Shabby chic furniture? French style furniture?
Whether it is considered shabby chic furniture, French style furniture or any other furniture style, we tend to classify our furniture ranges as painted and silver wrap. Within both of those you can find French style furniture, Gustavian style furniture, shabby chic style furniture, New England style furniture and a few Flemish influenced pieces.
Silver Wrap
Our silver wrap collection continues to be an inspiration to our designer clients and loyal homeowners alike. We have worked with the most amazing craftsmen who use a combination metal of silver and nickel to wrap our pieces of furniture and then nail them by hand. The furniture is hand carved and the wrapping is applied by hand. It creates a sensational finish in any room.
As far as the design of our furniture goes, there is a combination of French style furniture, shabby chic furniture, New England and Gustavian.
French style furniture
French style furniture however is the starting point for many styles, including the shabby chic style furniture.
Louis XV
The starting point is King Louis XV. The French furniture style we call Louis XV has a romantic, sensous and feminine look. A flowing abstraction of unbroken curves is the guiding principle: the legs are curved, the back and the seat are also curved. Our Louis silver armchair or the Biarritz dining chair are perfect examples, also an excellent example is the carved console with its intricate carvings. Unlike the style of the preceding Louis XIV, this period is designed with an eye towards lightness and grace. Delicacy is it's guiding spirit.
Louis XVI
Louis XVI style advocates simpler, less ornate furniture designs. The curves are eliminated and replaced by straight lines. The chair backs are usually oval or rectangular. The cabriole legs have been replaced with straight fluted legs, imitating the columns of ancient Rome. Our silver wrap Chambery chair is a fine example of a modern take on this style. This Louis liked a lot of urns and columns and the style is often referred to as the Neoclassical style. We are working on some new pieces so we will be able to give you a better picture later.
Marie Antoinette Influence
Queen Marie Antoinette was Queen to Louis XVI. She had a significant role to play in the existence of the neoclassical style in furniture design. She had an apartment in Versaille (lucky girl!) and this inspired the creation of many small pieces of furniture that suited the furnishings of the apartment. In some ways she can certainly be found to have a part in the shabby chic movement but if she could hear you she would say "less of the shabby darling".
Gustavian Style Furniture
In recent years the classic clean lines and true elegance of Swedish Gustavian furniture have become very popular. So how did it begin and where did the influences come from? Funnily enough, the French style painted furniture had a role to play. King Carl Gustav III from Sweden popped off for an extended stay at the court of Louis XVI at Versailles. He went there as a young man and he loved what he saw although the pomp and glamour was a little too much for him. In typical Swedish fashion, the excesses were toned down and created a much more muted and elegant styling that we see so much of today.
The Gustavian style is a more restrained interpretation of the French style furniture of Louis XV and Louis XVI and reflects the more reserved and humble character of Sweden. The classic greys and off whites of the Gustavian colour palette are meant to support the reflective ability sought during their long dark winters.
New England Style Furniture
The New England style is instantly recognisable.
Six of America's original 13 states make up New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Tucked in the northeast corner of the USA, each is different in character, landscape and history. But they are united in offering a warm welcome, built on years of hospitality.
It was the Pilgrims who brought such exquisite furniture making skills to this part of the world. The pilgrims were of course Englishmen and the furniture they made bore a heavy debt to the heritageof the English furniture tradition, in particular the country furniture of England in the 17th and 18th centuries. Over time however, perhaps due to the independent mind of the early settlers, the old world designs for carved chests, chairs, tables, benches and beds, with their somewhat "heavy" overbearing, Gothic lineage, were revised in tune with the spirit of a new nation and gained more delicate proportions.
New England furniture style varies from the traditional white clapboard farmhouse to the sleek minimalist styles of the beach front houses perched upon the white sandy dunes.
This look is very bright and fresh, with neat paintwork usually chosen in preference to the distressed finish. It is often chosen for bathrooms and seaside homes to add to the clean, fresh atmosphere.
Brissi Style Furniture
By now you probably get it. We are influenced by these historical masters of furniture design and we combine our mix to make for the most comfortable and elegant living. We love the shabby chic furniture but always with more glamour and less shabby.
