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.