monts et cristaux - light that dazzles

I’ve been enamored since I first saw a Monts et Cristaux chandelier hanging above the gorgeous porcelain at 3 Femmes et 1 Coussin. I loved the color, the sparkle, and the whimsy the vintage crystal fixture brought to the room.

Finally, more than a year later, I’ve met its creator, Maryline Scaviner, who has created chandeliers for kitchens, dining rooms, restaurants, and even a prestigious French aperitif.

Maryline built her first chandelier five years ago. Recently arrived in Montreal from Africa, and working as an interior designer, she missed the lush colors of the distant continent. When she couldn’t find a lighting fixture that pleased her, she created one.

Another designer saw it, asked her to build one, and her company, Monts et Cristaux, was born.

Then as now, Maryline sees each project as a chance to explore. “I build according to inspiration,” she says.

Slim and smiling in black boots and fine, silver hair, Maryline showed me the beginnings of a traditional chandelier. Hanging in the corner of her rue Bellechase atelier is a silver hook fastened to a fist-sized metal disc, and a slender wand with a knob at the bottom.

Within days, these meager beginnings would be hidden beneath a center column, from which she would add a half dozen upswept arms, tapered columns holding clear bulbs, and graceful sweeps of crystal pendants, beads and attenuated drops.

Color comes next. It is Maryline’s muse as she hand-dyes European crystal to match a room’s decor. A striking green chandelier called “Le Vert” contains a multitude of beaded ropes that glimmer as they spill from bobeches - patterned glass bowls that hold the lamps. Small pearls stud the ropes, and reflect soft white light, in contrast to the shimmering chartreuse pendants suspended below them.

Where the preferred style is modern, materials lean toward industrial: chainmail, recycled aluminum, LED lights. Forms are crisp and linear - a column of glittering crystal, for instance, suspended from a laser-cut aluminum crown and illuminated from within by a round white bulb.

This personalized approach to lighting makes Maryline the go-to person for interior decorators throughout North America. Her clients live as far away as Florida and British Columbia.

In the dining room of Le Cosmos, a Quebec restaurant and bar, she strung 1000 crystals of different sizes and colors around an antique Spanish chandelier.

To pay homage to Andy Warhol, she created five chandeliers, each three feet wide and five feet tall, dripping with wooden beads and metal chains painted fuschia, orange, purple, turquoise.

“Crystal is a noble material,” says Maryline. But what I see is dazzling color, and unexpected beauty.

Have you seen Maryline’s work? Tell us what you think!

chocolate lovers’ montreal a valentine classic

Our self-guided tour, Montreal for Chocolate Lovers, was featured on My Gourmet Connection - a food lover’s guide to great flavor.

What a great gift for your favorite chocolate lover, and at $14.95, it’s outrageously affordable!

holiday shopping for foodies

Last minute shopping to do? Food is always welcome, and my Seven Days article “Global Palate: A Montreal holiday gift guide for foodies” reviews 14 great sources of kitchen tools, wine storage and accessories, cookbooks, and LOTS of food products, from refined gift baskets and gift certificates (Chez L’Epicier) to mustards from the McAuslan Brewery (Marché du Vieux) to organic nuts and grains (Ferme Michaca, Marché Jean Talon).

Here are a few other ideas:

Old Montreal
Ateliers et Saveurs, 444 Rue St-François-Xavier. Gift certificates for wine tastings, cooking and cocktail classes, $20 - $75

Verses Restaurant, 100 Rue St-Paul Ouest. Gift certificates for weekend brunch, $40

PLATEAU-MONT-ROYAL
La Vieille Europe, 3855 Bd St-Laurent. Italian panettone and panforte; German gluhwein, marzipan, stollen; Christmas pudding, mincemeat, and many other Old World holiday foods. Most $5-$15

Epicérie Entrepôt, 4001 Bd St-Laurent. Bulk groceries, including organic products and Portuguese specialties, at reduced prices

Le Canard Libéré, 4396 Bd St-Laurent. Everything duck, including pâté, rillettes, foie gras and tubs of rendered duck fat, from $10

Espace Nomad, 4650 Bd St-Laurent. Gift certificates for 7-step Chocobliss facial ($95), and skin products made with maple syrup, fruits, vegetables and chocolate ($20 - $40)

And finally, a view more food treats from this week’s Voir.

Have you found a fabulous treat or source? Tell us about it!

jamais assez - oh, really?

A confirmed minimalist, I am not a big consumer - and the name on the window of the design-friendly Plateau boutique, Jamais Assez (Never Enough) got my dander up.

