A question posed to me by someone in my inner circle and I thought that was a sign to post something more specific about the subject rather than images alone….(image of pillows is from WestElm.com).

The New York Times described it as: FRETWORK, the open geometric ornamentation found on Chinese antiques, has influenced Western furniture design for centuries.

From Answers.com: Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, jigsaw or scrollsaw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly used are wood and metal. Fretwork is used to adorn furniture and musical instruments. The term is also used for tracery on glazed windows and doors. Fretwork is also used to adorn/decorate architecture, where specific elements of decor are named according to their use. eg. Eave Bracket, Gable Fretwork, Baluster Fretwork. Any item that is cut out is considered fretwork, although popular usage creates an exception to this rule; when the architectural element is not actually physically cut out, such as reproduction plastic moulded fretwork it is called fretwork, however it was not ‘cut out’ with a fretsaw, jigsaw or scrollsaw so it is technically incorrect. Nor are elements such as a carved corbel considered to be fretwork, even if the initial crafting of the item included using a cut out technique

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“fretwork.” The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 29 Aug. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/fretwork

I thought this image from House of Fretworks in Australia showed how the Edwardian and Victorian era used fretwork (and is now happily reproduced today for effect, both inside and outside).

My takeaway on this is that depending upon the period you are talking about the fretwork will have a more specific influence….Asian or Victorian. But from a big picture point of view, detail is the trend and shows up as a consequence of our focus on folk art and/or cultural artisans influences.

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While strolling through a Williams Sonoma Home the other day, I came across their fretwork desk and thought it was lovely. Their version is simple enough for people to be able to incorporate it into their modern or traditional decorating styles. While it struck me as being unique, I wondered about incorporating it, the fretwork style or piece, within a traditional setting or if that was just my taste. Then while perusing the NY Times, I came across their piece on fretwork in rugs. They seem to think this style will work along side modern as well as traditional too.

Williams Sonoma Home to me was like walking into an upscale version of my parents home, only in today’s time. It was some really interesting mixture of 50’s, traditional, and 21st century. So the final takeaway was….drum roll please….Modern.

It’s a breath of fresh air from their Pottery Barn stores; and I imagine that sounds blasphemous for all of you Pottery Barn fans, (of which I am one), but still this isn’t Ethan Allen because it’s a little more casual than that but it’s a far cry from Pottery Barn. It’s upscale for sure, but I could put more than one of their room settings in my (fantasy) house by the shore. They have a very wide range of fabrications which I think helps, and colors…but they then pair it with the odd piece, such as a fretwork desk, or a dining room set that in design is very traditional but with the chairs upholstered in tweed, which is very clever. If you put it in leather, then yes, that’s my parents’ house, but tweed, that’s an altogether different style story.

In fact their description of their fretwork desk on their website reads “In homage to the Asian-inspired designs of Thomas Chippendale, this desk is aproned with intricate, hand carved fretwork.” Kudos to William Sonoma Home for walking this fine line and being able to carry it off. There are only eight of these stores in the nation at this point, one of which is in the St. Louis Plaza Frontenac area. Turns out that area is a marketing test site for a number of new luxury outlets….(Nieman Marcus puts all of their Christmas Decorations out in August at the St. Louis location and depending upon what happens there in early August and September sales, so goes the rest of the nation’s merchandise mix).

You may have found this sofa and these chairs in my parent’s house, but not that rug, not that bust on the coffee table (probably not that exact coffee table–in fact WS Home’s description says it’s a sophisticated take on early 20th century architecture ) and certainly not that glass top desk in the background. It’s a delight. You can view more room settings on their website, WSHome, but a visit to their stores is a much better way to understand the abundance of choice within. The stores are strategically positioned around the country, two in CA., one in Fla. (Coral Gables), Indianapolis, Ind., Cincinnati, Ohio, King Of Prussia, PA, and one in Portland, Oregon.

So, no need to fret yourself any longer, not when you have others who can do it for you, and so well at that….

P.S. I can at some point see Williams Sonoma Home going into a Casablanca type decorating style, but that is for another time and another report.

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That’s my new discovery…in addition to the fact that it just keeps showing up, here, there and everywhere.

Gotta run, but will be back to illustrate more.

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Okay, it’s happening again. Another toile find in a completely different manner. This is also right up my alley. From the New York Times, Scott Hill, former director of creative resourcing and design for Ralph Lauren, in upstate New York, has come up with his own formula for toile: upholstering antiques in toile, mattress ticking and Belgian linen that he has silk-screened with historical images and text. It’s an interesting take on an old technique, and different yet from the Timorous Beasties interpretations. Love it.

P.S. I can’t speak for the rest of the NY Times Currents Slide Show, only commenting on the toile by Scott Hill….cause toile seems to be calling out to me, that’s usually when I determine what in it is the trend, and then it takes on a life of its own.

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A few of you know me as a storage junkie and I couldn’t help but make a blog post about this bookcase….it’s too Mondrian to pass up and yet serves a purpose. That’s three of my favorite things all lumped into one, Mondrian, storage and multitasking. Oh, and this book case began as a sideboard. So it’s evolutionary too; my fourth favorite thing. Kast by Maarten Van Severen, 2005.

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From the movie, Lucky Number Slevin, this image tells a little about what’s to come or being done in kitchen decorating now: glass tiles that dress up a wall or as in the below image from Vogue Living Australia, checked tiles that reflect an era and anchor a room at the same time.

