This pair is made in FRANCE

In 1921, a young engineer named Bernard-Albin Gras designed a series of lamps for use in offices and industrial environments. The Lampe Gras, as it came to be known, is the quintessential French architect lamp. Astounding in its simple yet beautiful design, which had neither screws nor welded joints in the basic form, it quickly gained a cult following in France.

The harbinger of an era, Lampes Gras were one of, if not the first items created for industrial use to became desirable in interior decorating. The 1920s were a golden age of  design in France, and the Lampe Gras epitomized the combination of form and function that has come to define the style of that period.

There are many lights that describe themselves as architects’ lamps, but only Lampe Gras can claim the distinction of being not only the original architect lamp, but the favorite of the godfather of modern architecture himself, Le Corbusier.

Le Corbusier was one of Bernard-Albin Gras’s most enthusiastic supporters. Championing the lamps as modern classics, he described them as a ‘type-objet’; an object reduced to its pure function. He used the lamps in his own offices, as well as in many of his most famous architectural projects all over the world.

Other well known avant-garde figures such as the designer and modernist architect, Robert Mallet-Stevens, the glamorous Art Deco furniture designer and interior decorator, Emile Jacques Ruhlmann, and the  modernist artist and designer, Eileen Gray, adopted the Lampe Gras. Many important French artists such as Henri Matisse and the cubists Sonia Delaunay and Georges Braque also used these lamps in their studios.

Production of the Gras Lamps stopped at the outbreak of the Second World War, and only now, finally, after over a year of experimentation and careful study, Lampes Gras are  once again being made, by hand, in France.

We are extremely excited to be the first store on the East Coast to carry the Lampes Gras. Below are the models we currently have in stock.

No. 207

Get No.207 here.

No. 205 (Black/Chrome)

Get No.205 (Black/Chrome) here.

No. 205 (White)

Get No.205 (White) here.

No. 205 (Chrome)

Get No.205 (Chrome) here.

No. 201 (Black/Chrome)

Get No.201 (Black/Chrome) here.

No. 201 (Chrome)

Get No.201 (Chrome) here.

No. 215 is not on our website so please call us if you are interested in this one.

If these lights sell out please call us at the store on 718 388 8642, or email us at info@brookfarmgeneralstore.com and we will special order one for you.

Eis que ontem, encontro na cestinha da minha bice, que fica estacionada na garagem do condomínio onde moro, um LP, 78 rotações. Valse, de Renée Lamy, com direção de orquestra de Paul Bomneau – Made in France. O disco é lindo, pesado, mas está bem danificado. Não pude testar, pois não tenho vitrola, mas imagino que não deva tocar mais. Virou objeto de decoração na minha casa. Tudo bem que a minha “magrela” anda um pouco encostada. Mesmo assim me pergunto: Por que alguém deixou um LP na cestinha da minha bicicleta?

a) O dono do disco costuma ouvir LPs quando está pedalando, sobretudo de valsas. Tem, inclusive, uma vitrola acoplada à sua bike e imaginou que eu compartilho da mesma prática.

b) O dono do disco pensa que levo na minha bicicleta um cesto de lixo e que o deixo à disposição dos moradores para descartarem o que não lhes serve mais. Quando vou pedalar, aproveito para fazer esse serviço de utilidade para o edifício.

c) Ele (ou ela. Quem me garante que é um homem?) é um perfeito idiota.

O que vocês acham? Se houver uma próxima vez, que deixem um buquê de flores do campo. Será bem mais simpático!

A new batch of Opinel knives have just arrived at Brook Farm General Store. These knives, widely considered a design classic, have been made in the Savoie region of France by the Opinel family for over one hundred years.

Joseph Opinel

Joseph Opinel invented the Opinel folding knife in 1890, and had sold over 20 million by World War II. In 1985 the Victoria and Albert museum included the knife in their exhibition, 100 Most Beautiful Objects in the World. 

