The Linen Works

The Gardens of Villandry

2011-09-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

Of all the Chateaux of the Loire Valley, the gardens of the Chateau de Villandry are some of the most lovely. Photos are courtesy of Janne who was lucky enough to visit Villandry this summer.

The Chateau has changed hands many times since it was built in 1536 by Jean le Breton on the grounds of an old 14th century castle, of which two towers were incorporated into the new design.

Le Breton had been France's ambassador to Italy, where he had been deeply influenced by the classical ideals of Renaissance gardens. Renaissance gardens with their geometric layout and ornamental fountains and statues combined order and beauty. They were designed both for cultivation and recreation, with features intended to entice and delight.

After two centuries, in 1754, a nobleman, the Marquis de Castellane acquired and refurbished the Chateau, destroying the gardens and replacing them with a landscaped park.

During the French Revolution the Chateau was confiscated and at some point in the early nineteenth century Napoleon bought it for his brother Joseph.

Eventually it fell into disrepair and was about to be demolished when , in 1906, a Spanish born doctor, Joachim Carvallo bought the property and devoted the rest of his life to restoring the Chateau and its beautiful Renaissance gardens.

Below is Villandry's famous potager, a vegetable garden which uses flowers and herbs to dramatic effect.
The potager is made up of 9 squares with different patterns in each, defined and divided up by short hedges.

The potager is just one of several gardens, including a music garden, a maze, a water garden, a herb garden and a garden of love with heart shaped flower beds, which you can just see in the first photo at the top. The Chateau de Villandry with its spectacular grounds is now a Monument Historique and a World Heritage Site. If we've tempted you, you can find more information about visiting Villandry here.

Summer In Aspen

2011-09-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

We visit Aspen nearly every year to see my sister and her family but since we're not skiers we nearly always go in the summer.

Aspen in summer is shady and beautiful and definitely my preferred season. Far from being dull, it's a haven for hikers, cyclists, climbers and all round exercise freaks. For those who don't feel compelled to run up a mountain before breakfast, there's the music festival. And it's in summer, without the snow and the crowds of skiers that you can really appreciate the beauty of Aspen, tree lined streets, gardens exploding with colour and old Victorian houses, many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

For those of you who think of it just as a ski resort, you might be interested in a bit of local history, since unlike most American ski-resorts, Aspen has a fascinating heritage which long predates the sport of downhill sking. Back in the late nineteeth century, Aspen was a thriving Victorian silver mining town, with banks, hotels, two theatres, an opera house and two railroad stations.

At the end of the century, following the de-monetization of silver, the local economy collapsed and most of Aspen's mining barons and entrepreneurs went bankrupt. There followed a long period known in Aspen history as the Quiet Years

.

The foundations for the Aspen Skiing Company were laid in the 1930s, when interest in skiing was growing in the United States. By the late 1930s Aspen had its first ski lift called the "boat tow". It was made of an old car motor, two mine hoists and two ten person sleds.

In the 1940s many 10th Mountain Division army veterans who had used the Aspen area for training exercises returned after the war to help develop a ski resort and in 1947 the first chair lift was unveiled, heralded as "The Longest, Fastest, Highest, Chair Lift in the World." Each chair acommodated one person and it took a long and undoubtedly freezing forty five minutes to reach the top, bearing in mind those were the days of woollen ski pants and leather boots. One skier recalled "The lift was so high that I would close my eyes and sing 'Nearer My God To Thee' on the way up."

When I have the chance I like to stroll around and decide which house I'd like to live in. Definitely one with a porch and a swing.

Just to throw in a bit of celebrity gossip the green house directly below belongs to Jack Nicholson.

Rippling, Retting & Scutching

2011-08-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Linen was the first fabric to be made from plant fibre and its history dates back as far as 8000 B.C and possibly much further to neolithic times. When you understand the knowledge, patience and labour required to turn a field of flax into linen -- the medieval sounding processes, such as rippling, retting and scutching -- it's hard not to feel respect for the ingenuity and perserverence of our ancestors.

Apart from anything, flax is not especially easy to cultivate. As well as frequent weeding (see below) and nutrient rich soil, it needs a temperate climate to thrive. Sown too late, the stems quickly die in the summer heat.

After three months the plants have grown into tall slender stalks with blue or white flowers, of which the former is considered superior for linen production. If you’ve ever driven through rural Flanders in May where some of the world’s finest flax has been grown for centuries (including the flax used for our linen) you may have seen field after fields of lovely blue swaying stems.

