As the New Year is kicking into gear, and our idea of the obligatoryNew You is following suit, it is all too tempting to map it out of Brand New Things as opposed to just New Things! Now hold on. How about turning back the clock, especially as far as those vintage French New Year fancy cards (a.k.a. mignonettes) are concerned?
The design of those yesteryear cards bears more gusto and compulsion than today's watered-down/ minimalistic representations. Look at those freestyle calligraphic fonts embossed in gold dust and swathed in flowers, a call for Spring in the thick of Winter: how dainty and desirable are they!
Picture the scene: you get ready for breakfast, check the post as coffee is percolating away, and bring back half a dozen of those adorable mignonettes from the letterbox to your kids and spouse. Open them together and relish on the sweet words sent out to your family by other loved ones, as you sip café au lait and munch on chocolatines. Rejoice in the knowledge that the senders are receivers too as they too are experiencing the tokens of family joy which you sent them.
Source: Move over, eBay, the big boys are in town! Delcampe is the specialised ephemera auction site from Belgium that describes itself as the greatest marketplace for collectors, with a current offering of almost 80 million items from the world over - I kid you not!
Postcards (> 46.4 million items to choose from!), postage stamps (> 22.8 million!), books, magazines and comics (> 2.6 million), old papers (> 2.5 million, anything from autographs to invoices and lottery tickets!), numismatics (> 1.1 million!), and other collectibles (> 3 million, including photography, advertising and music). From the commonplace to the rare collector piece, from the affordable to the extravagant, from the dilettante à laMirabelle to the serious hobbyist à laJ. Paul Getty, Delcampe has it covered.
You may kickstart your collecting career with less than five dollars to spare, making you the proud owner of a 100-year-old greeting card (see above). Collecting has to start somewhere and it might as well start with those as the risk factor is close to nil. Note the strong use of symbology for love, luck, happiness, peace, eternity and prosperity: heart, four-leaf clover, horseshoe, lily of the valley, dove, forget-me-not and mistletoe. (1)Bonne Année greeting card from 1908. (2)Bonne Année greeting card (year unknown). (3)Bonne Année greeting card from 1912. (4)Bonne Année greeting card from 1909. (5)Bonne Année greeting card from 1906. (6)Bonne Année greeting card from 1908. (7)A Happy New Year greeting card from 1908. Cards (1) to (6) are still available to purchase.
In the wake of the presidential election of Donald J. Trump, the air has turned sharp and crisp with optimism and the promise of a reborn America like our parents had enjoyed. A new dawn is rising over the socialist paradigm swamp that had gripped the West since before our parents were even born (1930s), namely The Frankfurt School, serving under different guises the socialist agenda that is now in full swing.
Thanks to Mr. Trump, the global agenda of the private interests and corporate elites has been exposed to a wider segment of the population, and the new presidency will tackle it. Mr. Trump assured that under his presidency no dream will be too big.
The forgotten man and the forgotten woman will rise and the USA will
become prosperous again.
Alongside it, the cultural marxism that has infiltrated, compromised and jeopardised the mainstream media (MSM), education, religion, morality, family, employment, private property, cultural identity, national sovereignty, and thought process, will be challenged further and hopefully dismantled by the powers that be. The population will hopefully join in once they come to the realisation that they have been duped all along under the false premise of freedom of speech and freedom of choice.
Political change in America will send ripple effects and political change to Europe. Now unless you were born in Europe and have been enlightened about the detrimental effects of socialism and communism to a Nation, you will have no idea of the levels of mediocrity that European nations have been forced to sink to under the EU-UN umbrella over the last 35 years, and this includes design and lifestyle.
You will understand that as a design blog, Mirabelle has an obligation to report these facts to you and get political. I do respect voters choice yet I cannot help but be baffled by the Hollywood backlash against Trump and the dissent from the college kids who should know better but would rather burn the American flag and envisage their whole lives under a jobless, future-devoid, open-border, state-controlled economy that only serves the likes of Goldman Sachs, Bilderberg Group, George Soros, Monsanto and nefarious trade agreements like the TPP. Get a grip, kiddos!
Although Mirabelle has strong reservations regarding Trump's policies for the environment, the new presidency will however redefine a new society, and creativity will soar to new heights like skyscrapers. Mirabelle is launching a new series: TrumpPower. Over the coming weeks, we will be exploring and celebrating the representation of prosperity and success in culture, art, design and fashion. Stay tuned!
If you follow Mirabelle's sister blog La Baguette Magique, you will have found out my big news: I just got married to the loveliest man there is, Roby! Our Big Day was an intimate affair - only close family members - and no lavish ceremony. It was all about pared-down simplicity.
