Decorative Arts in Miniature: Queen Mary's Dolls House

The library in Queen Mary's doll's house, with views of one of the many original
literary works created especially for the library.

Sir Edwin Lutyens, the great British architect, said, "Let us devise and design for all time something that will enable further generations to see how a King and Queen of England lived in the twentieth century." Lutyens' goal was not to create a child's plaything, but a showcase for the finest British craftsmanship of the period.

 

Top, an exterior view of the Palladian house and the dining room, above.

 

According to "Queen Mary's Dolls House", by Mary Stewart-Wilson, Lutyens collaborated with 1500 of the finest artists and craftspeople to construct this five-foot-high 40 room mansion, completed in 1924 and now permanently displayed at Windsor Castle.  It was originally intended as a gift in gratitude for the royal family's leadership during the First World War, but it has grown to be an expression of decorative arts practice at its highest level. Every detail of a house fit for royalty has been meticulously reproduced, from marble busts, to suits of armor, to original books in the library, to the finest whiskeys and champagne in the wine cellar.

The marble staircase

The artists who worked on these miniatures created specialized tools to work in the 1:12 scale, producing objects that not only looked but functioned like their full-sized counterparts. Wedgwood provided porcelain dishes, Rolls Royce provided one of the many cars in the garage. There are tiny pots of jam from Tiptree, biscuits from McVitie, original paintings and sculptures.  In the library are a desk clock by Cartier, Swan fountain pens, tiny bottles of blue Stephen's ink, hand-written and illustrated autobiography by J.M. Barrie and original hand-written works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling. Every detail, almost beyond imagination, has been attended to, even the tiny books of matches and Windsor & Newton watercolor paints on the Queen's desk.

The Queen's Suite

Beyond its function as a gift for a beloved monarch, this incredible collection of objects is a time capsule of decorative arts in its many forms, and an expression of the incredibly high regard the public and craftspeople had for their professions. I can't wait to get back to England to spend some quality time appreciating the history, virtuosity and craftsmanship in Queen Mary's doll's house. If you'd like to see more, I've included the following Youtube link for your viewing pleasure- enjoy!

http://youtu.be/y7YjePpdXVQ

Two views of the library

 

 

Anatomy of a Well-Dressed Desk, Part 2: Stationery Boxes and Letter Sorters

A Grande Letter Sorter from our bindery, Parvum Opus

In part 1 of our series, we focused on the desk blotter, the aesthetic and functional focus of the well-dressed desk. So, now that you have chosen your beautiful writing surface, the next key item to the well-dressed desk is some sort of stationery box or rack to hold your wardrobe of fine writing papers and sort your correspondence.



A 19th C English writing slope

Today, we have a selection of exquisite antique writing boxes, letter racks and some of our own work to inspire you. No matter what the material style or provenance, all of these pieces share an elegant but highly functional design. It's no use filling your desktop with decorative nick-knacks only to have your stationery scattered in a drawer, or, heaven forbid, a plastic wrapper or box! Using beautifully made fine objects in your everyday life is the best way to train your aesthetic and develop a sense of connoisseurship. It's also a joy to use pieces like these: just seeing them on your artfully arranged writing desk is an open invitation to put pen to paper. 

An amusing wishbone-themed toast rack by William Hutton and Sons, Ltd.,
hallmarked Birmingham, 1903

An example of a toast rack reimagined as a letter rack 

These boxes and racks make it easy to keep your writing paper, notecards, gift enclosure cards and special letters organized and at hand. Some of the pieces we've chosen to share here are rare, superbly finished antiques, while others are more humble objects, but still charming and full of character. No matter their provenance, carefully selecting and using  vintage, antique or handmade desk accessories is clearly more fulfilling--and not necessarily more expensive--than using a mass-produced plastic or base metal ones from a big box office supply store. 

A 19th C Chinoiserie lacquer letter rack

A set of stacking stationery trays from Parvum Opus, available in various sizes

What's important here is the careful attention paid to the objects you decide worthy of a place in your home. Once you decide on a style and a set of features that suit your needs, you can use your curatorial ingenuity to bring character and elegance to every aspect of your decor, not just your desk.  Even as the products available for purchase in chain and specialty stores become increasingly homogenous, the internet makes it easier than ever to locate or commission unique letter sorters, stationery organizers, and other desk accessories. A quick search for images of antique letter racks or writing boxes will yield many thousands of exquisite pieces. It will inspire you, but beware: you might just find yourself unable to limit yourself to just one desk!

For more information on our work, we invite you to email us at: info@parvumopus.com or visit our bindery's  website, www.parvumopus.com

A Petite Letter Sorter from Parvum Opus



Portable Writing Box, Vizagapatan, India, 1850-1880

A Victorian woman's writing box

 

 

 

 



Anatomy of a Well-Dressed Desk, Part 1: The Desk Blotter

A well-appointed desk can make working and corresponding a pleasure.  Today, I'm beginning a series detailing some of the elements that can make your desk, no matter how grand or small, both functional and beautiful.