Around the hundredth day when the stems have turned yellow and the seeds brown the flax is ready to be harvested. Once again timing is everything. Too early and the fibres are fine but weak -- too late and the stems have become brown and brittle.

Now for rippling, the process by which the seeds are removed from the plant. Thankfully this bit is also largely now a mechanized process. Back in the old days it was done by by pulling the top end of a bundle of stems through a ripple, a rather lethal looking comb-like tool consisting of a row of vertical steel pins fixed in a piece of wood.

After the rippling comes the retting, the separation of the fibres from the pectin or gum attaching the fibres to the stem. Retting -- which basically means rotting -- used to be done by simply exposing the stems to the elements in the fields for several weeks until the pectins dissolved. At least this gave everyone a rest. Nowadays it is done in vats or stagnant pools. As with every other stage of linen production, precision is required. If flax isn't fully retted, separating the fibres from the stalk may damage the fibres. Overdo the retting and the fibres become weakened.

And finally, scutching. Scutching refers to the process of extracting the fibres from the decomposed plant matter and can be done both by hand or by machine in a scutching mill. In the past hand scutching was done by scraping a wooden scutching knife against the fibres with a sharp strike to pull away pieces of the stalk. Repeat ad nauseum until all of the stalk has been removed and the flax is smooth and silky. In the days of hand scutching, people could scutch up to about seven kilos of flax in one day. As this lovely painting suggests, the boredom of scutching was relieved by throwing a party and very sensibly scutching together.

Linen For Beginners

2011-07-20T03:36:00.000-07:00

If you, like me, grew up sleeping under cotton sheets, you might understandably be a bit hazy about linen. It doesn’t help that the word linen nowadays seems to be used as a broad term for any household fabric – bedlinen, table linen -- regardless of what they are actually made from.

Not surprisingly the generic use of the word has everything to do with linen’s significance in the history of textiles. Although no one knows when people first began to sleep under sheets, it is believed that the first bed sheets were linen and that flax, from which linen is made, was expertly cultivated, spun, and woven by the ancient Egyptians who named the plant 'woven moonlight' for its beauty. In Gaul, linen was cultivated long before the Roman invasions and even today Belgium remains famous for its linen production.

Linen’s supremacy in households, both wealthy and humble, endured for many centuries. Until the mid nineteenth century, nearly all sheets, tablecloths and homemade clothes both in Britain and the USA were made from linen fabric. Flax was relatively easy to cultivate and people often used to grow, process, spin and weave their own linen by hand. Young women worked tirelessly to make and meticulously embroider linen bedclothes, towels, napkins, nightdresses and undergarments for their trousseau, the package of linens that brides brought with them to the new marital home, the quality and workmanship a symbol of wealth and status.

Then the industrial revolution arrived and linen fell out of favour. By the late 1850s, cotton became the fibre that was cheapest to process and weave and linen production was virtually abandoned. Since then, thanks to the availability of cheap cotton, linen seems to have acquired a rarified image and is often associated in people’s mind with hotels and restaurants. Believed to be expensive and laborious to wash and iron, linen, once omnipresent in domestic households, is often seen as unsuitable for time-poor mortals.

So for those of you unfamiliar with, or even wary of linen, it's time to debunk its high maintenance image.
Just to set the record straight, linen is machine washable and can be line or tumble dried. In fact the more you launder it the softer it becomes. And whereas our pre washed linen, with its soft relaxed fibres looks simply lovely without ironing, the same can't really be said for crumpled cotton. Finally, without wishing to offend its devotees, cotton however fine, can bobble or pill and wears thin with age. Linen, on the other hand, softens and becomes more lustrous with use. Hence the market for vintage linens that have been treasured and handed down over generations, still beautiful and in tact.

If there is confusion about linen it may be because of its inherent paradoxes, both luxurious and a workhorse, gorgeous to look at and yet simple to maintain. It's time to put that iron away.

An Evening For Linen Lovers

2011-07-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

Last week I was lucky enough to attend "We Love Linen" organised by Selvedge Magazine, a dedicated evening for linen lovers in Fenton House an elegant National Trust property in Hampstead, London NW3.

