Frey Studios, Paris France

Frey Studios, Paris France

Cheryl Draa and Patrick Frey

Exclusively Pierre Frey (by Cheryl Draa)

Recently I was privileged to tour the Paris France design studio of Pierre Frey.  They are by nature a fabric and furnishing house but have an eclectic selection of prints and woven fabrics. .  By their own admission, Pierre Frey studios get their inspiration from a fable, a building in Paris, a mythological animal or a window display.  They specialize in damasks, jacquards and moirés  using luxurious  silk, elegant linen  and even cashmere.  Most of their fabrics are still made at the company’s own production unit in Northern France….which guarantees exclusivity.

My tour started in the public design studios….where anyone can walk in off the streets and ask for samples, or help making window treatments.  Seems this is the norm in Paris.   They are assigned a designer from the local studios that can help them once they find their own fabrics.   (Dangerous if you ask me…because while everyone thinks they are a designer….we all know they are not).  Patrick Frey, Pierre’s son who now runs the show, met my group personally at the door with coffee and a warm “Bonjour!”  He proudly showed us the new line of fabrics that they just released for 2011 and gave us a brief history of the company, and their vision for the future.  The selection in the studio is fabulous, and I was excited to see the new colors and patterns of the future.

2012 Fabrics

I happened to be in Paris during one of the transportation strikes, so we walked everywhere that day.  No worries, temperature was in the 70’s and not a cloud in the sky, and it was Paris!  Patrick led us down the street several blocks, guiding us through the maze of close streets proudly proclaiming the beauty of Paris…and it is indeed a beautiful city.   Since many families have owned the buildings for hundreds of years, the owners by law are required to make continual updates to their buildings…pressure wash, fix tiles, anything that needs done, every 15 years.  The major cities of the US look dirty to me by comparison now.  Patrick himself led us from the public design studio to where the magic takes place.   His private offices and archive studio.

Patrick Frey in Paris

Since 2003, Patrick and his staff have collected over 30,000 documents dating from the 16^th century.  They are contacted by museums all over the world for information on colors/fabrics.  It is here in the archive studio that Patrick’s passion for fabric, and the designs on them really came to light, and I was most fascinated seeing all the fabrics and hearing his stories.   We discussed how the design on fabrics way back when had actually been drawn free hand by a small tool holding the colored inks.   Then other less skilled artisans colored the design in by hand.   Imagine how time consuming to get 21 yards of fabric that all looked the same!   The most famous is perhaps the tree of life print…which started out as a tree with many branches stretching up….when they reached a certain point, the branches just stopped, and the artist started drawing another tree at the top.  Imagine 120”panels today and the trouble with a repeat design on the fabrics.   So to recreate the pattern for usage today, Patrick himself designed the transition, and uniformity of the design…then the artists in our computer age work with proportion, and colors on their computers to make sure when you receive that beautiful new print, you are not worried about the repeat matching or uneven patterns.

Patrick told stories of when Napoleon came into power, and how he changed everything in France from a Fleur-de- lis to the bumblebee….so all the fabrics had to be redone in the Palace at Versailles.  Because of the time involved in doing all that by hand, Napoleon’s rule of 12 years was not enough….the fabrics were still in the workroom!   Sometimes I hear concerns about how long it takes to get panels fabricated…..but certainly never 12 years!

Archived fabrics

Next we ventured into Patrick’s private offices where he showed us one of his personal favorites of the archives: a book dating back to the 16^th century holding swatches of fabrics.  Plaids, dots, patterns….all looked vaguely familiar to me, with just a color variation.   It was then that I realized,” there is nothing new under the sun.”  There are color changes from historical periods, such as the belief during Marie Antoinette’s time that emerald green walls in the bedroom are most soothing.  But don’t some of you still like that bumblebee look?   Or maybe you’ve seen the fleur-de-lis?   Patrick’s artisans use the historical patterns for new inspirations, and I was privileged to see some of the latest versions of his new patterns.  The new colors are set for 2012 and beyond….and the books are being laid out…fabrics coming together for new inspirations….and these exclusive patterns and colors (which are available here in the States) are available ONLY through your designer!

16th century fabrics with Stylus used to add color