Though needs to be said that we forfeited neither style nor elegance. However we dispensed of the following: wedding planner, professional photographer, personal florist, bridesmaids, wedding attire, hire limo, band/ DJ, private chef... and five-course banquet for that matter. Sorry if this may not be the idea of a fairytale wedding for some of you, yet for both Roby and I, it was exactly the way we both wished our Big Day to be: low-key and fuss-free. A by-product of low-key and fuss-free meant that our wedding came out to be inexpensive, yet not in the sense of tight-fisted or cheap, i.e. lacking the essentials or attention to detail. Ours was inexpensive *and* luxurious!
Here let me share with you a few hints and tips on how to achieve an inexpensive fuss-free wedding reception that does look the part:-
Wedding Venue:
The wedding lunch took place at my parents' house.
Table Decor:
Living on an island miles from the closest town, we had to make do in terms of floristry for instance. From the local general store, my mum picked a small cream rose bush whose pot she wrapped up in foil and then wrapped in a heirloom crocheted doily held together by an elastic band. She also picked a bouquet of mixed flowers (pink carnation, chrysanthemum, red rose, gerbera, pistacia lentiscus, papyrus, etc.) that she placed in a tall crystal vase.
Flowers instantly add grace and elegance!
Table Linen:
Family heirloom embroidered white linen that belonged to my grandma, dating back to the 1930s, and still in pristine condition. Our ultra-special family occasion linen!
Making a statement with heirloom pieces...
Tableware:
Making a statement with heirloom pieces, and going tone on tone, as white on white is so chic! White porcelaine de Limoges plates. Silverware & crystalware, family heirloom pieces from early 20th century to the 1960s.
... and white on white is so chic!
Menu Fayre:
Mostly buffet style finger food for the apéritif and first course, laid out on trays placed on the dining table: canapés (of thin gingerbread slices spread with fig and walnut jam and finished off with a layer of soft blue cheese); cherry tomatoes sliced halfways and held together on cocktail sticks with a dice of artisan smoked/ cured meat in the middle; courgette (zucchini) fritters; freshly-made mushroom pizzas from the local bakery, sliced in bite-size squares, shop-bought savoury palmiers, fresh grapes, cheese bites.
The Buffet Table
Main Course:
Scallops in a white wine sauce prepared by my mum, served straight off the oven in their individual fancy ramekins.
Dessert:
Galette des Rois, ordered fresh from the bakery. The galette is an Epiphany pastry speciality from France, made up of puff pastry filled with Frangipane (almond paste). We personalised it by serving it with homemade candied kumquat slices and caramelised persimmon slices. [P.S: If you are feeling adventurous, why not make your own Galette des Rois, from scratch! Try David Lebovitz's recipe.]
Roby's favourite French sweet is a Christmas chocolate speciality called Papillote!
Beverages:
Champagne (Charles Lafitte and Alfred Rothschild et Cie) from apéritif through to dessert. Some dry white wine served with the scallops. Mineral water and upmarket apricot juice as soft drinks.
Afters:
Black coffee served in English china cups, and chocolate fancies, including Papillotes.
Our wedding dog Tickle never got himself in a pickle with his wedding collar on!
Recently my little friend Tickle and I discovered an elevated path that runs along the main road and cuts across the maquis (scrub land). Last Monday, when we went for a walk down that newly found path, we enjoyed not only the solace of the environs, the rolling hill landscapes and a smoke cloud descending the valley, but also the dappled light that had enrobed them all. We were stood at that very point where the sun was touching the mountain crest before its plunging into the maritime horizon for the night... An exquisite peaceful moment that we both enjoyed!
January never claimed to be a joyful month, but it doesn't deserve all the bad press either! In our experience, January is full of promise and subdued joy just waiting to be discovered by those who take the time to be observers! The stress from the end-of-year festivities has cooled off and a brand new year has brought excitement, personal motivations and resolutions.
In our northern hemisphere we gain an extra hour of daylight between Christmas Day and 25th January. Meanwhile in our warmer regions the earlier floral messengers of Spring, namely narcissi and daffodils, start coming into their own.
January is still a time to enjoy those richer dishes, indulgent desserts and comfort food at large (bend those resolutions once in a while!), from homemade waffles served with rich hot chocolate, to family-sized pots. It's a time to be homely, snuggled up in a mohair wool blanket on the sofa by the fireplace, with a good book and good sounds. It might be a time for reflection and instrospection but as for the proverbial "January blues", the only type of blues we know about is purely colour-related, and being the optimistic kind we like to keep it that way!
