Fleurance

Fleurance Circa 1750 Italy,

Originaly gilded leather was fresh, bright, brilliant,  in some ways one could say, flashy.

Yet they avoided the trap of easy and cheap decoration they were rich and opulent, with gold’s and bright colors, though they avoided the trap of  being kitsch.

Gilded leather was powerful and joyful more than an expression of wealth

  This is the spirit we try to recapture

We made this set of 3 Fleurance panels painted on a gilded ground in the way of some Delft china, using  Blue, Green and White paint obviously the Delft china was painted on  a whitish ground.

Few months ago we participated with this set of panels at a conquest “For the intelligence of the hand”    http://intelligencedelamain.com/  this is prestigious prize form the Fondation Bettancourt Schueller.  To cut a long story we didn’t win.

One of the 3 panels forming the tapestry

In our catalogue we said the design dates from circa 1750 and originates from Spain.

Some details, they do matter !!!

Well, Anna Soler form the “Museu del’Arté de la Pel” in Vic near Barcelona says its 18^th century and of Italian origin. She is more an expert than I am so I’ll change that in the next edition of the catalogue.

Any way this museum is worth a visit, http://www.euroleather.com/museums/vic.htm#miniatures

Anna Soler wrote a technical and historical text about this design which has been helpful and for which Lut and I thank her very much.

For the fun  here the Fleurance in a different colourway and here in a 4 panels tapestry

Our Fleurance is  similar but by no means an exact match of the original. this is the real story

Lut and I were incognito visiting the museum taking pictures, later we tought about what we saw and decided to reproduce some of these magnificent designs to complete our collection. Once at home we found that the pictures (I took) were of a mediocre quality.  As usual I had to rely on Lut’s skills to produce something in the right spirit.

Here a set of 8 panels.

Best Wishes

Fred

Tabletops & Elevator Doors

Except for writing desks one hardly thinks of leather as an alternative to make luxurious tabletops.

In this posting I’ll show some tables and tabletops I’ve made over the years.

This is a coffee table in an unusual setting, in the natural light its easy to note the difference between the base of the table made in anthracite silver leather and the tabletop, the center of the top is of the same anthracite silver leather and the border is out of regular silver leather embossed with our rivets print

 

This is the same table at a show in Kortrijk Belgium.

A detail of the assemblage

For our dining room table, I used aged black leather and inserted a central rectangle of embossed silver croco. The embossing of the croco is  secured  to avoid squeezing out the embossing.

Leather tabletops offer a tactile surprise, one thinks he will touch a metallic surface ad expect it to be cold and hard,

instead of this one sets hands on a warm and friendly surface.

The question about the durability rises all the time.

Invariably I will reply that it’s a tough material our tables are in use for over 10 years and yes they age and wear but they do it gracefully.

Sliding doors of elevators can be lined with leather the same way as the tabletops.

This glamorous person poses in front of an elevator Lined with our Palmettes at,

Hotel Adlon Berlin

  

Best Wishes

Frederic

Gilded leather in the Rubenshouse Antwerp

The Rubens House is the place where you get closest to the world of the greatest baroque artist north of the Alps. The museum ‘uses’ the former function of the monument in which it is housed and the unique atmosphere it is steeped in. It makes use of the ‘esprit’, the spirit which very much pervades the house, to achieve one of its principal aims: to inform, inspire and excite people about their past. All of which combines to makes a visit to the Rubens House an emotional experience, enhancing accessibility to non-traditional museum visitors in the process.

http://www.rubenshuis.be

Rubens is master of the Flemish Baroque and was not only a leading painter, but also a book illustrator, designer and diplomat with considerable interest in antique literature, architecture and history. From his home base in Antwerp, he set his seal on a flourishing artistic, political and economic climate.

Important Flemish houses of this period  had several rooms lined with gilded leather,  Rubens house was no exception to this rule.

There were at least two reasons for this choice first gilded leather had managed to become a status feature the wealthy and the powerful. If you were or pretended to be someone you needed gilded leather in the at least one reception room.  Secondly a room lined in gilded leather creates an atmosphere that can’t be matched with another wall covering.

 In the midst of the 17^th century there was not such a vast choice of wall coverings anyway, there were the bare painted walls, there were tapestries, wood paneling and gilded leather  … and there “must” have been more choice ?

Often descriptions of the Rubenshouse do mention besides de fabulous collection and the  generous  baroque architecture… the rich interiors with the gilded leather hangings.

Despite the verbal mentioning the “rich interiors” I couldn’t find actually one single picture of the so praised interiors.

One picture was sent in by the restoration workshop “Cordovano”  they have worked on the subject in 2007

Funny enough this panel is made of cardboard and was produced at the beginning of the 20th century by a famous Antwerp antiques and restoration workshop called Van Herk (still in the business).

I thought the wall covering in the concerned room was partly authentic 17th century leather and that at the beginning of the 20th century cardboard reproductions had been inserted where gaps and lacunes ruined the aspect of the room , this needs to be confirmed by some experts.

The design is a 100 % 17th century design and we have it in our collection under the name Abondance

here a little stool made by our friends and distributors

Annika & Leif form Lages AB

We have just finished an order for two custom polychrome panels.

