In Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s most recent TED Talk, he discusses his three most recent projects on humanity and our habitat. You’ll be glued to the aerial photographs in his series “Earth from Above,” personal interviews from around the globe featured in his web project “6 billion Others,” and his soon-to-be-released free movie, “Home (produced by Luc Besson),” which documents human impact on the environment through breathtaking video. Home’s global premiere is tomorrow, June 5, which is World Environment Day.

From viewonfashion:

“…Hermés is launching a graphic design competition in collaboration with Designboom. Famous all over the world for their exquisite luxury creations, they’ve always paid special attention to their silk tie collections. Now, they want to find new prints, so they’ve opened a competition to design students, amateurs and professionals. They want them to present their ideal print, whether it’s their own design or a reinterpretation of the French brand’s classic styles.

The options range from a remake of a classic print to your own unique print… The designer can take their inspiration from the following themes: horses, marine life, flowers, animals and geometric design… The only requirement is that it can be printed on a silk tie.

Entrants will be in the running for a first prize of €3000, a second prize of €2000, and a third of €1000.

The jury is made up of the following people:

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, General Artistic Director - Hermès International
Véronique Nichanian, Artistic Director Hermès Men - Hermès Sellier / Deputy Men’s Artistic Director - Hermès International
Bali Barret, Creative Director - Hermès Silk & Textiles / Deputy Women’s Artistic Director - Hermès International
Hélène Dubrule, Managing Director - Hermès Silk & Textiles
Christophe Goineau, Director of men’s silk collection - Hermès Silk & Textiles
Christine Duvigneau, Graphic Design Studio Director - Hermès International.
Corinne Poux-Bernard, Innovation Director - Hermès International
Gabriele Pezzini, Designer, Design Director - Hermès International
Birgit Lohmann, Editor-in-Chief - Designboom

You can register on Designboom by clicking here.”

Now I know why it can be hard to find unusual and real antiques and meubles de métier here in France. They’ve been shipped to the U.S.!

Based in San Francisco, The Butler and the Chef offer an enormous and impressive collection of French antiques and other collectibles for people looking to add some functional French style to their homes.

The Butler and The Chef - French Antique Showroom
290 Utah Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415.626.9600 Fax: 415.626.9601
Email: btlrchef@pacbell.net

[via]

With the most famous landmark in Paris as his muse, designer Alexander McQueen, reinvents the Eiffel Tower to put a new spin on women’s apparel. The leggings cost 85 euros, the matching top is 125 euros.

^{Sugar purses!}
A sugar company doesn’t usually, for any particular reason, merit much attention but Belle de Sucre is so very different. Their various forms and sculptures, are truly works of art and are boundlessly creative and playful, perfect for weddings, promotional items, food photos, theme parties, fashion runways, even to put a little fun and color in daily life. The assortment and craftsmanship of their sugar is so absolutely mind-bogglingly enormous. I just love these works. (no, I don’t work for them!)

^{Promotional company sugar}
Companies are always looking for fun promotional knick-knacks. These are just that and functional, too.

^{Sugar necklace}
These brilliant necklaces might not be very easily wearable but they will attract attention.

^{Window Display}
Dazzling window displays for stores. Who wouldn’t want their windows dressed in sugar?

^{Paris Landmarks and Monuments}
These are adorable and tiny Eiffel Towers, Arch de Triumphs, and Pantheons, and might be perfect for Paris B&Bs and for unusual souvenirs for tea drinkers!

The fun button sugars would be so excellent for a party of fashion designers.

^{Do you spoon?}
Aren’t these cute?! I can just see them in Bea’s photos.

Photo taken in Aix-en-Provence yesterday.

From viewonfashion:

“The Louis Vuitton ad campaign for the Stephen Sprouse collection is really amazing, and it´s a great branding tool too. All around the world, LV shops are using graffiti to promote this long-awaited collection which is already a big sales hit.

To promote the launch of the Louis Vuitton book that pays tribute to Stephen Sprouse, they´ve got legendary graffiti artist Skam to paint an LV mural in Toronto.” [via] (photo courtesy of inqmnd)

It’s been reported that Pierre Bergé, the long-time companion and business partner to the late Yves Saint-Laurent, began putting up articles for auction, artwork and artifacts owned by the late designer. Proceeds are to be designated to the AIDS foundation he founded. The auction began despite China’s demands to halt it. China claims that two valuable Qing Dynasty bronzes, a rat and a rabbit, worth about $12 million each, belong to China. Chinese officials claim the items were stolen from Beijing’s Imperial Summer Palace by British and French forces in 1860.

