Author: Design & Culture by Ed

Les Jardins d’Étretat

| Design & Culture by Ed

Les Jardins d’Étretat is a magic place which, as if by the wave of the hand, has appeared at Falaise d’Amont cliffe, at Seine Maritine. These gardens enjoy spectacular views over the ancient town and one of the world’s most beautiful cliffs, Falaise d’Aval, with its famous L’Aiguille gushing from the ocean. The gardens and the villa were founded more than a hundred years ago by Madame Thébault, a famous actress at the beginning of the 20th century. Inspired by the ideas of Claude Monet, who lived in Étretat for some time and was a keen gardener, she decided to create her own, gorgeous garden. Today, The Gardens are a venue for permanent and transitory exhibtions by international artists. Works of Samuel Salcedo (the brilliant faces placed in Le Jardin Émotions), Wiktor Szostało and Sergey Catran are here, among many others. If you’re in Normandy by car, you can’t miss this charming place.

Photos by Edward Kanarecki.

Tuinch

| Design & Culture by Ed

Every so often a label appears out of nowhere that piques my interest. This happened with Tuinch, a brand I’ve discovered while browsing Moda Operandi’s trunkshows last season. I fell in love with it at the first sight – and you will, too. Founder Veronique Vermussche is a passionate knitter, spending much of her free time creating elaborate sweaters and other garments. She combines this passion with her other ones: fashion and travel. The story of Tuinch started quite by coincidence. Traveling home from a vacation in the Himalayas, Veronique’s flight got delayed and she found warmth and comfort wrapping herself in a cashmere scarf bought from a local artisan. This way Veronique fell in love with cashmere, the beloved material that feels likes silk, but warms like lamb wool. The idea grew to develop a cashmere-only knitwear line. Back home she started working on her first collection, autumn-winter 2016, and travelled back extensively to the Himalayas to understand all aspects of the Asian cashmere tradition and to source the finest wool and discover the best artisans. Tuinch’s collections combine an artistic vision with elegant silhouettes. They are truly innovative by revisiting cashmere in not so classic designs we often see in stores and from other brands. The Antwerp-based label is about to release two new capsule collections for autumn-winter season. One is more bold and playful, with an energetic colour palette and knitted, three-dimensional bees (!) stuck on the sleeves. The other capsule is equally artisan, but more suited for, let’s say, beautiful mountain trips or escapes to the country. Those earthy shades used in oversized cardigans, ponchos and turtlenecks look too good. Not speaking of all the timeless, tartan plaids… I tell you, keep Tuinch on your radar when colder days come. Here are the knits that will serve for years!

Discover the brand here.

All collages by Edward Kanarecki.

Trouville’s Addresses

| Design & Culture by Ed

Wherever you go in Trouville-Sur-Mer, there’s a view on the ocean (or you at least feel this fresh, iodine-filled breeze). So no there’s no wonder that the locals are truly connected to their surroundings. That’s reflected in the town’s boutiques, which mix this kind of surfer girl allure with the eternally timeless, quintessentially French style (when you come to Normandy, you will discover that in fact, all that Frenchness in fashion isn’t entirely a cliché – those women are born with this gorgeous style). Here are my favourite addresses in Trouville:

 

When you enter Chez Stef, you feel like in a wardrobe of a very chic party-goer, who lives near the beach. Stef, the owner of the boutique, sells well-curated, beautiful, artinasal goods from Ibiza (think Loewe x Paula’s Ibiza style), as well as her owns designs. I witnessed how Trouville women adore her kaftans and parachute dresses: they all got sold out within an hour. When in town, you’ve got to visit Stef!

11 rue de Paris 35

Boheme is where you get the French classics, which seem to be fantastically sun-drenched already there, in-store (loved all the mustard and rust colour palette). The store sells small,affordable Made-in-France-tag labels, as well as blankets, pillow, cotton bags and artisanal baskets. Love.

93 rue des Bains

La Quincaillerie d’Albertine feels like a cabinet des curiosités, where you can buy everything you see. From hand-made stationery (notebooks, postcards) to socks (got a crab-printed pair by Royalties), you won’t leave this place with empty hands.

78 rue des Bains

If you’re a fan of vintage, you can’t miss Violette Vintage. While vintage luxury fashion tends to get overpriced, here you will be surprised to find Louis Vuitton kints, Hermès silks and Yves Saint Laurent coats in very appealing prices. The store’s funky (yes, I used this word!) interior takes you to another decade.

12 rue Victor-Hugo

(Mum and Stef from Chez Stef)

All photos by Edward Kanarecki.