Early Opinel Knife

The folding knife has hardly changed since its creation. Some safety features have been added including a lock ring.

Opinel No.8

We sell the classic No.8, which has a beechwood handle and stainless steel blade. Buy here.

Opinel knife with horn handle.

We also have a fancier version with a horn handle. Buy here.

Recently Opinel have introduced a line of kitchen knives. We sell the Bread Knife and a set of assorted essential kitchen knives.

Opinel bread knife.

Buy here.

Opinel small kitchen knife set.

Buy here.

Dimanche dernier n’était pas comme les autres. De temps en temps, je laisse mon fidèle destrier prendre les commandes de notre parcours, il est le seul à savoir où nous allons, je ne fais qu’actionner les clignotants. C’est bizarre, j’en conviens, mais notre vie est un peu comme ça, étrange, improbable.

Rue après rue, Il nous a conduit, là, dans un endroit que je n’avais pas fréquenté depuis 6 ans. Pour Mylène, ce fut une première.

Nous voilà arrivés aux Puces de Saint Ouen, wahou, c’est loin ça. Ce quartier a le charme du Paris d’après guerre, des petites maisonnettes délabrées, authentiques, le peuple dans son sens le plus noble se mèle aux bobos que nous sommes pour une formidable leçon de sociologie.

Après avoir écumé non pas les stands Hip Hop & Co, mais les vieux brocanteurs et bouquinistes, où je le rappelle aucune photo n’est autorisée (le bon vieux droit à l’image…), nous nous sommes rendu au Marché Vernaison.

Quelle belle surprise ! Un véritable labyrinthe de ruelles aux échoppes plus étranges les unes les autres, un calme incroyable, la douce chaleur de la fin de journée…

Et là une boutique, que dis-je, le show room du chineur, je sens mon reflex dans mon sac s’agiter, mon regard se mute en celui du chasseur observant sa proie, prêt à bondir. Un étalage d’objets, à première vue indéfinissables, une luminosité hors du commun, se dressent devant nous. Un simple regard, un sourire, Mylène comprend que je retombe en enfance, je vais être ingérable et elle a raison. Je n’arrête pas de shooter et je souris bêtement, je m’agite, j’aime ce lieu.

Nous sommes dans la boutique “Tombées du camion” : “ Lots anciens et oubliés, Nombreux bijoux, perles, et accessoires de mode, Stocks exclusifs d’usines abandonnées, Séries industrielles, Fonds de merceries en abondance, Jouets manufacturés du siècle dernier, Matériel de laboratoire, Petits objets de culte à profusion, Stocks de fabricants et grossistes, Souvenirs des enseignes d’autrefois, Trésors artisanaux en quantité, Accumulations en tout genre, Gadgets historiques et traditionnels, Archéologie de l’enfance“.

Que dire de plus ? Une équipe adorable, un sens inégalé du commerce et de l’accueil, une déco incroyable, un concept ingénieux…

Vous allez découvrir un univers surprenant, des mises en scènes drôles et dérangeantes, des objets vous rappelant votre enfance, des parts de vous même mises à nues, je vous avoue qu’une larme m’est venue lorsqu’elle m’a proposé d’utiliser la barre de pompier pour descendre de l’étage (le premier qui rit il est mort, hein ! )

Ils ont su récupérer et mettre en valeur les boutons de nos habits de bambins, les yeux de nos nounours et de nos poupées… Je vous laisse découvrir la sélection de photographies prises ce jour là.

En plus de proposer des objets cultes introuvables, ils proposent des lampes d’atelier JIELDE made in France, comme celle sur laquelle vous baviez au vide grenier rue de Bretagne (si je vous ai vu ).

Ils ont l’art de la récup‘ qui coule dans leurs veines.

Là vous n’avez plus aucune excuse, surtout qu’ils ont une boutique 17 rue Joseph de MAISTRE dans le 18 ° METRO Abesses.