Bergé, as the legal owner of these bronzes, will not relinquish the bronzes to China UNLESS China meets certain demands of his own.

Here’s what Mr. Berge has declared, “Moi, je suis prêt à offrir ces têtes en bronze au gouvernement chinois, tout de suite…Il leur suffit de déclarer qu’ils vont appliquer les droits de l’homme, rendre la liberté aux Tibétains et accepter le dalaï-lama sur leur territoire.”

Translation: “I am ready to offer the bronze heads to the Chinese government immediately… They simpy have to declare that they will enforce human rights, give freedom back to Tibetans and allow His Holiness The Dalai Lama entry into Chinese territory.”

If not, Pierre Bergé invites China to say, “ au revoir rat and rabbit heads!”

Pierre Bergé is awesome, tout simplement.

[sources: France Inter, France 2, lexpress]

I wonder if Jeff Koons, the artist whose sculptures are displayed at the Château de Versailles (until Dec 14), is responsible for those condom ads.

Versailles Exhibition (slideshow and article at nyt)

Found this Eiffel Tower Dome Pendant Charm Cluster Brass Necklace Kit at one of my fave places to waste time, Etsy, and thought I’d share. Here’s the link: Eiffel Tower Necklace. It’s available for $7.50.

Pretty cool news: Beginning April 4, visitors under 25 years old, as well as professors, will be admitted into the French National museums and monuments for free. This includes Paris’ Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay. The normal admission fee for adults at the Louvre, for example, is around €9 ($12). [ via]

tags: france, french, free

^{Telephone Booth Aquarium in Lyon}

^Fish!

This incredible aquarium, made from an old telephone booth in Lyon is a beautiful study in recycled arts. Made by Benoit Deseille and Benedetto Bufalino, the project came about from le festival Lumières de Lyon, the annual arts festival. It’s been around for a couple of years, apparently. I just stumbled on it via technorati. Now I want to go see it myself. I wonder if they are frozen right now. I wonder if they removed the fish before it started getting too cold…

tags: france, french, cabine téléphonique aquarium, telephone booth aquarium, lyon

Make your everyday objects interactive, smart and communicative with Le Mir:ror. Simply affix RFID Ztamps to them and show them to Mir:ror. Mir:ror is now available in Europe for 45.00 €. Get it here.

tags: france, french, mirror, nabaztag

Voila for your viewing enjoyment: An impressive and very well-made French animation called “Dans la tete” (in the head) that will grab your attention and hook you ’til the end. 6 minutes. In French with English subtitles.

Click on the image above or here to watch it.

[via]

tags: france, french, french army, animation, dans la tete

Here are Jean Charles de Castelbajac’s recent designs inspired by nearly everyone’s favorite childhood toy products at Lego. The clothes are modeled after Lego playsets and the hats are actual assembled Lego bricks. I really love the house hat! (Now you know what to get me for Christmas. I’m kidding. Sort of.)

[via]

tags: france, french, lego, Jean Charles de Castelbajac

In the past, I suppose I haven’t been too kind when mentioning the designs coming from Philippe Starck. My opinion is a matter of subjective taste, which happens to be in the minority and generally, I hate am disgusted dislike immensely his designs. I can’t help it. Let’s say that I WANT to like it, but it just doesn’t happen for me. I mean, c’mon look at what he created for babies here.

I have more examples. A couple of days ago, he was making headlines that corresponded with the opening of a new boutique hotel launched by the founders of Club Med because he designed it. The hotel, called Mama Shelter, is located just outside of Paris. It looks fun and it seems to be a budget hotel that is warm open. I do think they achieved their goal.

Now, the design. It’s not horrible. Alright. I am not too thrilled with the sconces that Mr. Starck designed. They are essentially plastic Halloween masks he bought from Walmart or somewhere, then decided to reassign their function and hang them on the wall. When I saw these, I wanted to laugh and cry and the same time.

That said, Philippe Starck once admitted that he tries to make his life worthy of existing as a designer… and although his designs don’t impress me in the slightest, he was nevertheless impressive, if not entertaining during his 18-minute talk at TED. In some way he and his speech redeemed himself to me in many ways as he explained in a fun and charming way, why he designs, and in the end, it doesn’t really matter if it’s ugly or ridiculous or silly.