Approximately forty women (including myself) were treated to a glass of champagne and strawberries while we listened to two very informative talks. Although already entirely converted to the beauty and practicality of linen (those of us wearing linen had to raise our hands) we listened to a fascinating and evocative talk on the history of linen, given by renowned historian and television Amanda Vickery. Amanda explained how the linen cupboard in Georgian England was much treasured and revered, and how for centuries the most expensive things in any household were textiles.

Our next speaker was Elizabeth Baer, who has made a lifelong career of her passion for linen and for many years travelled through France with her husband and a van, collecting beautiful vintage linens and selling them to clients in the UK.

Elizabeth told us some tales of her travels and, after the talk, spread out her vintage French linens for us to touch, feel, admire and buy.

Some of the designs were very similar to linens you can find at The Linen Works, such as our classic Avignon range of table and kitchen linen.

It was a lovely evening and made one understand even further just what a beautiful fabric linen is.

Janne Voutiras.

The Monmouth Coffee Shop

2011-06-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

I would love to be able to say that the best coffee shop in London is a delightful hidden secret, but as you see from the queue it's already been discovered. There are plenty of other places in Borough Market where you can get a cup of coffee so this queue tells you something about the kind of coffee they serve.

I love coffee but I'm frequently disappointed. I'm not a fan of big milky coffees, nor am I sophisticated enough to really enjoy espresso. There is another kind of coffee however and it's very low tech. Plain old filter coffee made by pouring water manually through a paper coffee filter full of freshly ground coffee beans.

Coffee made this way tastes the way you always hope a cup of coffee will taste but rarely does. We're so used to thinking that espresso machines are the correct way to prepare coffee but the truth is that often the process destroys the flavour, especially if the machine isn't properly maintained or the barista isn't experienced. Making a good cup of filter coffee has fewer variables so provided your water isn't boiling and your coffee is freshly ground it should taste delicious.

Anyway enough about coffee. It's also about the ambience. There's something about the plain, utilitarian feel of Monmouth Coffee, the piles of cakes and pastries stacked unostentatiously on slates and the big wooden communal table that makes you feel instantly at home.

I know I can eat bread and jam at home anytime I want! But when I see the huge bowl of bread and giant communal jars of jam I want to take refuge here with a book and just eat my way through the whole thing.

Harrington & Squires Letterpress Printing

2011-06-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

For several years I managed to walk past Harrington and Squires, a tiny workshop literally squeezed between Sainsburys Local and the hardware store in NW5, without ever quite knowing what letterpress printing was.

I did sometimes stop to admire their window displays -- multi coloured fridge magnets and cards with odd messages boldly printed on them. Now and again the light would be on but since it didn't exactly seem to be a shop I hesitated to ring the bell and disturb whoever might be inside.

But when I needed some business cards and wanted something a bit different, I finally had my excuse.

Harrington & Squires, owned by designers Chrissie Charlton and Vicky Fullick, specialises in small format limited editions where each job is designed, set, printed and finished by hand.

The company, set up in 2002, was named after Bob Harrington and Horace Squires, compositors and letterpress tutors at Hornsey College of Art in the late 1960s. Despite what they say, I promise you Vicky and Chrissie look nothing like their aimable but grey haired old forbears.

Inside the mysterious aura of letter press printing continued . The long narrow workshop on two floors was lined with wooden cabinets bearing the names of typefaces. According to Chrissie "Madonna is a bit old and unpopular these days".

The Adana 8 x 5 letterpress dates back to the 1950s and looks like something you could easily trap your fingers in.

The beauty of letterpress printing is its realness. It's not just a visual experience but a tactile one. Printed in relief on a variety of textured papers and card, you can feel the print as well as see it and the tiny imperfections are what makes it so interesting and timeless.

My business cards are very simple and beautiful, silver type on a dark grey card. Actually I feel a bit reluctant to give them away.

http://www.harringtonandsquires.co.uk/

The Pythouse Kitchen Garden Shop and Cafe

2011-06-07T04:51:00.000-07:00

One afternoon over half term, staying with friends in Wiltshire we were taken to the delightful Pythouse Kitchen Garden Shop and Cafe.

It was a sunny day and while we had tea and home made cake outside on the terrace, the kids ran off to explore the delightful walled kitchen garden which supplies the Pythouse cafe with produce. You can also buy their delicious looking fruit and veg in their shop. The children were even able to pick their own strawberries (I'm not sure how many actually made it to the basket).

