunset sky in a Turner watercolor.
The metallic thread has tarnished from the original shiny gold to a tranquil bronze color which still retains its metallic quality. The overall look is that of Mariano Fortuny's fabrics in production to these days in Venice. The picture included is a detail of a Fortuny wall hanging from 1921.
After contemplating my piece of fabric for over 40 years I had the audacity to have it cut in pieces and make fantastic pillows.
By a stroke of luck we could recover some of the original color in small pieces of fabric that had never seen the light. With those we made the welt which strikingly outlines the pillows.
Surprisingly the fabric has retained its integrity and it is strong enough to lean on it One pair of pillows caught the attention of an exquisite British interior designer who ordered them to be set on the sofa at his cottage in Dorset. They look very much at home, stunning, timeless, unpretentious and chic. I am sure they will be there for another 30 or 40 years.
We made a second pair of pillows, same fabric but with a fantastic French moiré in a similar faded coral for the back.
Stop drawling! Those ARE available. "It is only money, daaaklink!..." (as Zsa-Zsa Gabor used to preach)
Even though I have several "adopted" mothers, I only had one birth mother. Life would have been much more complicated if I had more than one.
Today would have been my mother's 93rd birthday and she is much remembered with peach rococo roses and candles beside her portrait.
Some forty years ago we went together to buy her an evening dress for a reception that she was going to attend with me. She looked fantastic in a Pierre Cardin long black number totally buttoned down with Swarovsky crystal clusters from the beginning of the cleavage to above the knees where it opened even though the buttons aligned until reaching the hem.
The surprise were the silk stockings in a faint smoke aqua that echoed the color of a couple of silk organza peonies perched on her left shoulder. Way to go, Pierre!!!
We both felt on top of the world. She looked stunning and I was happy for her.
If we only knew that we were picking the dress that many years later she will choose to wear for her funeral we would probably have paid more attention to it.
When she knew it was her time to go and I was thousands of miles away she requested to be dressed again in that fabulous dress.
She knew that she was going to be always remembered on her birthday and she wanted, as usual, to be properly dressed.
…it was a dark, stormy and cold night in Miami…and Manuel’s car died of pulmonary congestion…50 miles away from home.
It was towed back by a good Samaritan and the next day he had to rent a car while deciding which one he should buy among the millions of options…God bless the USA.
We opted to return business to a client who spent an obscene amount of money in our home couture workroom.
An insurmountable detail almost held us back: he sells Rolls Royce, Bentley, Bugatti, BMW and Cadillac.
Fortunately his company also sells Mini Coopers...and off we went.
Not that Minis are cheap cars. They are little luxurious treasures totally design-oriented to a “granola and chancleta” crowd of professionals mostly in the design field who can appreciate them.
A couple hours later Manuel left the opulent showroom on board of a brand new Mini Cooper in a metallic silver color that compliments our English cottage house painted red with a color we imported from Helsingor in Denmark.
Needless to say he is elated with the car. He drives 100 miles a day back and forth to his office and he already saves $ 100 a month in gas which helps towards the monthly payments. His "pet name" is Minimusi.
Mini is now made by BMW in Germany, the transmission is made in France ( secretly by famous couturiers) and it is assembled in England by the Duke of Edinburgh’s gang. All three countries obsessed with good design is the reason why you get a chic little car with all the worldly comforts.
We received in the mail a luxurious box of presents and suggestions with the hidden intention of making us spend money in accessories. We are too smart for that.
But when we thought that was all they had “quelle surprise!”
The guys at Mini edit a magazine: The Mini International which they claim is a Mini Summary of Urban Life, Culture and Design.
Ultra chic, intelligently put together and printed on the best quality paper.
I used to say that in my lifelong design career I have seen it all. But not. There are still some concepts that leave me in awe.
And that little detail is the reason for me to write this post.
What amazed me the most and became the reason for me to share this with you all the “granola and chancleta” crowd of designers of the world was a mere wire paper clip.
An introductory card for the magazine came addressed to Manuel and attached to the front cover with this jewel of a wire paper clip.
If anybody in a car company pays that much attention to detail it gives me shivers.