The Desk Blotter

 



An open design desk blotter from our bindery, Parvum Opus



When dip pens and fountain pens were the writing tool of choice, the desk blotter was a ubiquitous and important tool. Written references to ink blotting paper in the United States date back to the early 18th century, but it wasn't until the 1850s, when Joseph Parker and Son began manufacturing blotting paper, that it came into widespread use. 

From the Collections of the Whitney Library, New Haven, CT

Nineteenth century antique and vintage desk blotters, especially those made in the 1930s and 1940s, are coveted by collectors. With the invention of the more efficient but less elegant ballpoint pen in the 1950s, the use of desk blotters began to wane. The popularization of the modernist aesthetic and glamorous streamlining also must surely have played a part in the turning away from traditional (backwards-looking)  handcrafted (old fashioned) household goods.

An early 20th century desk set by Tiffany & Co.

 

A fine desk blotter provides a functional and aesthetic for your desktop composition, as well as a comfortable, functional writing surface. First and foremost, it protects your desk from ink and marks that can push into its surface from pressing your pen too hard, no matter what type of pen you favor. It also provides a smooth and comfortable writing surface, preventing any texture or color from your desk top from marring the back of your writing paper. There are several desk blotter styles available through our bindery and others, and I've included some images here. Leather blotters are still being expertly produced today by both Hermes and Smythson, and with a bit of searching, one can find handsome antique examples through Christie's and other online auction sites. 

 

The two most common desk blotter designs are the open blotter and the double hinged closed blotter. The open design features a broad blotting paper surface finished with decorative corner pieces or vertical panels at the right and left edges. Double hinged desk blotters tend to be smaller in size, but allow for a tidy presentation when not in use. They also serve as a mini-desk when space or circumstances don't allow for a dedicated desk top. The double hinged blotters from Parvum Opus have convenient pockets for stashing stamps and stationery, a feature I haven't seen in other blotters. Our 6" x 9" Petite Desk Blotter is an unusually small piece, but functions beautifully in small apartments, dorm rooms or on any small table, allowing for elegant correspondence even in the smallest spaces. 



Top: a closed double hinged desk blotter from Parvum Opus
Bottom:  a petite 6" x 9" desk blotter from Parvum Opus
 





Working and corresponding at a desk equipped with a handsome desk blotter is a pleasure, full of the warmth and humanity of the generations of letter writers who came before us. It provides a beautiful framework for the act of writing, a stage for putting our thoughts down on paper, and, most importantly, makes us more awake to small but wonderful everyday activities. 

For more information on our work, we invite you to email us at: info@parvumopus.com or visit our bindery's website, www.parvumopus.com

Chiyogami Paper

A notepad folio from our bindery, covered in Japanese Chiyogami paper

At our bindery, we use some of the finest papers made in the world today.  One of these beautiful materials is known as Chiyogami, a hand silk-screened paper made in Japan. The word Chiyogami is a combination of two words: chiyo, or, thousand generations, and gami, paper.  Amazingly, this paper has been made in Japan for hundreds of years, first appearing in the Edo period, from 1603-1868, when Japan was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family.  It was an era deeply invested in environmental protection and the creation and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. Today, these papers are still made with the highest regard fro craftsmanship by a collection of small, family-run studios in Japan. They are expensive to use, but when one considers the quality of design and fabrication, and the importance of sustaining this historic, centuries-old tradition, they're worth every penny.

 

Japanese Waves Chiyogami

The many thousands of beautiful patterns of chiyogami paper were inspired by traditional kimono patterns which incorporate naturalistic and geometric forms representing beauty, long life and good fortune. The fabrication process has evolved through the generations, but is still a laborious process relying on the expertise of highly skilled craftspeople.  Originally printed by woodblock, these papers are now hand silk-screened using a mixture of sulphite and kozo. For each color and pattern layer in the complex chiyogami patterns, a new screen must be hand-registered, printed and dried. 

Blue Mum Chiyogami



Mint Japanese Chiyogami

It is a paper of incredible quality and durability, making it perfect for use in bookbinding and other paper goods. Perhaps with a renewed interest in beautifully made materials and in handmade goods in general, we can resuscitate some of the Edo period principles for our own time. A deep investment in environmental protection and the popular enjoyment of the fine and decorative arts seems more critical than ever.

A Traveller's Picture Frame by Parvum Opus, with Mint Japanese Chiyogami and red Italian book cloth

If you'd like to see more examples of our desk accessories using Chiyogami paper, we invite you to visit:  http://www.parvumopus.com or email us at info@parvumopus.com.

To see a wide selection of Chiyogami paper designs, I cheerfully recommend Paper Mojo, a fantastic online supplier of fine decorative papers: 

http://www.papermojo.com/Chiyogami-Katazome_c_81.html



Inspirational Desks

George Bernard Shaw's Desk

Jane Austen's Writing Table

Vita Sackville-West's desk at Sissinghurst
  

Today, for your viewing and contemplating pleasure, I present the beautiful and inspiring desks of 3 famous writers, and one unknown one.  Like many of you, (judging by the incredibly high occurence of these images on Google...!) I find these images to be dense with warmth and humanity. What is it about these arrangements of desks and objects that resonates for us when most of our communications take place electronically?