The shop is crammed with delicious looking produce and gifts. I have a bit of a weakness for home made chutney and jams and, true to form, managed not to leave the shop empty handed. Pythouse is a large country estate and working farm dating back to the 18th century and the shop also sells organic meat produced on the farm.

The cafe is very popular as a wedding venue and it's not hard to see why.

All in all a truly enchanting afternoon. Exactly what English summers are all about. http://www.pythousekitchengarden.co.uk/

Enduring Love: Duralex

2011-05-31T06:16:00.000-07:00

There are some objects which manage to imprint themselves on our minds without our having ever really given them a moment's thought. Perhaps that's the mark of a true design classic, something so perfectly conceived in design and function that we take its existence for granted.

For decades, the Duralex Picardie, synonymous with French bistros and zinc bars, and its siblings the Gigogne and the Provence, have populated cafes, cafeterias and school dining halls all over the world. For many they are part of our collective memory of childhood. Here at The Linen Works, we all remember playing a game at school with the serial numbers imprinted on the bottom of the glasses.

Yet despite their self effacing nature, Duralex glasses have been exhibited in museums and have been the subject of lofty academic theses on functional design. Sadly the names of their original designers back in the 1950s have been lost to history.

So to what do Duralex glasses owe their worldwide popularity? Perhaps it is their reassuring weight and sensible size, the way they sit sturdily on a table and aren't easily knocked over.

Or maybe it's their apparent unbreakability. Made of tempered glass in a factory just outside Orleans in France, it is the tempering process which gives them their legendary strength. The original publicity for the glasses back in the 1950s claimed that they could be "used as hammers", something I wouldn't recommend trying at home.

Perhaps it is just our attachment to something so familiar and enduring that we just know intuitively that these are glasses we can rely on. You can make up your own mind.

Fascinated By Fabric

2011-05-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

Here at The Linen Works we have many and varied talents, but when it comes to making beautiful things out of fabric, Janne wins hands down.

While my sewing classes at school were simply a chance to mess around, the lopsided results best forgotten, Janne was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. Her love of making things was given to her by her grandmother. "She was a wonderful seamstress and could run up complicated dress patterns as well as curtains for anyone in the family that needed them."

Along with her talent for sewing, Janne discovered a fascination with fabric and has been collecting bits and pieces since she was fifteen. Even now she can clearly recollect fabric patterns from years ago.

Her fabric collection is quite simply breathtaking and and really does make you feel like a kid in a candy store. A substantial part of the collection are vintage, cottons, velvets, barkcloth and weaves, all natural fibres, with which Janne makes patchwork quilts and cushions. "I cut out a selection of squares, strips and triangles from as many as fifteen or twenty different fabrics, piecing them together by machine in a way that pleases my eye and this can be a lengthy procedure, probably because I just enjoy it so much".

So attached is Janne to her sewing machine that she actually takes it on holiday with her in the summer.

So if you're planning to make something out of one of our beautiful fabrics, whether cushion covers, curtains, blinds or upholstery, Janne is always here to answer your questions. Post them to her on Facebook or email her and she'll be happy to get back to you. And if you yourself have made something out of The Linen Works' fabric we'd love you to send us a photo and we'll put it on our Facebook page (we'd like to see it even if you didn't sew it yourself!)

Le Domaine d'Orvès

2011-05-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

We thought you might be interested to know a little more about the beautiful location used for our recent summer shoot. The Domaine d'Orvès at La Valette du Var sits at the foot of Mont Coudon, the highest of the mini-mountains that surround Toulon. Its garden has been classified as a 'Jardin Remarquable’ by the Committee for Parks and Gardens of France and you can see why.

Orvès and its lovely garden were once owned by French figurative painter Pierre Deval and his wife Henriette. Born in Lyon in 1897, Deval studied in Algiers and Paris and enjoyed some minor success as a painter and illustrator. During his time in Paris, we learn that he was criticised for being a modernist by traditional critics and criticised for being too traditional by modernist critics. This might explain why he decided to leave Paris for the altogether more peaceful surroundings of Orvès in 1925.

Deval set up a studio in the old house, which dates back to the 17th century, and Orvès became a hub for artists and writers living in Provence, including the painter Raoul Dufy. Deval was known primarily for his realistic paintings of women, children and families but of course he painted his lovely garden.

The pool or bassin above is actually a swimming pool and is fed by natural springs flowing down from the mountain. It remains in use to this day.