Anyway, if anyone of you have some pictures of the “rich interiors” thank you so much

Frederic

Mandarine in London Showroom

First picture form

Tatiana Tafur’s London Showroom

572 King’s Road

The wall is lined with 21 Mandarine Panels.

The bookcase is from the Lucien Rollin Collection of William Switzer

My guess is that the chandelier is from Niermann Weeks

The picture is distorted by the wide-angle lens.

Best Wishes

Frederic

 

Curule @ the French Design Forum London

The Curule

We are happy to present our new design “Curule” at the occasion of

the French Design Forum.

Source of inspiration for this design was the Curule chair or footstool.

This timeless design was popular since the Roman Empire .

Is was the seat of the Magistrates and to the Powerfull men of the  Roman Empire

In 44 BCE a senate decree granted Julius Ceasar the sella curulis everywhere,

 except in the theatre, where he enjoyed the comfort of a gilded trone and wore a juweled crown

….. putting him on a par with the gods.

Those were the days.

Although often of luxurious construction,

the Roman curule seat was meant to be uncomfortable to sit on for long periods of time,

the double symbolism being that the official was expected to carry out his public function

 in an efficient and timely manner, and that his office, being an office of the republic, was temporary, not perennial.

 Quite  brilliant qualities for a  piece of  furniture !

 

Edwin Booth – Hamlet 1870

The curule chair has curved legs that form an X shape.

This mirrored curve is the basis the design of our Curule panel

 

Send me a mail for a VIP invitation, info@lutson.com

Or simply come and visit us at the show,

The French Design Forum, Shandos House London

BW

Frederic

The Rebel Panels

  The Rebel Panels

 This posting is about things going wrong but ending smelling like roses.

For instance sometimes panels refuse to dry.

Not only God moves in mysterious ways so do our leathers from time to time.

In a series of panels all treated the same way, one would expect all the panels to react the same. They don’t !!  Hidden in the pack there are rebels, sort of terrorists who have nothing but sabotage in their minds (?)

Earlier in 2010 a customer has chosen a rebel panel as THE sample for a major job. Impossible I told him, you can’t reproduced  a Rebel Panel they are unique !

I almost lost the order, saving half, which was already good considering the sabotage act of the Rebel Panel.

My experience is that Rebel Panels are often nicer than the regular ones, so thought my customer.

Here pictures of Rebel Panels

The paint went off while applying the antiquing, creating an unusual and impossible to reproduce pattern.

 

This lovely Mandarine panel is one of my favorites.

 And this Ottoman Panel with the faded colours.

 Some failiures give birth to beauty.

There is real joy when experiencing this, as witnessing a small Miracle.

 Ponder this.

 Wishes

   The Lutson Team

Tatiana Tafur Ltd. Our New U.K. Distributor.

       Lutson Goudleder  has been distributed by George Renwick Ltd

for a long time.

Yet for over two years we have been without a U.K. distributor

 indeed a long time.

However, during this ” Traversée du Désert ” we have talked to many eventual distributors.

 And here we are !

Today we are happy to announce that Lutson Leathers will again be available in the UK.

 Through the services of Tatiana Tafur Ltd

 Managing team  Tatiana Howard and Andy Tolson have started Tatiana Tafur Ltd  back in 1993

They are known their selective range of products among which you will find brand such as.

William Switzer, Neirmannweeks a range of unusual, made to order wall coverings, lighting by Casella and many more.

Their, very nice, King’s Road showroom is worth a visit.

www.tatianatafur.com

BW

Frederic

Applications for the Gilded Leather

Gilded leather is a nice product but what do you begin with it.

Here some ideas,

Often its a matter of … “do it”

For the 2000 winter collection Versace did it .

The least we can say is that she is glamorous

A little box made from cut offs

Over the top. Glorious chairs made by J.Nelson

http://www.jnelsoninc.com/

A little stool made by Lages AB Sweden

http://www.lagestapetserarverkstad.se/

Yes I can, and will add more application in a following posting.

And

Sooner or later I’ll dive in my library and will scan some “Historical “applications.

Please be patient by now you all know I’m not a fervent blogger.

BW

Fred

Torrino-Passion

Torino-Passion

89 X 55 cm match @ 89 X 41 cm

Embarrassing but through we lost track of the origin of the Torino-Passion.

From the top of my head, it’s based on a 17th century Italian archive.

The Torino has a strong “masculine” structure.

The Pomme Grenades are the “feminine” touch of the design.

Recently we  had an order for Torino-Passion  for a famous UK designer.

Here some pictures of the production.

Hand painted as always ..

Drying on the line ..

The first polychrome touches

drying on the floorboards

drying in the workshop…. and then finally..

Crated and ready to Go !

Wishes Frederic

Soleil & Large Soleil

Soleil

  59 X 49 cm – 23,23 X 19,29 “

 

It’s a fragment of a Louis XVI wrought iron balcony that was the basis for the Soleil panel.

The wrought iron fragment was hardly a fraction of the actual panel.

As usual at Lutson, Lut did the rest, and ended up with the Soleil

Soleil is one of those designs that stands on its own.

It has a wide range of applications, lining doors, or tabletops

or for a large border.

Here’s another one

 

     Some years later we made a “Large” Soleil

     120 x 90 cm – 47,24 x 35,43″

The Large Soleil was developped to decorate a ceiling.

 Wish you a sunny day