Taking time to think about an otherwise insignificant piece of wire which only function is to put together two pieces of paper, rest assured they won’t be recalling cars because of deadly careless mistakes anytime soon.
A few days ago, March 3rd, was my birthday and I officially became a Senior Citizen! I am soooo happy!
From now on I will be able to enjoy discounts when I order Iranian Caviar over the Internet or when I shop at Tiffany's. Also my bills for Dom Perignon will be way down. Finally able to enjoy the wonders of being an old fart!
Traditionally I don't work or have my employees work on my birthday. Besides I try not to get engaged in any negative thoughts or actions and at the exact time I showed my little head to the world 65 years ago, I meditate on what I want to accomplish the following year.
Status quo is fine with me...I am happy (Felix means happy in Latin) with what I have.
I am healthy, not near wealthy but can pay my bills and travel, and I am surrounded by love. What else can I wish for? Only that everything may continue to be the same the following twelve months.
Sometimes I reminisce on what I had the opportunity to do regarding my design profession and can see that I left my footprint from Buenos Aires to New York. A book could be written about my experiences with clients but I rather won't.
With over 40 years in the design business I think I know it all, but nooooo! ...They always surprise me with ever more creative ways for not paying some of my invoices. No matter how you draw a contract and you think it is ironclad the client will always slip through a minuscule crack and evade or relentlessly put the brakes on a final payment.
When I was young, inexperienced and beautiful and I was in design school we had a lady professor who taught us the business part of interior design.
The first day of class she showed up in a smart burnt red "tailleur". Patent leather pumps and belt and a lovely camellia made of black silk with white polka dots that had landed on her lapel completed the “ensamble”.
She opened her briefcase and produced a shinny hatchet that she carefully placed on the desk catching our undivided attention. Then she introduced herself telling us what her classes were going to be about: how to avoid being ripped off by our clients.
She started saying that anyone who hired a designer to tell him or her how to live their lives or where to store the underwear must be crazy. With that premise injected in our brains she started to tell us some of the millions ways a client uses to avoid fulfilling their part of the contract while blaming it on us.
My eyes wondered from the camellia to the belt, to her lips painted the right shade of red to the hatchet and at the same time paid very close attention to what she had to say. Lesson 1: Ordering
After you and your client have agreed upon the elements to be ordered in the form or furniture, lighting, wallpaper, fabric, etc., you MUST receive payment for 100% of the order plus a design fee if any.
You will NEVER order anything using your own company money. If for some reason the client calls you up one early morning saying that the check for the fabric is in the mail and to “please, please, please daaaarling… order the fabrics while the check is on its way because the rehearsal dinner for their daughter is going to be at their house and they must have the curtains in time for the party”.
At this moment you are probably commiserating about her and say to yourself “what the heck, let’s order it, it is going to be only a couple days until the check arrives at our office and with those couple days the workroom will be able to finish the work on time”.
That was the time when the professor placed her right arm on the desk, pick up the hatchet with her left hand, lifted it up in the air and said: “you might as well sever your right arm than write a check on behalf of a client’s order…Do you understand me?
“You are lucky if you receive the check two or three months later after the party is already history and after they had paid the caterers, the florist, the engraved invitations and the luxurious cruise they have given the kids as a wedding present".
That hatchet never left the desk while we were in class with her and she used the bloody image over and over again with different examples until it was embedded in our minds forever.
I will never forget the camellia either.
Years of collecting fabrics drove me to start this internet store in 2003 on Ebay where we sell designer high-end quality fabrics normally available to the trade only.
The regular sticker price would be about 10 times our suggested retail price and many times shipping is as high or higher than the price we charge for the fabric itself.
Nevertheless, after considering the low price of quality remnants even people from Australia are happy to pay for high price shipping.
Our customer service is unparalleled and we even offer free swatches in order to help the buyer with a tough decision
Almost a year ago we opened our second store in Etsy. If you click on the pictures below you will be magically transported to Fabric Collection on Etsy.
Please visit our stores, peruse our constantly renovated stock, ask questions and order swatches. In our stores the customer is king (or queen) Without you guys we wouldn't exist.