During World War II, the house was comandeered by a German artillery unit, who cut down most of the trees to have a clear view for their guns. Deval finally returned to the house in 1944 and lived there until his death in 1993 when a restoration programme was established to preserve the garden's extraordinary beauty.

If you are lucky enough to be in Provence this summer you can visit d'Orves by appointment. Just click on this link for more information.

Why We Love French Markets

2011-05-10T04:16:00.000-07:00

If we had to sum up in a single image why we love French markets, it might be have to be this one, taken by our photographer James in Sanary Market last month when we were in France for the shoot. You only need glance at these delightfully irregular and misshapen tomatoes to know that you're in France.

French shoppers seem to understand that nature isn't designed to be uniform. Just as no two people are meant to be alike, neither are tomatoes. Meanwhile like other Brits I never cease to be fascinated by the fact that fruit and veg are just so much more interesting and delicious looking in France.

There's also something about the abundance of produce at French markets. The vibrant colours and the smell of fruit and cheese and charcuterie are almost dizzying. I walk around our local farmer's market and somehow it just isn't the same. There's so much less of everything and the prevailing smell is usually that of frying sausages.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, are the stall holders and shoppers themselves. English farmers' markets always have a recreational feel, somewhere to wander and pick up a few bits and pieces after you've done your serious shopping at the supermarket.

For the French, markets are where the serious shopping is done, as these delightful photos illustrate.

Q&A with Marina and the Resident Magazine

2011-04-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

Marina Guirey set up The Linen Works five years ago, and the newly expanded website has just re-launched. As well as their first range of linens, designed especially for The Linen Works, there are homewares with the emphasis on functionality and beauty. Guirey’s mantra? : “I’m not an eco warrior, but if you buy well-made natural products, they will last.”

Your new website has just launched, is there more to follow?

I started The Linen Works five years ago in a small way, working from home. I’ve built a band of loyal customers, and the website has a vastly expanded range. Online it’s possible to establish a strong brand. Eventually I’d like a shop, because linen is a textural product, and it’s important to feel and see the quality.

What was your light-bulb moment leading to the start of The Linen Works?

My mother-in-law owned a house in France since 1950. It is full of beautiful, utility things. One day I was hanging up a well-worn linen pillowcase to dry, and I thought how lovely it was. I wondered where I could buy something similar in the UK? That gave me the idea, and I have focused on capturing the essence of the farmhouse.

Which useful and beautiful things you cherish in your own home?

I have a heavy copper saucepan, engraved with a special message, which was a wedding present. It was built to last and I use it everyday. It already has a history of cooking delicious meals for the family, and I will pass it on to my children.

Why are natural, traditionally made products important to you?

Aesthetically, they are warmer to the touch, and offer a homely feel. The production often uses fewer chemicals, so they are more environmentally friendly. And pieces crafted in a time-honoured way will last longer. A natural product has a provenance and integrity that is genuinely comforting.

You’ve added utility kitchenware to the range. How did you pick the pieces?

It has been a painstaking search. I wanted products that would endure but that also work visually with the look that I have created. The collection has quite a spartan, contemporary edge that suits city living, but the pieces are homely enough for the country too.

Do you have a design background?

I worked as an account director for an advertising agency, so I was constantly dealing with visuals. And I’ve always had an entrepreneurial streak, and loved the idea of running my own business.

What do you love so much about linen?

Linen is tactile. I love the way it hangs and the way it has such a wonderful weight to it. Linen that has been washed and used many times becomes like an old friend.

Is your home important to you?

Over the years, my husband and I have built up a collection of lovely things. But we have three children, so it isn’t completely free of plastic! I enjoy domesticity, and love to cook – a roast chicken or a lasagne, with apple crumble to follow, is my ideal family meal.

For your perfect day, would you be on a mountain or a beach?

I would be happiest on a beach. Just off the coast of Toulon in the south of France, there is a magical island called Port-Cros. There are no cars, steep wooded valleys leading to empty beaches, and clear water with fish swimming between your legs. Heaven!

What can the English learn from the typical French lifestyle?

We’ve already learned it. The farmer’s market is a great addition to city life, and from an eco point of view, it’s so much nicer to take home fresh food in a paper bag, not plastic packaging. We have also adopted French café society very successfully.

It’s February – what signs do you look for the hint at spring?

I have box and euphorbia in my garden. As soon as I see it starting to sprout, I know spring is just round the corner.

Interview with the Resident magazine, February 2011.

