flower arranging: Jeff Leatham

This morning I woke up and was motivated to make a cauliflower fennel soup before going to my afternoon Czech class. While chopping up my soup veggies,  I had the Discovery Channel’s Travel & Living playing in the background where a show titled, Chic City was on air.  Today’s show was profiling Paris and the city’s most creative and talented people.

While casually tuning in and out to what the announcer was saying, one person, in particular caught my attention:  Jeff Leatham, Artistic Director for the Four Season’s Hotel George V in Paris.  I think it was the statistics of how many flowers the hotel uses in a given month that first made me look up from cutting cauliflower.   Don’t quote me on the statistics exactly but I recall that Jeff changes over the hotel’s floral arrangements every four weeks and goes through something like 17,000 blooms  (from Amsterdam) and has a budget of $1m for the year.  Whatever the gargantuan number of flowers the hotel uses in its displays, Jeff is the luckiest guy I know.  He gets to work with a magnificent backdrop and dream up ways to inject more life, energy, drama and mood into the atmosphere via his flowers. He now has a show called Flowers Uncut on TLC if you are interested in seeing more about him and his work.

Jeff’s work is breathtaking, especially because of its volume and density.  Everywhere you look, the George V is bursting with colour, texture, glass all positioned at varying heights and angles.  Preston Bailey (whose work I also adore), you have competition across the Atlantic ocean!

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coutume cafe

I wake up this morning from having too few hours of sleep last night to a blackberry message on my cell phone from my fiancée.  What does it say?  He has found the best coffee shop in Paris called Coutume Cafe.  He is in Paris this weekend attending a wedding with his family and has a couple of days to explore the city and make me jealous (not really, but just a bit).  So I google Coutume Cafe and I am astounded at the space he got to sip his morning java.  Of course it is stunning, swanky interiors by French company, Cut Architectures and looks like part lab part vintage chic store.

Apparently, Coutume Cafe has made a good name for itself as a roaster and cafe in the city that is known for crappy coffee.  My parents have been to Paris a couple of times, both of whom are coffee drinkers and I always remember them saying how awful the coffee is.  My fiancée, another coffee snob (who has s siphon- if that means anything to you), bbm’d me this morning to tell me he found an awesome coffee shop.  For him to say that takes a lot, trust me.  More on Coutume, the owners, the space and the coffee situation in Paris, here, here, here and here.   Most recent bbm- he has made it to Laduree and vows never to eat another macaron again from anywhere else because they are so good.  Thank you Antoine Netien fo roasting such delicious coffee (compliment from my man + his sister).

If you find yourself in Paris, here is how to locate Coutume:

47 rue de Babylone, 7ème arrondissement
Metro: St-François-Xavier or Sevres-Babylone

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la patisserie des reves

Just like the name suggests, this ”new” patisserie does look like a dream.  Located in the seventh arrondissement on Rue de Bac, La Patisserie des Reves in Paris, created by Philippe Conticini looks unbelievable.   The chef and author of book Sensations Nutella, has given every consumer touch point from the store interior, the display shelves, the website, the exterior, and last but not least the product a hearty helping of interior design.  His chosen colour palette of white, pink, orange and yellow reminds me of something right out of the Martha Stewart Weddings magazine.  I can’t tell what is more eye catching, the interiors and glass displays or the desserts themselves.   While this is not Philippe’s first Patisserie in the city, it is most eye-catching.  It seems that each bakery that opens (specifically in Paris) out does the next.  I guess you have to be pretty innovative as an entrepreneur and chef if you want to compete and stay in business in a city that is full of bakeries.   Here is a video of Philippe talking about his bakery and pastries.  I can’t wait to get to Paris to visit La Patisserie des Reves.  

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via the trendy girl

premiere pression provence

Look at the neat packaging from French olive oil company, Premiere Pression Provence.  Olivier Baussan, the man behind L’Occitane has diverted his creative talents to the olive.  The result, a hip new Parisian outpost dedicated to celebrating the craft, culture and creation of all things olive.  The oils, dressings and spreads  in his sleek chain of (3) boutiques around Pairs highlight olive products originating from lesser known regions around the country.    The oils are organized in three categories based on the ripeness of the olive and the website offers a wealth of knowledge on the product, the region, the terroir and some great recipes.  More packaging pictures available on blog, the dieline, here.

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via urban grocer

A very cool bakery website: Poilane

When I think of bakeries, the last thing on my mind is finding a high tech, navigation friendly e-commerce site.  Actually, bakeries and technological innovation almost never go hand in hand in my mind.  In Toronto, it is lucky to find a bakery with a website.  I just assume that start up capital is allocated elsewhere than building an online presence.  

All my doubts vanished when I discovered Parisian boulangerie, Piolane.  I was blown away by their website.  Not only is the Poilane site interactive (you get to go into the store and select breads from the shelf and place it in your virtual basket), it is also filled with games, information, quotes, a reading list and it is easy to navigate.  There are several mainstream retail e-commerce sites that are not even this good.   The only question that is left is do they ship to Canada?

Keeping on the topic of Poilane, with a bit more digging online, I found a Poilane butter cookie recipe that was posted on  Dorie Greenspan’s blog.  The cookies look tasty and I am going to try out the recipe this weekend. 

Here is a picture of the cookies, called Punishment Cookies.  Go to the Poilane website to see why- an endearing little story behind the name.

Poilane punishment cookies (from Dorie Greenspan)

How Fashion Influences Event Design

With French fashion week about to get underway at the end of January, I began to think about how far reaching runway trends extend around the globe.  Take event design for instance, it was not too long ago when lace was hot in fashion and we saw mainstream publications reinterpret the same trend in an event design context.   {Martha Stewart’s Weddings magazine in a warm, feminine table setting using lace }

 

It is exciting to see how quickly trends are picked up, exported, repackaged and executed  in events, interior design, product design and the like. 

The benefit of living in a global village is that we can borrow, be inspired by and have access to all the ideas and information we like to help create our own masterpieces/unforgettable experiences when hosting events.

Stay tuned to see the new trends for Spring/Summer 2009.