Dessin Fournir and Chuck Comeau . .

Hi . .

I love a good eccentric . . . Rose Cumming, about as much as I love a man who will move his growing business back to the small town he grew up in for a better quality of life !  The Rose Cumming label is carried by Dessin Fournir who's founder and CEO Chuck Comeau is that man and I love what he has created. . .  a small business life on the streets of rural Plainville, Kansas.  The revitalization created jobs and restored downtown buildings to thriving shops and cafes.   Comeau believes it's all about being true to what matters and for that I salute him.  In 1996 Comeau started moving his successful luxury furniture and lighting company from L.A to Plainville.  Having acquired the prestigious contemporary line of Gerard, as well as Palmer Hargrave, Kerry Joyce, Classic Cloth and Rose Cumming, he wanted to share his love of design and quality of life with the community and the seed of C.S. Post arrived. (C as in Charles, S as in his wife, Shirley).  Two old buildings were renovated to create the shop.  In 1999 Comeau created a development company called Liberty Group to save and renovate old forgotten downtown buildings.  In 2000, along with the DHDC (Downtown Hays Development Corporation), Liberty purchased 19 properties to preserve and revitalize the core of downtown.

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well with Chuck Comeau and it's inspiring !

Dessin Fournir is not a specific look, but a unique resource for the design community that still longs for authentic beauty and quality.   In a poll conducted by House & Garden magazine, they were voted as one of the top 3 design and manufacturing firms of furniture to the trade.

Their collection includes fabrics and wall coverings by Classic Cloth, Rose Cumming and their own leather collection.  Our rep came by recently with samples of all these gorgeous leathers . .  so soft to the touch with unique patterns and colors . . . Take a look at a few of my favorites:

Classic Cloth carried the most beautiful plaids and wool stripes . .  love the colors !

With furniture their philosophy is the preservation of old world legacy of craftsmanship elsewhere forgotten.  Take a look at the detail in some of the pieces I love . . .

Love the back story and all for small town revival !

No Shrinking Violet - Rose Cumming

Hey there . . .

I gave you a look at my new office, which I am loving.   I wanted to elaborate on the great Rose Cumming a bit. The window treatments in my space are hers and I have been dying to use that fabric.  While pulling it, I spent some time looking at all her other designs as well as the woman herself, because I have always loved an eccentric, an original, with striking violet hair and all.  

Her appearance first of all will peak your interested.  Known to wear shocking lime dresses cinched with a gold tie back and hair full of plastic fern fronds, a look and attitude to admire simply for it's unconventionality.  She marched to her own drummer, which I love.

Flash back to 1917, she was popular in New York society.  Having not entered the design world yet, she asked her friend Frank Crowninshield, the editor of Vanity Fair what she should do, he suggested she become a decorator, to which she responded, "Perhaps I would, but first tell me what it is."  She set up shop on Park Avenue and revolutionized interior design with her unparalleled sense of color and unorthodox style.

She became famous for combining pieces in ways which seemed random.  Her greatest strength was as a colorist.  Her mix of tangerine orange and blood red, teal and lime and her favorite hyacinth taffeta were legendary.  "Parrots are blue and green, why shouldn't fabrics be!"

With her sense of the dramatic, it's not surprising that she counted Marlene Dietrich and Mary Pickford among her clients.

Upon her death in 1968, her sister Eileen Cecil carried on the fabric business until recently when the business was sold to Dessin Fournir - Chuck Comeau, who heads the firm, discovered old boxes containing fabrics hand painted by Cumming in the 30's in simpler and more abstract forms than her chintzes.

Today Dessin Fournir (a vendor of ours) offers many of the gorgeous colors and patterns, all Ms. Cumming - take a look at my favorites . . .

And let's not forget the wall paper !

Read more about Ms. Cumming and get inspired to be an original !

publish date September 4, 2012

Our showroom is filled with all her samples, give us a call for an appointment and come take a look.

Finally, Finally . . . The Day Has Come...

Hey there. . .

When your job is to provide inspiration, it's vital to be surrounded by color, pattern and images of great works of art and design.  I am a huge coffee table book collector.   After 15 years in the business, I finally have an office.. with a door.  I am so excited.  Having purchased my building a while back and renovating all 4,000 square feet of it .. not once, but about 3 times, the time is finally here -  now that I am surround by the best help I have ever had -  to retreat back to my office for quite, focused design work.  While my team has filled the main space and is so on top of it . . .  I love having a retreat all to my own, away from the ongoing day-to-day business of calls, deliveries, tracking, and general hubbub !  

I wanted to fill the space with everything I love... to excess... why not, right !  It's full of pattern on pattern, color on color, fabrics, wall papers, art, books and an obnoxious amount of furniture crammed in one small space !  

I did an inspiration board for myself... and yep I did change my mind once or twice on the overall colors.  But here's the finished product . . 

What once was a back storage room, now a back retreat.  I chose two papers to begin with.  A Harlequin graphic, yet organic, metallic on one side of the room - with a Phillip Jeffries grasscloth on the other.  I wanted to mix the silvers and golds in an elegant, yet fun way.  The windows were short, small and lacked any molding.  I decided  to add floor to ceiling trim to elongate the look and give them some weight.  I painted all the trim, including the window  a darker grey.  There is nothing I dislike more that long drapes on a short window or drapes that don't hit the floor.  You can mix window styles as well - blinds on the side of the room, drapes on the other.

Take a look at my re-purposed sofa.  This piece lacked all that deep tufting, thanks to my great upholster, it now looks more elegant and rich.  We had the frame painted a cream as well.  I found this soft, yet heavy textured hemp rug . . as apparently there are no grey cows in the world and I couldn't get the hide I wanted . . . funny - huh!  

The didn't stop with an abundance of furniture, a large hand painted coffee table, an old cream rattan chair, an asian inspired chest in a blue/grey, upholstered side chairs and tree stump - painted gold - side table.

Keith painted a Rothko inspired piece for me with touches of gold leaf and kelly green and peach, a combination I have always loved.

A little mid-century inspired bookcase and lamp and plenty of books to inspire.

Plenty of texture and color in the pillows and accessories.

I have been wanting to use Rose Cumming's banana leaf fabric.  I love it so, I filled the windows with large, to the ceiling, panels!

all photos by Mekenzie France

One of my favorite art pieces, and gift from Rebecca Brooks, a Chas Walker combine all my favorite colors and hangs low near more of my favorite things, a Christian Lacroix pop up notebook.

Take a closer look at the amazing pillows.  Thanks Kevin O'Brien, the soft cut velvet in a vibrant green snake skin pattern was hard to resist !

Love the retreat.  Don't forget your work space - you are more apt to be creative and productive in a space that makes you happy !