Pausing in front of the St Laurent shop on my way to Aux Vivres (I do consume more than my fair share of good food), I began an internal rant to the effect of “Never enough?? Our economy is in shambles because of that philosophy.”

Yet I couldn’t resist entering. Spending philosophies aside, it’s the kind of place that makes me smile.

I consider well-designed retail spaces as mini-museums. Fun, imaginative products inspire me. I hang around just to revel in originality. To be charmed by color, composition and humor.

Fanciful, full of good design, well lit, and spacious in its arrangement of furniture, tableware, accessories for the home and body - Jamais Assez is very appealing.

A rocker that substitutes a polar bear for a horse; a wooden book case shaped like a ladder; a way cool high chair are all examples of well made Canadian made crafts.

At least shopping here stimulates the local economy.

Still, I resist their subliminal plea to buy. Isn’t it enough just to enjoy?

One of my favorite Paris shops, with similar designer eye appeal, is Pylones. The gift shop has spread world wide, thanks so its affordable, brightly colored tea pots, cheese graters, eye glass cases and more - all highly endowed with personality.

Another is The Cornershop - a home design store that carries the work of several European designers. My favorites are the larger items: a glass and chrome coffee table, club chairs in leather and velour. But I’ve also found tableware that had me mentally throwing out clothes to make room in my suitcase. And a side table that I wanted to build a room around. Unfortunately, they don’t ship.

Jamais Assez strikes me as somewhere in the middle. A place to dream, take inspiration, maybe even shop for a gift.

Sometimes, when I think about the grim state of the world, just remembering these places is enough for me.

If you go: 5155 Blvd St Laurent, at Fairmont.

les étoffes has fine cloth and attitude

Innovative design meets distinctive fashion at les Etoffes, a new clothing boutique on the Main.

What drew me in last winter was the vitrine - impeccably strewn with boots, bowlers, antique lace and trendy lamps. It was original, inventive, and highly textural, and had my mind spinning as I tried to come up with a narrative tying the elements together.

Then last month, a window displayed plastic human organs on a table set with Fiesta ware. What??

I knew the answer, though, even before one of the shop’s young owners pointed to the custom papier peint on the back wall. The wallpaper is a jaunty backdrop to the gorgeous clothes hanging from meat hooks affixed to grids on the ceiling.

Created by a Quebec designer, it parodies the French standard toile de jouy. Instead of beautiful women inked onto on a cream colored background, we see naked men performing various bodily functions. The meat hooks and cadaverous display are natural extensions of the theme.

Okay, edgy design - but what about the clothing?

Les étoffes means “fine cloth” and the shop carries new designers and quality used garments - distinctive shoes for men and women, and clothing for women - all made from top quality materials. Lines are classic, even minimal, and fabrics make shirts, jackets, and especially dresses, unforgettable.

Young Swedish designers Rodebjer, Carin Wester and Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair hang beside LA-based Grey Ant, and vintage pieces found in NY and Toronto warehouses. It’s sometimes hard to tell the used garments from the new. Visually and texturally, the place is a hit.

Conceptually, it’s full of surprises. There’s a pink kitchen in the back, visible through an opening in the wall at eye level - very feminine, and yet the offers to make a cappuccino while you shop come from Chris, the male half of the romantic and business partnership.

Diana, adorable in some of the lines they sell, or a hip mix of old and new, is a fabulous ad for their wares. It’s unlike anyplace else in Montreal.

If you go:  5253 Blvd St Laurent, open T W, 12-6, Th F 12-8, Sat Sun 12-6.  No website.

montreal update - jazz, sales, and bikes

July is in full swing with special events - so slather on sun block (yes, the sun will return), grab a bottle of water, and head out into the streets to wander and partake.

The Jazz Festival has Rue St Catherine closed to traffic from St Laurent east, and the fun is not reserved for the weekends or big concert venues. Walking toward Place des Arts from St Laurent midweek, I found the street filled with people.

Bands played on both sides of the street, and I could hear three different free concerts at any one time. Stages were small, medium and - where 4 young men played guitar and harmonica with a cap upturned on the concrete in front of them - nonexistent.

Fans slouched on benches, perched in camping chairs, sat on striped blankets laid over the curb. Body language registered above the music: everyone was loose, relaxed.

Folks ambled by, stopping to hear a few bars and decide whether to stay put or walk on. Street performers set up for a high wire routine.

A cotton candy vendor crisscrossed the pavement, with a stack of pink poufs over one shoulder, and grilling sausages perfumed the air.

