The Story of a Sofa and Chair

It all starts here in the city of Brussels. I have just arrived from Maastricht, and my goal is to get Belgian Linen for upholstering.

My cousin James and his wife Justyne take me down a back alley, down some scary stairs, and lone and behold is the mecca of linen! Upholstery grade linen is very hard to find here in Victoria, in fact, the last customer we worked with paid close to $200 a metre for linen. 

Here in Belgian the price is fabulous, approx $75 Canadian, the big difference is the fabric comes 9 feet wide. I bought a bolt. The above photo shows the staff laughing as they attempt to fold it so I could get it into my suitcase. By the way KLM charged me 75 Euros for the overweight suitcase. Worth every penny.

Back home in Victoria, I headed off to the Auction houses to find some frames to re-upholster in the linen. I spotted these in the back room of Lunds, 2 chairs and 2 loveseats, horrible fabric, with great bones. I quickly gutted them down to the frames, removing all foam. The frames were made by the Michigan Frame company, Grand Rapids, 1956.  On the inside they were truly works of art.

Here is a close up of the finished product. I wanted the chairs to look more European. So the upholsterer and I decided the wood should be raw, masculine piping with the traditional upholstery tacks. What appears to be burlap is actual woven Jute ( also purchased in Brussels).

We moved back the tack line to give the chair again a more deconstructed look.

The finished product. The chair complete, the seat is feather, the inside is cotton, horse hair, and coco mat. No foam in the chair or love seat. To die for comfy.

The love seat sitting in the front window of the store. The 2 chairs have been sold for $1285 each, one love seat has been sold for $1685. We currently have one love seat left. As you can tell lots of work, love, and passion goes into these creations. 

I think I have enough linen left to do another couple of chairs, so Im off to hunt down 2 more chair frames. 

The Best of TEFAF ( according to moi)

It all begins with the arrival to Amsterdam. I needed a few days to get over jet lag before heading off to Maastricht for the European Fine Art and Antique Fair (TEFAF).

Maastricht was booked solid for the show, so we stayed in the quaint  town of Eijsden, about 10 minutes south. Eijsden proved to be a wonderful surprise,  great restaurants ( we ate my favorite meal for the whole trip at Vanille), beautiful buildings, market, and the weather was plus 20!

This is a typical street scene in Maastricht during TEFAF. I guess you could say the show injects some money into the local economy. The streets were literally packed.

Upon arriving at TEFAF, the entrance was spectacular with light displays and the wall of roses. Yes, that is a 10 foot wide wall of live roses.

The buzz was already about "the horse". As we walked through the booths opening day of the show everyone was asking have you seen "the horse". That horse is the work of artist Nic Fiddian Greene. His magnificent metal sculpture was in the booth of Sladmore Gallery of London. The sculpture took up the entire space, it was crowed and intimate, you had to walk very close to the horse, a deliberate install decision by Sladmore. Price $475,000.00 pounds

My personal favorite of the show is an articulated artist model of a horse and rider 19th century. This was proudly offered for sale by Perrin Antiquaires of Paris. Price $75,000.00 Euros   

So disappointed that the photo does not do any justice to this incredible raw crystal chandelier. Sorry I can't remember the dealer ( I believe they were from Paris), price was around $500,000.00 Euros. Trust me, if you saw it in person, it was worth every penny.

My personal favorite Dealer at the fair was Axel Vervoordt. His booth was so crowded I could not get a decent photo. However, as always Vervoordt left a lasting impression. For his booth he installed a library complete with plank floors, 15 foot hardwood bookcases, a fireplace and sofa. He created an atmosphere that no other dealer came close to. He truly demonstrated how you live with beautiful things.

For those of you not familiar with Vervoordt I highly recommend his books, and of course you can goggle him to your hearts content.

Kristiane