I find that these special spaces have even more meaning now, perhaps because of their scarcity, perhaps because they represent a more physical connection between people than is the norm in contemporary life. Although less common, the act of sitting at a beautiful desk (or at a tiny table as in the case of Jane Austen!) to thoughtfully compose a note to a dear friend or loved one is still a deeply fulfilling one. The simple act of putting pen to paper seems so much more poingnant now, and I'm convinced that my poor handwriting adds a certain sincere tone impossible to attain with emoticons in a text or email. 

My 19thC French Writing desk

Above is a view of one of my desks (I am of the opinion that there should be a desk in every room!).  I collect antique desk accessories, and in this photo, some of my prized and well used possessions are visible:  an early 19th century English writing box, a 19th Century Sterling and crystal inkwell, an early 19th century ivory and silver magnifier, and my writing companion, an antique ivory netsuke.  At the center is a petite desk blotter made by our bindery, which suits this small space perfectly,with pockets to hold my stamps and notes, and which folds closed when not in use. To the left of the blotter, a small arrangement of flowers is barely visible, which is, like my desk accessories, a critical aesthetic ingredient to thoughtful writing. Even if the only flowers available are weeds from the garden, I find having a small posy at my desk to be a pleasing experience, and selecting and arranging the flowers every few days hints at the fruitful correspondence to come.   

If you have photos of you own writing desk to share, please email them to info@parvumopus.com and I'll include them here.

If you'd like more information on custom desk accessories by our bindery, Parvum Opus, we invite you to email us at info@parvumopus.com or visit our main website: www.parvumopus.com 

The Ruffnerian's Desk

Parvum Opus thanks Mark D. Ruffner for sharing this photo of his exquisite roll top desk-- inspirational, indeed!  I'd also like to enthusiastically recommend his blog, All Things Ruffnerian, A Design Blog and More.  The "more" is an understatement-- I'm behind on my work because I've been so happily distracted by reading posts on topics as varied as antique ephemera, Napoleon, Eames, Il Papiro... the list goes on and on. Below I've included a link to a wonderful post on a painting by Mr. Ruffner's father.... enjoy, and prepare yourselves for the inevitable but thoroughly worthwhile distraction!

http://allthingsruffnerian.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-anatomy-of-family-painting.html#comment-form

On William Morris

William Morris famously said: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."  Morris, the English artist and writer, is widely considered to be the father of the Arts and Crafts movement, which began in England in the second half of the nineteenth century. Reacting against the shoddy machine-made goods produced in the industrial revolution, proponents of this influential movement championed the quality of design and craftsmanship that comes with hand crafted goods. We believe very strongly in Morris' sentiment-- it seems that although we apparently have more choice than ever in the types of objects available to us, (more often than not, these "choices" are defined by what's easiest and cheapest to manufacture...) we find our homes cluttered with homogenous, disposable, mass produced things.

We seldom have connections with the people who produce the things we use every day, and, as a result, we disregard many of the things that we live with most closely and use most often. Cicero reminds us, "Things grow familiar to men's minds by being so often seen; so that they neither admire nor are inquisitive into the things they daily see." Perhaps if they were made by artisans and were carefully constructed of fine materials, we'd not only enjoy the experience of using them more, but we'd be more awake to the aesthetic experiences that can come along with beautiful, useful objects.

It seems to us, that where there is a direct, meaningful connection between the public and artists/craftspeople, there is also an opportunity for a richer, more colorful everyday experience for both the artists like us who enjoy making useful things, and the person who uses those things. Perhaps William Morris and the arts & crafts proponents more than a century ago had the right idea. Today, however ironically, technology makes it not only possible but simple for the public to connect with artists and craftspeople. We hope that when you have the opportunity, you'll consider bringing handmade things into your home. 

For more information on our work at Parvum Opus, we invite you to email us at: info@parvumopus.com or visit our bindery's website, www.parvumopus.com

In est sua gratia parvis: even little things have a charm of their own

The Elements of Style, Illustrated by Maira Kalman.
Image courtesy NPR.org

On the Definition of Parvum Opus

For our studio, we chose this Latin term describing a tiny or diminutive work of art, the opposite of the magnum opus if you will, or great work of art. You may recognize the term from the introduction that E.B. White wrote for the 1979 edition of "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. As White wrote, this book "was Will Strunk's parvum opus, his attempt to cut the vast triangle of English rhetoric down to size and write its rules and principles on the head of a pin." 

My favorite edition of this jewel of a book is the one illustrated by Maira Kalman.

For an NPR interview with Kalman, click on the kink below and enjoy!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4985137


For more information on our Parvum Opus, we invite you to email us at: info@parvumopus.com or visit the bindery's website, www.parvumopus.com