Il n’y a qu’ici que vous pourrez trouver l’œil qui manque à votre peluche préférée.

Et comme j’avais décider de repartir avec un “petit” souvenir de cette découverte, j’ai craqué pour une de ces caisses :

Alors que j’ai failli en acheter une sur un vide grenier, celle-ci m’aura couté 15 euros, je n’ai donc pas pu refuser. Le seul problème fut le transport : je n’ai pas le compas dans l’oeil et à deux sur le scoot plus la belle boite, et bien nous étions un peu serrés…. Mylène a dû la tenir à bout de bras jusqu’à la maison, chapeau !

D’adorables perles pour de biens jolis colliers

Voici la caisse à la maison, qui sert de rangement à nos nombreux magasines :

Fini le suspens : direction le STAND 92, ALLEE 5, au MARCHE VERNAISON

Marché aux Puces de Paris Saint Ouen

Ouvert tous les jours jusqu’à 20h
Rue des Rosiers – 93400 Saint Ouen

Métro : porte de clignancourt

Looking for unique, kitchy pillows to pump up your space?Bonjour Mon Coussin may have just what you are looking for! The line ranges from graphic photos of donuts and candies to vintage maps of Paris… with a bit of everything inbetween (they even have scented pillows). Want to do a custom? Contact the owners for your special project.

I featured this skirt from my friend Christabelle’s Closet many months ago, because it is a classic. The price has been reduced to $10.00

… …………… Gentle Readers, Gentils Lecteurs … ……………

.

As you already know, I’m not an addict of any kind of drugs or other psychotrops with the notable exception of the coffee. Drinking couple of liters of this divine beverage is an habit for years and I share this with poeple like Voltaire and Honoré de Balzac (This is almost the only thing I share with these gentlemen).

By the way, I would like to make a remarks about the coffee, the United States of America and the reforms that I modestly propose to Mr. Barack Hussein Obama, the POTUS.

1. The liquid called “coffee” in U.S.A. is an undrinkable fluid and naming it “coffee” is near to a bogus and fake representation of the facts. I expect the new President will finally go ahead and introduce to his fellow compatriots in a better cooking habits starting by coffee. (Somemes it’s even impossible to get one cup of this so-called coffee in a “Café” !)
2. The second reform I pretend to introduce is the reform of the Weights & Measurements from the archaic system still in use ONLY in U.S.A. to the International System, a.k.a Metric System (invented in France as the first example of Common Creative Licence in the history). Want to show us you’re open to the others and the era of unilateralism is over? Go ahead with this reform. BTW: in Kg, the big fat will appear less fat since the number is lower… (Don’t send me flowers for this: I’m only driven by philanthropy…). Also, in California, is it possible to show the road exit with a number equal to the Km not by a name?
3. And finally, the last but not the least, the abolition of the dead penalty. I would like to say loud and clear that in a Nation pretending to be a “Christian Republic” , the usage of the dead penalty show only that Nation is bunch of bigots and tartuffes since the Gospel is against the Law of Talion. “Go and learn what it means:” It is mercy that I want, not sacrifice. “  Matthiew 9, 9-13

Subject & Themes / Sujet & Thèmes
.
We learned the last January the 14th 2009, the shutdown of some Google products and services including the Google Notebook…

Stopping development on Google Notebook

Notebook: pétition et groupe facebook

Cloud Computing ou attrape-nigauds? le cas Google Notebook

.

I proudly announce that I’m either an emulator of Humphrey Bogart, The Greatest Reporter in The Whole World, either one of the most raven lunatic of the World Wide Web! (almost).

THAT'S THE POWER OF THE WEB BABY!

I just found the Google Notebook resurrected in the “My Favorite” option of the Google Toolbar. Launching this option (because it’s the 14 Feb, I’m alone and a bit idle…)

I found the Notebook in the Favorite’s management window. Here the screen captures:
.

.

.

