Hasta La Ideas

A little while back this beautiful book was given to me by a super friendly Canadian lady, Corinne Suchy, Vice-President & Editor Online for Chapters Indigo Canada.

A little while back she was visiting Singapore and we tried to meet up but unfortunately we weren't able to. But Corinne and I are currently chatting about possible projects between Chapters Indigo and Bloesem. Will keep you posted of course… hopefully I am able to show you something next week already… 

But today I would like to tell you a bit more about this book Undecorated by Christiane Lemieux. The founder, designer and creative brains behind Dwell Studio, an interior design label. I had only seen some pics of the cover of the book before so I was super delighted to see it in real.

Corinne thought with me being a person who is not so much into 'set-rules' for decorating, but more loving characteristic an personal approaches when it comes to decorating this would be the perfect book for and and she couldn't be more right… I absolutely love the book and was really eager to hear a bit more from the author, Christiane Lemieux, about the why's and how's of this book so I asked her a couple of questions and she happily replied… click here for the interview.

Answers by Christiane Lemieux

What do you mean by Undecorate…and what do you like about it?

Undecorate is how I describe what I see happening in interior design righ tnow. I think this movement is multi-factoral in its genesis. First, there is the advent of the design blog. Interior design, design media and publishing is all of the sudden in the hands of everyone.  People who are not professionals in the strict sense – are writing, designing and sharing ideas.  The result is amazing, innovative, organic and personal. Hence Undecorate. Secondly, People are also thinking of their spaces less at something to start and finish. Homeowners are constantly tweaking and refining their homes. Your home, your personal space is a path not a place -ie: your child's room is constantly changing as their lives change.  The family spaces evolve too. Like your life- things are constantly transitioning and peoples homes reflect that. They also share those changes and stages on line. To decorate has a start and a finish.  It's static. Undecorating is constant and fluid. Lastly,  I think the advent of socialmedia – discussing and sharing design ideas has changed the way we think about our spaces.  You can now create a mood-board, send it to your friends and have them comment.  Design has become something collaborative. Its an amazing change from decorator driven content.

Which house inside Undecorate could have been your home too?

My home is in the book.  I have a very open, casual relaxed loft in NewYork.  I am an undecorator. I am always playing and changing my home. In fact I am in the process of painting my kitchen black and changing my wallpaper. Something as simple as moving around your furniture can make ahuge difference. If I could choose another – it would be Erica Tanov's inBerkeley. It's gorgeous, casual, easy and perfectly undecorated.

What influence did the making of this book have on designing your new collections?

I think I have always adhered to the idea that people should live with what they love and mix it up.  At DwellStudio we like to give our customers the tools to create this relaxed, sophisticated, casual look with pieces that mix and match well together or with the things that our customers already have.  We just finished our first furniture line and it is very much in this spirit. Everything stands alone as an item but everything can be mixed.

What do you hope readers will experience from Undecorate?

I hope they will see a whole new world of interior design.  I hope it will empower them to take design risks, live with what they love and create a personal home.

Will there be a next book? Yes!  I am working on it already.

Thank you Thank you very much Corinne and Christiane for collaborating with me on this post. Like i said I just really like this book, it's fresh, warm and it gave me many ideas for my own home! You can buy it here and see the beautiful  Dwell Studio collection here.

All images are taken by me, Irene.