Horse-riding the arid road to the final finding: the perfect Valentine's day gift either for her him (and to be politically correct for himher or shehim) we scouted some stores in search of the perfect un-returnable object of desire (because the seller won't accept returns). The perfect offering that will guarantee a night of enjoyment and wild sex with the loved one or something of that sort.
We found this minaudiere (it is not a bad word in French) hand beaded and spectacular, vintage, casual and ultimately divine that will make her shake off her bra in awe while asking herself "Is it possible that a guy with such chic taste be straight?"
We also discovered this pair of silver napkin rings, available also through the internet. They are quite affordable and they speak of good upbringing and table manners. You can always whisper to her with watery eyes that they were given to you by your beloved aunt Lady Malborough before she passed. Actually they were from aunt Sally who died from Malboro smoke inhalation inside her trailer but nobody will know.
But, if you want to give her the perfect gift for yourself...you rascal...the gift that will give you an exact idea of what she is planning for any given evening without the embarrassing asking and guessing to finally end up sleeping on your side of the bed...and without the right answer... try this explicit but at the same time subtle roadside sign warning. An embroidered pillow with the magic words.
I always look forward to the cards this Canadian loving friend of mine, Lady Pamela, sends for whatever the occasion and I have to admit that they are always the best!
Here is this year Valentine card that I want to share with all of you.
For some reason we are very sought after by the Brittons.
There are two British interior designers who are fighting for our attention and we are happy to be designing and working on fabulous curtains and embroidery projects for both of them. Timothy Goodale is a very talented British designer with breathtaking work in Paris, London, Miami Beach La Gorce Island, San Marino Island and lately in Atlanta where he resides.
His look is rich and clean and his style evolved over the years to an almost minimalist theme with historic accents.
Manuel and I have worked together in several projects for him where the Fortuny fabrics and Scalamandre silks that he selected were the base for us to make the most luxurious couture curtains and pillows.
When we first met him we went to his house to pick up rolls of fabric for a project. They were all Fortuny fabrics. It was getting late and neither Manuel nor I haven't had dinner and were really hungry. We drove to a restaurant, parked the car and when we were about to step out I realized that we were carrying about 40 grand in fabrics in the back seat with no insurance. Oh my! We had to drive 45 minutes to our warehouse where we unloaded the precious cargo and then to dinner. It was 10 pm and we were lucky to find that our favorite Peruvian Restaurant was still open.
Tim has the privileged eye that allows him to see a piece of land and instantly imagine the house the can build there from the ground up surrounded buy traditional gardens dotted with exotic tropical plants.
Manuel, who is an architect says that Tim has been blessed with a sense of proportion that no architectural school in the world can teach you. Tim's work has been published in prestigious international magazines and we are very proud to work for him.
Now we are embarked in the production of an exclusive line of embroidered curtains, bedding and pillows that he will represent in Atlanta where he already finished stunning houses. Will publish pictures of our embroidery projects for him soon in our Blog. In the meantime you can see the detail level in the fabrication of this Fortuny bedding we did for one of his clients.
Let’s start saying that Manuel and I belong to the “granola and chancleta (flip-flops)” crowd and that we support most conservationist theories.
We live well but at the same time we are unpretentious, plain Jane, educated, professional men who are into quality and design. And we recycle.
We eat granola in simple Italian ceramic bowls and our chancletas are synthetic Versace (Donatella couldn’t care less about the materials they use to fabricate them and their incidence in the future of the planet as long as she gets enough revenue to invest in Botox)
They are comfortable and simple in a complex way and they will be around together with the roaches after nothing is left standing.
And they can be hosed down.
Are we in the same page so far?
We do not pretend to be paupers in order to be politically correct but instead of real crocodile shoes we wear vinyl crocodile chancletas. Neither of which are well regarded nowadays.
Could it be possible that the vinyl crocodiles appeared in the planet as a mutation after years of eating the plastic cups with popcorn people who visit the Everglades distractedly keep throwing in the water?
In that case we are not infringing on any of Al Gore’s environmental protectionist suggestion but on the contrary we are patronizing a budding Miccosukee Indian Reservation industry.