[via apartmentherapy]

tags: france, french, paris, mama shelter, philippe starck, mask sconces philippe starck, ted talks

tags: france, french, garden sculpture, Friday France Photo

The people over at gizmodo find the new cable box, “le cube” a lot more “stylishly French” than I think it is… I don’t find it stylish nor particularly French, except for the fact that it’s in France. I WANT to like it, but it’s not working for me. Anyway. More about it below.

From gizmodo:

“French cable provide Canal+ teamed up with touted OLPC and Jawbone designer Yves Behar to produce “Le Cube,” their new, ultra-stylish HD cable box with DVR and video on demand functions. Looking like a Wii all dressed up for a formal event, Le Cube blends simple geometry with simple colors to create something that’s visually striking.

But looks aside, this thing puts all of its interactive electronics and LED display into the black square portion of the box, leaving the rest relatively unscathed. It even comes with a remote control that matches the black and white motif. Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t mind moving to France just to have this in my living room. Le Cube will be available for Canal+ subscribers around November 4.” [source]

tags: france, french, cable box, canal plus, olpc, jawbone, le cube, yves behar

WWF France (World Wildlife Fund) is turning 35 years old. Remembering their 35 years of struggle to save natural habitats and wildlife, and their 35 years of helping to protect biodiversity, the WWF is taking their icon/mascot, the panda, as a theme to “celebrate” these 35 years of combating the disappearance of pandas and thousands of other species of animals in danger. There are only 1600 pandas left on earth because Man has accelerated their extinction. The exhibit of 1600 pandas at the Trocadero is a call to action for each person to do their part in helping to reverse the deterioration of our natural environment.

1600 Pandas - WWF
Trocadero, Paris
October 18, 2008
10am - 5pm

tags: france, french, pandas, wwf, trocadero

The French animated short, Skhizein, written and directed by Jeremy Clapin has earned several awards (The Cannes’ Kodak Prize for Best Animated Short, Animafest’s Best Film, Palm Spring’s 2nd Best Film…). It’s a story about Henri, a cute little guy who unfortunately gets struck by a 150,000 ton meteor. Luckily, he survives! Sort of. From that moment on, if he wants to move or do anything like answer the phone or sit in a chair, he has to judge his distance 91 centimeters (3 feet) away because he exists 91 centimeters from where he used to exist…

There will be a special night dedicated to the making of SKHIZEIN in Paris, where you’ll be able to see Jeremy Clapin’s first short, Une Histoire Vertébrale, followed by SKHIZEIN. Jeremy will also introduce the crew along with presenting the different stages involved in the making of the film.

Une soirée consacrée à la création de Skhizein - October 20, 2008, 7:30pm
LE DENFERT
24, place Denfert-Rochereau
75014 - Metro Denfert-Rochereau.
Admission: 5€
Website: Skhizein
Email Contact: jeremy@muiye.com

tags: france, french, films, skhizein, short animated films

Inimitable sculptor specializing in funky wine decanters and unusual functional glass sculptures, Etienne Meneau, just released a new work called, Petit Coeur/Little heart. It’s a verre à boire (drinking glass) very different than your usual wine glass. The dimensions are as follows:

Height : 7.9 inches (20 cm)
Content : 6.7 fluid ounces (20 cl)
Material : borosilicat glass (also known as pyrex)
Price : 1500 euros + shipping
limited edition ( 8 numbered and signed + 4 artist proofs )

Click here for more information:
Etienne Meneau
Email Etienne Meneau: etiennemeneau@free.fr

tags: france, french, wine glasses, petit coeur, etienne meneau

tags: france, notre dame d’amiens, cathedral, amiens

In our world that has unfortunately embraced the notion of “planned obsolescence,” when I encounter quality-made, let alone hand-made items, AND made in France, they stand out like stars amidst the dark universe.

In a small village not too far from where we live, we walked by an unassuming, “blend-in-the-background” studio and I’m happy we actually noticed what was inside because we saw these flowers in pots:

Nope, they aren’t really flower pots, they’re leather purses! Aren’t they totally adorable and original? They are one of a kind and there are several whimsical and unique purses inside this handbag artist’s studio: an haricot purse, carrot purse, and my favorite, an eggplant purse. Sorry, but the photo of the aubergine was too blurry to post.

We talked with Sylvia, an expat from Switzerland, who is the creative mastermind behind these works of art and we chatted a bit. She’d mentioned that she took several purses to a luxury handbag store in the south of France, a fancy store that sells designer handbags. The owner of this store had rejected her purses because he said, “They are too nice and well-made.” He wanted purses that would break in a matter of months so customers would return to buy new purses. Grrr!