The Original Soap on a Rope

2011-04-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

Grabbing a rare moment to myself during the shoot last week, I escaped to the lively market at Sanary Sur Mer to pick up some provisions. A small bustling port on the Cote D'Azur still relatively unspoilt by tourism, the air was filled with a heady mixture of ripe fruit, cheeses and perfumed soap.

Here I became sidetracked by the activities of Michel the savonnier (that's French for soap maker) demonstrating the not so gentle art of drilling a hole through one of his blocks of Savon de Marseilles in order to thread it with string.

He explained that these lovely olive oil scented blocks have been made in the region since the Middle Ages.

Presumably in those days they managed without a drill.

Michel explained that in the 17th century a law was passed which decreed that only soaps made in the traditional method could be called Savon de Marseille.

Pleased to have an audience Michel showed me how he uses a wire to slice through the large uncut blocks of soap, just like cutting through cheese.

Once cut , Michel uses a hammer to stamp the individual blocks with their weight (300g) the percentage of extra virgin olive oil (72%) and of course the proud mark of Savon de Marseille.

I didn't have time to buy any soap that day. But when I returned the following morning he had filled an empty peach crate with his blocks of olive oil soap and also blocks of soap made from palm oil, very effective for rubbing stains out of clothes and table linen.

Marseilles soap, according to Michel, is wonderful for the skin and recommended by dermatologists all over France. It also happens to look wonderful in your bathroom.

Shrove Tuesday

2011-03-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

With Pancake Day upon us it seems like a good time to introduce friend and crepe maker Julie Sassigneux.

In case you don't know the difference, galettes are made with buckwheat flour while crepes, like pancakes, are made with eggs, flour and milk. Julie drives all the way to Brittany in her Ford Transit to buy the right kind of French flour

Galette or crepe, either way they're delicious. If you're feeling hungry you can find Julie at the farmers' market at the Oval on Saturday and Alexandra Palace on Sundays. Definitely worth a special trip.

Unplugged

2011-02-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

At Maison et Objet last month, the first mood booth we walked into could have been created for The Linen Works. Called Unplugged, the theme was all about letting go, unplugging from our crazy techno world where people seem glued to their iphones and Blackberries and children unable to tear themselves away from their DS. Life seems to have become too complicated - it's time to pull back a bit and strip out the unwanted.

'It is important that we let go in order to escape the pressures of our culture of speed and standardization. People are unplugging, slowing down, and cultivating the joyful frugality of ages past. The new luxury looks to simplified creature comforts. We are rediscovering a taste for the near and known and a local flavour. Period pieces are revitalizing the archives of folklore and archetypal forms. Without nostalgia, but with modesty, we are awakening the intense pleasure of the present moment.'

We couldn't agree more.

Like walking through a big barn door

Inside was a haven of simplicity.

Welsh rugs hung of giant wooden coathangers and pottery sat squat on wooden tables.

Space to relax on giant floor cushions

Pared Down Chic

2011-02-23T02:27:00.000-08:00

In times of economic uncertainty, concern for the environment and the sustainability of our planet’s resources, more and more of us are seeking refuge from our throw-away culture.

Fatigued by conspicuous consumption, overwhelmed by upgrades and tired of clutter and the resultant throwing-away of stuff, now more than ever it feels like time to take pleasure in simple, even mundane things. Whether it’s growing our own vegetables, the scent of lavender in a pile of freshly laundered linen or a bike ride on a crisp autumn afternoon, simplicity has to be the cure for the anxieties and excesses of modern life.

The French lead the way in the art of pared down, elegant and functional living and in France, as Maison & Objet discussed recently, there is a resurgence of interest in products from the past which epitomize this kind of simplicity.
The boom in retro marketing, as it’s been labelled, is of course partly out of nostalgia, a longing for trusted and familiar products in an uncertain world. Nothing wrong with that. But beyond nostalgia, there’s a growing appreciation of the value of things which are beautiful, functional and above all durable and a desire to reinstate those values into our domestic lives.

In France, linen sheets, natural, durable and softened by age, are handed down through families, outlasting their cotton counterparts. In kitchens, high tech gadgets and electrical appliances are often passed over in favour of a few essential tools -- sharp knives, some sturdy pots and pans and a good functional stove.

So perhaps it’s time to ditch the Dust Buster and pick up a dustpan and brush. A little more effort involved, admittedly, but you’ll never need to recharge it.