Far from the music, on Rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Elaine Léveillé climbed in and out of the vitrine at ERA. July 1 marks the start of summer sales, and the owner of the three year old vintage shop was creating a new display - plus answering the phone, welcoming customers, and creating sales signs.

Everything in the store was on sale, and her staff was off for the holiday. Racks displayed halter dresses, short sleeved cashmere sweaters, lace and cotton skirts, cocktail dresses, jackets, wraps, and more - all sorted by color: turquoise, pink, saffron, crimson.

In the Plateau, sale signs covered the windows, and I went into shopping mode. At Retromania, I learned they no longer sell vintage - but I found a white V-neck top from Rayure (one of my favorite Paris shops) at 20% off.

Cyclists were all over the bike path - and I do believe more are wearing helmets.

For my part, I was going to rent a Bixi (no helmet, I should be ashamed) - but I soon learned that the handlebar baskets are open shells. I had umbrella, two small bags, a notebook and camera - which would not be contained without a knapsack or equivalent holding everything in check.

So I walked some more.

country chic at l’atelier du presbytère

Mille fois merci to Christine Sawyer for contributing this posting - article and photos by Christine.

L’Atelier du Presbytère is one of Montreal’s best kept secrets for lovers of interior design. A relative newcomer to rue Notre-Dame Ouest, the two-year-old shop is a wonderful addition to the street’s great antique shops and galleries.

The focus is French country, and everything in the store tells a story, starting with the window display. The long vitrine gives glimpses of glassware, vases, lamps, painted and unpainted furniture, and best of all, linens, that make me wonder about the items’ previous lives.

Françoise, the owner, buys antique fabrics in garage sales, estate sales and antique shops. She combines them with natural linens, and creates wonderful – and unique – pieces.

Sacs à mots doux (bags for kind words), sacs à bisous (bags for kisses), sacs à histoires (bags for stories), sacs à rêves (bags for dreams), sacs à promesses (for promises), sacs à gros mots (for swear words), sacs à bêtises (for silly things), sacs à bobos (for little scratches). Who could resist these little linen bags, with such words stiched on them?

The words bring to mind childhood innocence - and in fact Françoise created one of the first bags for her young son.  It was a lovely container for his gros mots, an alternative for using them in public. Then came bags for kisses, secrets, and the like.

Most of the fabrics she chooses are in soft white, red and ochre, and the overall effect is delightful. Sometimes she integrates a lace pattern from one of those antique sheets, or turns someone’s initials, like a French grandmother had on her table napkins, into the centerpiece of a cushion.

The store has everything to create the country chic home: antique glasses, dishes, clocks, scales and lamps; huge square soaps and other bathroom accessories; beautiful tables, chairs and dressers; and lots and lots of linens - antique bed sheets, cushions, aprons, dish towels, tablecloths, little bags for bread, laundry, just for fun, and more.

Thierry, Francoise’s husband, renovates the furniture, and they work together to create the complete look. He likes the rustic sheens and finishes, the whites and the pale greens, and the harmony is perfect.

And what about the name L’Atelier du Presbytère? Françoise and Thierry have their own story to tell: owners of a very successful business in Provence, they had little time to enjoy life, so they moved to Montreal to start small all over again.

L’Atelier du Presbytère was the name of their old shop - located in a small town behind the presbytère, home of the priest, on rue du Presbytère.

L’Atelier du Presbytère
1810, rue Notre-Dame Ouest
Tel : (514) 448-1788

spring flowers at 3 femmes et 1 coussin

I’ve been landscaping like crazy at home: taking up sod and digging compost into new perennial beds, piling my bedside table with gardening books, getting all dreamy eyed when I contemplate seeds. I get antsy if I can’t get my hands in dirt at least once a day. I’ve got spring fever, for sure.

And I recently discovered a store where I can assuage my feverishness when it’s too wet or cold to get into the garden - and indulge my love of flowers, color and beauty year round.

3 femmes et 1 coussin began designing (and later importing) collections of porcelain dishes in 2001. Three women had a common vision for high-quality dinnerware in colorful yet simple patterns. They settled on flowers as their motif, and focused on wholesaling to restaurants.

Soon, orders from chic Montreal restaurants turned into interest from patrons who wanted to buy the plates for themselves. When an opportunity to move their showroom to a storefront location arose, they made the leap to retail, opening the Rue Gilford shop (in the Plateau, just off St-Denis) in October, 2004.

They originally carried cushions as well (3 Femmes et 1 Coussin means 3 women and a cushion).