The whole of the movie, Lucky Number Slevin, is a decorator’s delight….if not for room settings of different tile styles, for the wallpaper. Turns out the director of the movie has a real thing for wallpaper and he and the set designer do it up as good as any interior decorator would do for someone wanting to make a 70’s statement in designer/decorator wallpaper. It’s humorous (back to my whimsy as art thing) but very stylish and somehow the director (see the directors statements on the dvd) uses it to connect some of the storyline’s dots that by the way, desperately need connecting.

But then, I run across this image in an April 07 issue of Vogue Living Australia and am again struck by the color palettes as well as the use of tile for imagery. Clever I think and stylish. The design credit goes to Rowena Comwell and Christopher Gyzemyter of Coop Creative, and the tiles are from Classic Ceramics.

P.S. I recommend the movie, Lucky # Slevin, but be forewarned it is violent and the plot is at first confusing but it is a genuine whodunit suspenseful thriller….and on top of it you have an allstar cast of Morgan Freeman, Josh Hartnett (he is actually in the other half of the above shot courtesy the Weinstein Company, but without a shirt and trust me, it took something away from the point of this shot, the color and the tiles…Morgan on the other hand, complimented the color palette, don’t you think?), Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley and directed by Paul McGuigan.

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I hope this doesn’t turn into my online t-shirt adventure….but maybe. With Sting’s image coming down, and my final vote going to his v neck t-shirt as being summer’s best, what will my post digression be about? And we all know nature abhors a vacumn, so maybe toile posts will be it. But, more to the point, coincidentally enough (that’s how the t-shirt thing started), I found this image from the Cote de Texas blog which I thought helped toile along….checks. Cote de Texas says that this is what the French do, frequently pair checks with toile. Somehow, toile makes a whole lot more sense to me now. And since toile’s roots are in 18th century France, then they should know how to use it to its best advantage. Toile can easily get out of hand because it is such overkill in pattern…it would take a giant check or something to keep it from being just too much.

According to All the Best, “Toile, short for Toile du Juoy, translates literally to ‘cloth’. The linen or cotton cloth was made famous when a new technique of engraved plate printing was popularized in Jouy, France (near Versailles) in the 18th Century. The finished printed cloth was referred to as Toile de Jouy. Today toile is usually described as a one color printed design resembling a pen and ink technique. Toiles are printed by various methods, but the most beautiful are still created by engraved plates or rollers.”

So, thanks to Cote de Texas, All the Best, and the French for the proper interpretations of toile. But, and this will tell you something about TrendBites, I still like the Timorous Beasties version because its interpretive beauty isn’t just skin deep–and we all know how much excess there was in 18th Century France, Versailles inparticular (if you don’t, see the modern Sophia Coppola’s version of Marie Antoinette, not for history’s sake but for what happens when there’s just too much of a good thing…it’s off with their heads!). And I learned something about myself….I have a high regard for what is classical and traditional, but I like that same tradition and classicism to have a more modern 21st century take…after all these are the times we are living in. For me, it’s back to the future.

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Now that you’ve got the kids lined up for extracurriculars for the fall, it’s time for you to check out Sub-Zero Wolf’s website and go to the interactive page where you can choose the type kitchen you like, classic, modern or contemporary and then pick the colors of the appliances, the countertops, the flooring, the walls and the cabinets. Mine looks like it could live in a remote area of Maine with the dark burgundy cabinets and charcoal grey appliances and pecan flooring, oh and the walls are navy blue…what’s yours look like?

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I only wish this book had been available when my daughter was three, five, six, or 10. I mean we made things….sugar cookies, right? Isn’t that what kids can do, easily. I seem to remember trying a few other things but of course, I’d lose her attention. But here is a really good way to fully engage them in the kitchen: using recipes, beyond sugar cookies, that they can take control of and that is what this book is about, letting the kids lead the way, and not get discouraged while they are at it. You still need to be there to supervise, but can you imagine how happy the kids would be if it were them making the bananna fudge bread instead of Mom?

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It’s all the same to me unless its done in black and white or done by Timorous Beasties, such as the above graphic from their Glasgow series.

After twaling through the internet, and reading one of my now favorite blogs, All the Best, I came across her posting on toile. My sense of this style, as All the Best concludes, is that it is classic, and the classic versions are timeless. but it is only just now getting interesting because we are getting variations on the theme, like doing it in black and white and mixing color themes (above left, from All the Best), or having it done by Timorous Beasties who have put it into an altogether different classification which I call, Toile with a twist.

I loved the description of their work on their About Us page….”As their working practise as designer-makers has progressed, Timorous Beasties have become increasingly experimental in their approach to both hand-printing and machine production. These changes are reflected in their evolving aesthetic: from early wayward interpretations of naturalistic images of insects, plants and fish; to a searingly contemporary graphic style which, as Glasgow Toile illustrates, explores social and political issues.” If you look closely at the opening graphic which is from their Glasgow Toile series, the images are anything but pastoral, in fact it’s exactly the opposite… “closer inspection reveals a nightmarish vision of contemporary Glasgow where crack addicts, prostitutes and the homeless are depicted against a forbidding backdrop of dilapidated tower blocks and scavenging seagulls.”

This is not the only type of work Timorous Beasties does, they have a full portfolio of designs (this graphic is from their Studio Wallpaper Collection and comes in 4 colorways); just count on them to be enterprising in their endeavors, bringing even more thought to bear in our ever evolving style aesthethic, and they are availabe to commission.

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