In the midst of this “save the planet” frenzy several businesses which never could have had a chance years ago are mushrooming now (but only if the mushrooms are organically grown)
Let’s fathom that someone travels to Europe and finds hemp sacks from the early XIXth century that for a reason of overproduction were left behind in chests, under beds, in attics and inside aunt’s Hildegaard armoire in the house in the Black Forest.
Under the premise that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure they were transported to America where they were laundered with no sulfuric soap suds and dried under New York sunlight peppered with microscopic carbon specs and seasoned with car fumes.
They are made of linen hemp, organically grown, with no pesticides because they did not exist at that time but not because they were not necessary.
Aunt Hildegaard and Uncle Gerophlito lovingly collected all the manure their farm produced and fed the linen plants. They washed the linen by hand in the river and wove the fabric in a wooden loom, at night, by the light of candles made with the fat they collected from the pig they have slaughtered the previous week and of which one portion has been a predominant ingredient in the preparation of dinner.
Nice scent for a candle. I wonder why they don’t commercialize it today. Here is another idea for a home business.
Thanks to the genius and inventive of another member of the granola and chancleta crowd the hemp is transformed into chic elements of style. Bespoke pillows for sale on Etsy.
I found one that specially caught my attention and that I would use if I am ever called to decorate the new Madoff’s family carton townhouse off Madisonconveniently located near a subway entrance.
This one specially portrays the dire need of pesticides in the XIXth century to keep the rats at large and avoid the darn holes.
But it is chic, politically correct and expensive. All we need.
I am a sucker for cats. I love their aesthetics, their false independence.
One morning on my daily walk noticed two girls feeding and caressing a beautiful black and white cat. Silently admired it and continued my walk. "You already have two cats" I admonished myself.
That evening while having dinner with Manuel the phone rang. It was our neighbor across the street who keeps keys to our house.
"Felix", she said, "there is a cat standing at my porch and every time I open the door wants to get in the house...and I can't let him in because my husband is terribly allergic. It is a black and white cat, is this one of yours?"
"No", I responded, "but you can send your husband to sleep in the garden shed and let the cat in." She wasn't terribly amused so I hung up not without saying "I'll be there"
I knew the cat must have been the one I saw that same morning.
Run across the street and saw it. Our eyes locked. I talked to him in Spanish cat language and he came to me, jumped in my arms and went home with me.
"Look what the cat brought" I said to Manuel and we both knew the future of that furry thing.
Living in the lap of luxury inside the house was his destiny.
It was probably abandoned for a couple of weeks because even though it is a large cat of about 1 year of age it was thin and had two infected wounds on one hip.
He must have been an inside cat, properly trained, Spanish speaking.
Its been 10 days now. He still eats with desperation but gained weight and suffers the Abandoned Cat Syndrome. He follows you everywhere: from the bathroom to the office, to the kitchen, to the living room and back to the bathroom and stays near you at all times. Almost like a dog.
He confessed to me the other day that he won the lotto and the prize was to stay with us.
Same as people some cats are luckier than others.
I always answer: the one that looks good on you...
After over 40 years in the design world I have learned a couple of things.
The rooms are yours. Don't pay too much attention to design fads but carefully select the colors that will reflect on your skin making your complexion look radiant, never dull.
Be specially wary with the colors you choose for your bedroom. You don't want to see naked skin with an unhealthy cerulean blue reflection or a purplish hue on your beautifully tanned legs that will remind us of the morgue scenes at Law & Order.
This incipient blog will bring clues on how to follow our motto inspired by the eternal Coco:
“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.” Coco Chanel
I will be bringing concepts and examples on how to achieve a relaxed lifestyle which is ultimately what most of us are after and few know how to grasp.
Felix Achenbach, diseñador de interiores internacional.
Unió talentos con su esposo Manuel Lira, arquitecto, artista, diseñador textil y trajeron a la mesa una experiencia combinada de más de 65 años en el campo del diseño. Juntos fundaron su exclusivo estudio de bordados artisticos para las industrias de la decoracion y la moda.
Felix es un irredento buscador de sabores en la cocina y palabras para contar historias. Síganlo en la búsqueda, se van a divertir.