My valuable Readers, I would like to know from you, if you have the same feature (Toolbar favorite & Notebook) or it’s a bug affecting my Google account , my brain or both. Comments are free and, as far as I know, cannot broke your computer, your brain or this blog. Feel free to speak up.

.

Your Comment… / Votre Commentaire…

.

[qeFr] [geFr] [χeFr]

.

[{p ٧ ¬p}W{p ۸ ¬p}] ٧ significare aut crepare ٧ σημασία ἤ θόρυβος …

En effectuant des recherches sur la toile, je suis tombé sur cet article qui prouve bien que PGTee dépasse les frontières

- http://www.hcp34.it/?p=472

La Tranche Sur Mer, on the Atlantic Coast of France, is one of those typically Euro beach destinations: lots of camping grounds, men who think it’s okay to terrify the female public by strutting around in a pair of form-revealing speedos, kids dragging giant inflatable animal-shaped float-aids along the street and lots and lots of ice cream shops. I can’t actually work out how all the different ice cream shops make any money because there are so many of them, but practicalities aside, they are skilled in the art of displaying their products in ways that make you not just want ice cream but physically NEED it.

The vendors accessorise their ice cream to show what taste you’ll be licking off the cone. In the top picture, the nutella ice cream was indicated by a whole jar of nutella stuck into the top of its vat. In the picture above, strawberries show that the red ice cream is strawberry flavoured. That’s what I call ingenious ice cream merchandising.  Then below we have limes showing lime ice cream and flowers to indicate… what exactly? It can’t be flower ice cream.  Perhaps it’s almond. Those flower petals look suspiciously like dragées and some couples give sugared almond flowers to the guests on their wedding day.

The shot below isn’t great but I have yet to work out what Arlequin ice cream is. Hundreds and thousands sprinkled over the top… all different colours… could be tutti frutti, I guess. I’ve googled and still can’t work it out. If you read this and know what Arlequin ice cream tastes like, please let me know!

Monsieur and I didn’t even glance at the dessert card at the restaurant where we’d dined that evening. We paid the bill, walked out onto the still-busy street, found an ice cream stand where the ‘accessorising’ was particularly good, and ordered. I had a two scoop cup with coconut and guimauve.

“How do you translate guimauve into English?” I asked Monsieur.

“I don’t really know.” Came his reply.

“Qu’est-ce que c’est, la guimauve?” I asked the ice cream man.

“La guimauve, c’est, euh, la guimauve!”

He gave a gallic shrug, throwing his hands up into the air. Monsieur and the ice cream man were of no help to me at all. Looking at the display, the guimauve ice cream was studded with multi-coloured marshmallow twists on sticks. I hoped that when I ordered guimauve flavour, the taste would indeed be marshmallow, and it was. That’s another reason why this sort of merchandising is so clever: it helps foreigners like me to understand what they’re eating…

This is a photo of a horse-butcher’s shop in Fontenay-le-Comte. I simply had to take a photo. Monsieur didn’t get it, but he didn’t grow up in a country where eating horse would be like eating the family dog. Kiwis just wouldn’t ever consider it. Because of that, for me, seeing horse butchers is half novelty and half horror. Thank heavens I can’t eat red meat. Now I’ll never have to consider eating Black Beauty’s cousins.

At our Christmas party last year, an Italian colleague explained to us what horse meat tastes like. She thoroughly enjoys eating horse and waxed lyrical about her favourite horse preparation methods. Meanwhile, a strictly ethical vegetarian colleague gagged and had to excuse herself.

If you think eating horse is bad, I suggest you pop across to Epicurienne, where I’m currently discussing the more bizarre items to be found on a Vietnamese menu. Monsieur and I are in Vietnam right now, studiously avoiding the consumption of anything involving monkey, dog or snake meat. Wish us luck! The Vietnamese motto is “if you can catch it,  you can eat it!” Does that include me?

