#3477 | Lush Gardens and Whispering Woods.
9 thoughts on modern fusion, tranquil landscapes, and hand tools.
👁 This is a long issue, so you may need to hit "expand" or read it in your browser...
Hello lovelies!
Spring has finally properly sprung here…the sky is blue, the trees are budding, the birds are singing, the racoons have been making a racket in the back alley all night…ah city life!
JEAN-GUILLAUME MATHIAUT...
Since 2019 artist, designer and architect, Jean-Guillaume Mathiaut, has set up his workshop in Bourron-Marlotte on the edge of the ancient forest of Fontainbleau, that he walks almost every day in search of fallen oak trunks and branches...material that he then transforms into what he calls landscape furniture...somewhere between sculpture and furniture.
EMMANUELLE SIMON...
As I was looking through the site of the Paris gallery that represents Jean-Guillaume Mathiaut, these unique and curvy furniture pieces made in oak caught my eye…they are the work of French-Israeli interior architect and designer Emmanuelle Simon…
LUCIANO GIUBBILEI & POTTER'S HOUSE...
I, probably like most of you, have seen pictures of Potter's House and its beautiful cloistered garden a thousand times...but I had never stopped long enough to understand the story behind it. I came across this interview with master gardener Luciano Giubbilei which gives some background…
I have been going to Mallorca for about 25 years, and became good friends with [the artist] Guillem Nadal. At the end of July 2017 he and his wife brought me to visit the ceramicist Maria Antònia Carrió at her house and studio. The house was very beautiful – from her ceramic works, to her books, to the garden – and she lived a very simple life there. There was an immediate connection between us. She described how difficult it is to make beautiful things, which is something I deeply related to. We spent the day looking at plants and at her ceramics and I purchased a few of her pieces. On my return to London I wrote to her to say how much I had enjoyed our meeting and my desire to return. Unfortunately she passed away four months later. One of her friends made contact through a friend of mine relaying that Maria Antònia had said “there was an Italian garden designer who came to visit, and I would like him to have the house.” I thought about it for about three hours, before calling back to say: ‘How do we do this?’.
Deciding to leave the original ceramics studio intact as an homage, he has created a new residency studio for contemporary ceramists on the second floor in order to be able to invite other artists into the space. During the pandemic he spent nine months living there and working on the garden. Here is a short video of the designer and the interior of the house from Openhouse.
We met for less than 24 hours, but that connection changed the course of my life. I make gardens in a different way because of her and because of the house.
Give yourself a little gift...if you have been enjoying A Treasury of Moods now would be a good time to click on the coupon below to receive 20% off a full year’s supply of newsletter goodness at only $3.33/month!
CASEY CASEY…
Some pretty (but not too sweet) spring-y prints and stripes from Casey Casey...
ÉVA NÉMETH…
The deeply luscious garden photography of Hungary-born, UK-based garden photographer Éva Németh...
I like these flat-lays she does of "a tray full of what grows in my garden at the moment". You can read more of her story here or sign up for one of her occasional classes here.
ALEX WALSHAW…
UK-based artist Alex Walshaw creates furniture and functional objects that are a hybrid of the modern and the ancient. Inspired by nature, being open to a rapport with the land and its inhabitants, he has developed an ethical approach that reflects this, by only using naturally storm fallen and reclaimed wood. He shapes the wood with simple hand tools and leaves the traces of his marks on his work.
JONO SMART & EMILY STEPHEN...
I've been following Jono Smart and his partner Emily Stephen for many years but it had been a while since I'd checked in. This recent article about them gives more detail about their relationship...they've been together since 2015 and have been through many changes. Jono, who started out as a hobbyist potter while working for Luciano Giubbilei (amazing how that came full circle...wasn't expecting that!) and Emily, who has switched profession from architect to potter and wood-turner, have built a successful business and, in 2020, made the transition from city to rural life, swapping Glasgow for Angus and undertaking a hefty renovation in the process...
Hugely respected for their craft, and highly respectful of the craft of other artisans in their community, their IG's are refreshingly positive and supportive (and sometimes irreverantly funny)...and often very informative with commenters making constructive suggestions about the ins and outs of techniques or ways of making the work easier...
They’ve also made this wee thing...!
YUKIHIRO AKAMA...
Yukihiro Akama creates beautifully intricate miniature wooden houses, each one carved from a single piece of wood. Originally from Japan, he studied architecture and began his career as an architect. Progressively feeling a need to balance his mostly digital work with working with his hands, using traditional tools to create physical objects, he began making these small buildings that are inspired by his travels around Asia and the UK, where he now lives. They can be purchased here.
Thank you all for reading...let me know if you have any thoughts!
xo,
Please smash that ♥ button if you liked this post…
Mood board credits: 1-3 Andrea Lennon; Thea Caroline Sneve Løvstad; Pierre St. George 4-6 Éva Németh; Yukihiro Akama; Éva Németh 7-9 Silvia Valentin Ceramica; Charlotte Taylor; Andrea Lennon
This whole post is a thing of beauty but the story of the Potter's House was new to me and has completely captured my heart. Thank you so much for sharing it.
What a beautiful edit Anne, and how special you got to experience the Potter’s House. I went to Mallorca two years ago and was hoping to go but the stars did not align. So glad I found your substack, looking forward to reading more!