Mother's Day Gift Guide
Our mother-daughter-grandmother dynamic brings a unique flavor to our Mother's Day presents. For Eliza, I want to give something passed down to me at every opportunity I can- same goes for what I want from...
Raffia Forever
There are so many books and articles talking about raffia and wicker these days. We have been on that bandwagon too with the recent launch of our stunning new Raffia Collection. I am a business owner, but also, truth be told, a proud mother of Eliza, our creative director, who has brought this collection to life after two years of hard work. The lifecycle of one of our designs from start to finish is at least that. So, I am doubly proud of Sister Parish's new introduction and Eliza's talent in designing.
To get our lingo straight here: Rattan is a type of climbing palm grown primarily in the rainforest. Wicker is an ancient weaving method and raffia comes from the segments of the leaves on the Raphia Farinifera palm (commonly known as Raffia Palm). Semantics aside, a product for us comes from an emotion, a memory or an idea of how to live. All of the foregoing are organic in nature and best used to convey elegance and simplicity, which is what our collection is all about.
Eliza's inspiration for our new collection was her childhood memory of the vintage wicker we have in our house in Maine, sourced by Sister. Mine stems from the feeling of a room in one of our houses in Maine called "The Brown House," which was originally decorated by Albert Hadley and had a lot of wicker and fantastic rattan/straw coffee and side tables. When it came time to paint the house, Albert asked the painter to duplicate the color of a newly creosoted telephone pole and the house, now owned by my cousin Bayard and his wife Toby, remains the same chic dark brown with white trim. In the back of the "Brown House" is a barn (also painted a matching dark brown) that Albert lived in when visiting Sister. When I was a teenager, we lived in this house and the second floor of the barn was the scene of endless late nights and spectacular parties. This truly amazing room will forever inspire and move me. The Raffia collection is an homage to the feeling Albert created, which may have seemed effortless to many, but was about as deliberate a design as you can imagine.
Wicker on the Maine porch. Even Brio has a wicker dog bed!
The barn room | Illustration by Mita Corsini Bland
Mark Hampton's book on decorating is easily my favorite and has a lovely paragraph describing this specific room. Side note: the brilliance of Mark Hampton's writing and knowledge is illuminated in every word of his description.
"The barn room had all the characteristics that make you want to turn every pretty old barn into a house. There were old, rough beams, and great open spaces. A tall window, reminiscent of an artist studio (another fantasy mood I always love), provided flight and a broad view over fields and woods, the sort of view barns are supposed to have. The floors, walls, and ceiling were different tones and textures of white and off-white. The upholstered furniture was covered in a pale cotton twill that was neither beige nor cream. A beautifully carved trophy of a stag's head with real antlers was white washed and hung over the mantle. A few pieces of furniture were painted white and others were left in natural straw or bamboo. There were witty references to every possible 20th century phase of Interior Design. The aim was not to achieve a flashy opulence with Calla lilies in goldfish bowls. It was to create a summary mood of carefree, simplicity, lightness, and comfort in addition to an amusing stylishness based on a broad collection of furniture.The vehicle for this ambitious objective was the no color scheme."
Cheers, Susan
- Tags: Fabric Chronicles