They now focus solely on table arts, supplementing their gorgeous porcelain with accessories from internationally acclaimed companies, such as FACES - a collection of products for the kitchen and table developed by Ferran Adrià, chef of the three star Barcelona restaurant elBulli.

But the fanciful floral designs are theirs. Colors are vivid, and pieces have exquisite, and sometimes surprising, shapes - fuchsia allium petals on a flat sided teapot, for example, or a single leafy green branch splashed across a platter.

They continue to custom-print floral motifs for the hospitality industry and for retail clients. They also sell place settings and serving pieces in basic white.

The shop is a must-see for serious flower-lovers, as the details are lovingly recreated, and for minimalists looking to introduce new shapes (triangle bowls, half circle platters) onto their all-white tables.

783, Rue Gilford, at St-Hubert, M: Laurier. (514) 987-6807. Open M-W 10am-6pm; Th F 10am-7pm; Sat 10am-5pm; closed Sun.

rhodia notebooks at arthur quentin

One of the reasons I love the Plateau kitchen and table ware store, Arthur Quentin, is that so much of what they sell is French. A few of my favorites this year are the Guy Degrenne teapots with a stainless cozy (sizes range from 2-8 cups), and the Upla bags, made from indestructible nylon with leather trim.

And - I know this may seem silly - I was ecstatic when I saw their new supply of Rhodia notebooks.

Why get excited about such a small and simple thing? These orange notebooks from the French Alps are all about order and aplomb. The color is fun, full of energy, and just a little bit eccentric, especially when they were first made, in the 30s.

The notebook’s inner pages, with their light gray grid, speak to my predisposition for order. The tidy squares promise that the small problems of the world will fall (ever so gently) into line: lost dogs will be reunited with their owners; unpaired socks will at long last find their match; too long to-do lists will self-organize into categories, with a timeline to follow.

I remember the first time I opened a Rhodia pad, and the cover folded back - and stayed put. For the first time, I understood good design. It felt good in the hand and in the mind. It solved a small, every day problem, only noticeable by the user.

The scored cover, made of quality paper, didn’t impede my progress. It didn’t flop, rip, curl or spring back. It folded quietly out of the way until I was done sketching, listing, or doodling. Then it folded flat again - flat! Ditto with the pages inside. I pick up an orange Rhodia pad now, and I’m back in France, younger and eager to know the ways of the world, and reasonably sure that I will.

This year marks the company’s 75th birthday, and the Rhodia folks are still helping us organize ourselves colorfully. They’re making plans for an upcoming calendar, and want fans to help choose the images - models wearing clothes and accessories made from, or resembling, Rhodia products. Photo credits.

cocoa délices - fine chocolates for gift giving

Now that the Easter sugar rush is over, let me turn once more to chocolates and gift giving.

Montreal’s newest chocolaterie, Cocoa Délices, is a hotbed of flavor, with a focus on baby showers. Confused? I was, too, until I made my way to the back of their posh showroom and bit into a ganache flavored with mango, mint and coriander.

Full and rich, with bursts of sweetness and delightful savory undertones, the complexity helped prepare me for a few of their other specialties: lime-pastis, and feu sud américain - South American fire.

So naturally I wondered what these exotic flavors had in common with a blue paper boat setting sail on a nearby shelf. The ship’s hold was filled with individually wrapped chocolates, each decorated with its own blue bear. Nearby were delicate pink foil squares topped with rocking horses.

There are adventurous chocolate eaters, and lovers of tradition, I was told.

Adventurous types can choose their favorite flavored ganaches, naked, from the counter. Lovers of tradition will find milk chocolate, hazelnut, and praline at the counter too - and wrapped as specialty gifts, enrobed in demure blue and pink foils for baby showers, births and baptisms.

It’s a great marketing move, as there are at least three stores on the street dedicated to outfitting babies.

For shoppers looking for chocolates in more grown-up wrappings, elegant brown and copper foil boxes can be filled with the selection of your choice.  A bit staid for birthday presents (unless it’s for a grandparent), the boxes make lovely hostess gifts.  

And for the young person who likes sweets, try the nougats, wrapped in cellophane.  The pastel colors of the candy are their own reward - until you sink your teeth into their chewy, salty-sweet goodness.

Dark and light, adventurous and traditional, the chocolates are hand made in Quebec and delivered to the store a kilo at a time, to assure freshness.

123 Laurier Ouest.  Open T-Th 11-6pm; F Sat 11-6:30; Sun 12-5.  Closed M

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