Let's talk about clichés.

When I hear someone use the word cliché the notion I get is usually a negative one. Or at least one of disappointment: "Oh this is soooo cliché!" And YES, a cliché is something that has been seen/heard/talked about over and over again in a certain context.
But I personally love clichés. They reflect a tiny part of an undeniable truth. You just don't have to take them too literal and with a bit of wink.

So in all my past shared flats I heard the phrase: "Oh you can be sooo German sometimes!" quite often. That was usually the case when we had big flat parties or dinners and I insisted on cleaning up (at least the nastiest bits) before going to bed. Since I don't like waking up and having to clean up after other people, I am always trying to make sure nobody has to clean up after me. So in this situation the cliché for my former flat mates was that Germans are tidy, neat (which I am really not when it comes to my own things) and have to do so in a timely fashion. I take that as a rather  positive cliché. The other side of the medal however is that tidy, neat and time concerned people are not considered very laid back, but rather un-relaxed. I am sure the sentence "Oh you can be sooo German sometimes!" would have sounded a lot less reproachful if I had simply left everything that night and cleaned up the next day. But hey! nobody is perfect, right?!

But let's talk about the good kind of clichés. I find them amusing. They help to categorize and deal with certain circumstances that can be otherwise quite frustrating. Living in France I find myself very often in situations that make me feel uneasy. When I ask my boyfriend why cetain things are handled the way they are and he has no satisfying answer he says: "Well, that's just the way it is done in France!" So I put it aside. It is a (general) French thing. I can't change all of France and all the French. I got to live with it.

And then there is those beautiful French things. The ones that make you laugh, like the old guy on his bike wearing a stripped shirt and two baguettes under the arm as soon as you cross the French boarder.

Or wonderful croissants and maccarons in every French bakery you pass...

But what about design, lifestyle and architecture? When thinking of France my first answers would be:

Design - Stark

lifestyle - chic French women (a lot more than French men)

architecture - Paris vs. the Mediterranean (Provence, Côte d'Azure, Alpes Maritimes...)

All of them I would label as extraordinary chic but never over the top. This means that I love the richness of details in one aspect of all things French, but then at the same time an understatement in another.

Like this cake: WOW....spectacular details, but very tuned down in color... so really not that flashy. Brilliant!

And to show you what I mean, I started compiling a Pinterest board on what I think is FRENCH CLICHÉ ... all those beautiful things that I associate with France and French lifestyle. 

What do you think? Anything missing?

*W*O*W* exhibition coming up - preparing an event.

I am very exited to be invited to exhibit at *W*O*W* Creative Market in Hyéres, Côte d'Azure in December... and I am already preparing different collections. Have a look (and find them @ www.LaNiqueHOME.etsy.com) :

Interiors for my products -

When I create my products I have a certain type of interior in mind. The beautiful thing about the ready product is, of cause, that people see it and see it in another light.

But to give you an idea what I was envisioning....here an example: Now wouldn't that fit?

Interiors by 'The Brooklyn Home Company'
Mobile by 'LaNiqueHOME'

So feminine...

...but not girly.
Earthy and yet elegant without pushing the Bling-bling-button.

1. art card, the green leaves by mapetitepapeterie
2. Rustic Wedding Boutonniere by Fairyfolk
3. Green leaf earrings by BeautySpot
4. Terrarium Print by amberalexander
5. Rustic Vase Birch Bark by jadenrainspired
6. ruffled collar dress by Ananya
7. Woodland wedding dish by LaNiqueHOME

I thought I'll give 'moodboarding' another chance.

A collection of things that will rock your style all year long, but got particularly well together.

   1) Holla iphone 4 Cover Case

   2) Hey Fun Calling Cards

   3) mobile hand-painted on ceramic tiles

   4) Enchantment Dress

   5) Birch bark cuff bracelet

   6) Blue geo drop earrings

   7) Tom Sawyer's Chair

Enjoy....and share if you liked this!

Minimalism in January

Clear lines.
Pure white.
A glint of gold.
A passionate splash of red.
An elegant foundation of navy blue.

>>>All of these wonderful products can be found on Etsy.com under: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTU4NDY5OTV8MTkwNzE3MDMwOQ/minimalism-jan12?index=0

Finding home...in France. Part 1: Finding a place to stay.

After having lived in so many different English speaking countries I have arrived this year in France.
As in any country where you don't speak the language, the most ordinary his in your daily live can become an almost insuperable obstacle.
So here what I learned along the way in this past year in France.

Part 1: Finding a place to stay.

Without an income (and I mean a really good income) it is almost impossible to get a flat for yourself in Paris. A one bedroom flat of 33m² for 1300€, excluding all bills, is standard. We therefore decided to go for a shared flat or house where my boyfriend and I would share a room but would be able to 'escape' each other in the common areas.
And yes we found one. The greatest one there was, so much in advance, but the way to get there was rather  complicated in comparison to my experiences in the UK.

There is several websites specialised in flat-sharing or "colocation" as they say in France. I was a bit shocked that you have to pay in order to get the contact details. But that's the way it is here. The real estate market is one of the biggest hotspots in Paris so in order to have just truly interested people according to the conditions stated: you have to pay. Depending on the site it's something like 2€/day or ~25€ for 10days.
We went with appartager.com and found what we were looking for. After viewing dozens of ads and just as many phone calls, we got selected for interviews and got lucky in the end to be chosen by the flatmates.

The landlord required us to give absolute disclosure about our income revenue and on top to produce a warrantor who would sign and commit to pay in case we wouldn't. We chose to go with my boyfriends dad, just because it was easier than producing all documents in French instead of having to translate German ones.