discovered!

not one to do things by halves, we rustled up a little 'je ne sais quoi' in paris, and received the prestigious Maison et Objet 'Les Découvertes' award for our efforts!  hand picked by esteemed french interior designer, Florence Deau...  "as member of the jury for Le Prix Découvertes, I once more had the pleasure of been chosen by paris fair Maison & Objet to select the best design project from the interior decoration sector (Côté Déco Actuel).  Les Découvertes (i.e. the discoveries) rewards the most impressive new products created by newcomers to the scene.  I chose to award the distinction to the australian designer Loz Abberton for Grandeliers – an astonishing and beautiful collection of flat-pack pendant lights and lamps made of future-friendly materials."   the fluent can listen to Florence explain her choice on the video, the rest can just enjoy the lovely accent and then take a look at her gorgeous blog for a generous feature on our lumières.   vive le grandeliers!

cracking the coconut

imminent is our debut in the land of love and light...  epicentre of style and fashion...  home of exquisite cheeses...  provenance of champagne.  first stop: little india.  armed with coconuts, we're skipping the louvre this sunday in favour of birthday celebrations for the great Ganesha.  we've been advised that the kaleidoscopic hindu festival, Ganesh Chaturthi, offers an opportunity to "pray for inner strength and success in all your undertakings..." (oui, s'il vous plaît!), and to smash some coconuts - "the shell symbolises the illusion of the world, the flesh is the individual’s karma, and the milk the human ego".

photo: Crikette Guilimaux

paris by numéros

hours until Maison et Objet opens: 356
visitors expected: 85,000
other exhibitors: 3000
compatriots: 1 (hello mud australia!)
number of french words i can string together coherently: to be debated...

maison et objet

after 6 weeks of holding our breaths for a decision can somebody please pass the brown paper bags? the grandeliers are going to paris! beaming into maison et objet this 7-11 september.