Her purses, wallets, etc. - are all made out of high quality leather. They will last forever. These are also unique. As an artisan specializing in purses / wallets (and other maroquinerie / leather goods) in France, she is by law, not allowed to make more than 6 of the same style items. This isn’t a problem, she says, because it gives her more freedom to be creative with new styles.

And creative, she is. Look at this watering can key chain holder.

Here’s her “book purse.”

If you’re not into these playful designs, she does make more “serious” styles as well. Everything is impressive.

I love that these purses are so much fun, different and one of a kind (or at most 6 of a kind). It’s perfect for people who want a designer purse that no one else has. It’s a shift from mass produced to niche unique, which I feel is becoming a nice trend. The “mass market” used to be considered as highly demanded and therefore of quality value, but that is simply no longer the case. In reality, mass produced purses, even if they’re designer brands, represents a recognizable label that exists because of savvy marketing/advertising executives calling out to a shallow, broad appeal.

Niche items, like these purses, have much more value, are beautiful, and they will last a long, long time. Note: You can also order custom made bags from Sylvia. If you’re interested in purchasing any of her works, check out her purses at the following link below:

One of a Kind Handbags Made in France

tags: france, unique handbags,handbags, purses, made in france, leather, niche purses

All kinds of fun events take place in France during August. Here’s a small selection:

August 1 - 3
20è Festival International de la Marionnette / 20th Marionnette Festival - Mirepoix - Every year the lovely arcaded medieval village of Mirepoix becomes a stage for puppets and puppeteers! More info

August 2
Fête du lac / Lake Festival - Annecy - Every year Annecy’s lake becomes the beautiful backdrop of this celebrated festival featuring music, dance and memorable fireworks festivities. More info

August 7
Course des Anes / Donkey Derby - Trouville-sur-Mer, 2pm-5pm - free - This is an annual event in the seaside town near Deauville called Trouville-sur-Mer. When fancy schmancy Deauville holds its posh horse racing, Trouville-sur-Mer offers a more laid back alternative. More info

August 9
Fête de la carotte / Carrot Festival - Créances, (Normandy) France - How can you pass up a festival dedicated to my farm fresh favorite juice-able veggie? Don’t miss the lunch or dinner, either. You probably know what’s on the menu. Call ahead to make reservations to attend the meals: Annie Auzou au 02 33 17 09 91.

August 10
La Pourcailhade / La Fête des cochons / Pig Festival - Trie-sur-Baïse - Starts at 9:30am - Time to pig out at this annual event with a pig squealing contest and sausage eating contest. More info

until August 15
L’heure du ciné - Movie Time - Nantes, 10pm Wednesdays - Free films every Wednesday 10pm in the Nante’s most verdant areas. Bring a picnic and enjoy dinner and a movie out in an open, lush space. More info Also: see Paris’ Open Air Cinema (La Villette) and Parc de Choisy

August 17
La Force Basque / Strongman Competition - Saint Palais - It’s all about muscle power in one of the most beautiful regions in France, Basque Country. Watch heavyweights lift a boulder! More info

August 23, 24
Fête de l’oignon rosé / Pink Onion Festival - Roscoff (Bretagne) - The regional AOC specialty of sweet, pink onions take center stage at this celebration of one of the most healthful and yummy veggies around. More info

August 28, 29
Rock en Seine - Domaine National de Saint Cloud - This rockin’ 2 day outdoor event is held in the Saint Cloud park just outside Paris. Showcase acts this year are: REM, Amy Winehouse, Rage Against the Machine, The Roots. More info

tags: france , events in france festivals , travel

For non-French speakers, it can be a challenge, if not completely impossible to correctly pronounce some names of French wines. Here’s another one that is not very easy to pronounce but if you could, you might not want to pronounce it. I found this excellent wall paper covered with wine labels in a brasserie in Beaune (Burgundy). One particular wine label stuck out, called, “Montre Cul,” which means “show your ass.” Burgundy vintners are silly and fun, apparently. The great thing about this wine is that if you’re looking for it in a store and the salesperson comes to help you, you don’t necessarily have to try to pronounce it. Just mimmick exactly what the woman on the label is doing…. THAT should work.

That isn’t too much to ask, is it? I mean, try acting out this label.

tags: france travel montre cul fun wine labels