Monsieur introduced me to the music and whacky videos of Mylene Farmer. Here’s one of my favourites, although if you get freaked out by ventriloquists’ puppets because of the Chucky films, this one may not be for you…

This is my favourite face cream and it’s French (mais bien sûr…). Manufactured by an olive oil specialty company called Oliviers & Co,  or O & Co for short, it’s nourishing, smells fresh without being fragranced and contains olive oil to feed your skin and keep it baby soft. It’s organic, accredited by ECOCERT and the only animals used for testing are humans. Anti-aging, regenerating, and anti-radical protecting are some of its claims. With all of this written on the tube I’d expect it to cost a lot more than US$32.00/ €16.50/ £10.00 which is just another reason why it’s my favourite face cream.

There are related products including a soothing lip balm, face oil, hand cream and body lotion. Definitely worth every penny.

O & Co shops are slowly going global. There are 43 in France at last count, and their popularity is growing in London, but they also boast boutiques in places as far afield as Saudi Arabia, Japan and Brazil. It’s not just cosmetics that they’re famous for; aromatic oils, divine tapenades and chocolate ‘olives’ with brazil nuts at their centre are just some of their popular products. If it can be made with olives then you’ll probably find it at O & Co.

Here’s the French site link

Here’s the UK site link

Here’s the USA site link

When I was a kid, my one of my favorite times of the year was back to school. It was a glorious combination of my two favorite things —a perfect storm for a material obsessed youth —new clothes and new school supplies. Clearly I have not made any headway with either of these obsessions. My clothing fixations have been documented many times here on ACL, but my office supply bug has so far remained dormant, until now at least. I went through my top two left-hand desk drawers to show you some of the things that make me happy.

Below is a Mnemosyne “To-Do” pad that was purchased from Kate’s Paperie in SoHo. The pocket sized flip- book is printed in a special style to facilitate creating and accomplishing To-Dos. Mnemosyne (which is the name of the ancient Greek goddess of memory) is made by a Japanese company called Maruman.

A must own for any guy is a silver letter opener with initials engraved into the handle. The opener pictured below is sort of cheap and has been bent from being used to pry batteries out of the remote control and other non-letter related mischievousness.

Basic writing instruments. I never caught on to the fancy pen thing but I am glad that it is still an option for me to further explore at a later point in my life. I like to use the Parker Jotter and will often have it in my suit pocket. Pictured below is the classic Bic 4-color selectable pen (that is still made in France) along with a professional grade black Sharpie marker, Bic yellow pen highlighter and a Energel .7 mm pen by Pentel.

Below: one of my all time favorite acquisitions, the Garrett Wade Power Clipper with Weiss 16 mm clips. I use the Power Clipper to affix business cards and hand written notes to proposals and reports. This little bit of detailing adds a unique touch to a business document.

Below: purchased from Industries Stationery on Crosby Street is a box of 12 small black notebooks. The group of pads are meant to be a one year supply of white pages. All of the books having a unique number of punched holes to signify the 12 calender months. The set cost about $35.

Another Garrett Wade product, the all metal Personal Stapler in black. In addition to the nice looking stapler, pictured below are a box of Swingline S.F. 4 Premium Staples. I cannot tolerate misformed staples and these premium staples keep that to a minimum. Definitely worth the extra few dollars to prevent that frustration.

Below: small note pads from Industries Stationery. The color options are terrific.

Below: Acco Regal Clips No. 3 and manilla paper tags.

Below: the Fisher Space Pen. Designed for NASA so astronauts could write in a gravity free environment, these pens are the perfect size to carry around in your jeans pocket.

The Reporter’s Notebooks are great for day to day use around the office. They work good for meetings and taking notes on phone calls.

Below: The classic brown paper pocket size Moleskine notebooks. I prefer these to the more popular larger hard-bound versions.

Muji is a great resource for simple non-branded merchandise. I am obviously drawn to anything made from craft paper like these CD / DVD cases and the tiny card and envelope sets seen below.