A Year in the French Style

Maison Lescot—the historic residence in Port-Louis, Brittany, of an eighteenth-century Indian trading company importer—seemed predestined to become the new home and restoration project for the creative duo behind Antoinette Poisson, a Parisian workshop dedicated to reviving the savoir faire of domino paper for home decoration and furnishings. The two art historians were seduced by the poetic beauty of this artisanal craft—derived from an Indian block print technique—when they uncovered original hand-painted eighteenth-century domino wallpaper while restoring a mansion in central France.

Enchanted by the repeat-pattern domino prints—which range from florals and fauna to geometric and ikat—they have appointed their new home with the charming decorative touches that are their signature— handmade lampshades, wallpaper lined armoires, paper-mâché marriage boxes, assorted table settings, and luxurious textiles.

Celebrating the rhythm of life in France, they bring readers on adventures—shopping at the local market, antiquing, mushroom hunting, sheeps cheese making, and textile dying—and share classic seasonal French meals inspired by antique cookbooks, served-up on hand-dyed indigo tablecloths or on nautical striped throws for a seaside picnic. They also include creative insight from their style icon friends, like American decoupage artist John Derian. This exquisitely photographed book is a celebration of authentic French style.