Last week I had the pleasure of
meeting with Samantha Heard, the Senior Project Manager with de Gournay, and
the New England representative Michelle Arsenault for Webster and Company,
located at the Boston Design Center. For those who are unfamiliar, de Gournay
Wallcovering is rich in history. The company was founded in 1986 by Claude
Cecil Gurney in the efforts to search for artisans to restore the antique
wallpaper in his own home. He had realized that this sort of restoration was a
lost art. Traveling to China he sought out artists whose families had
generations of experience, thus creating de Gournay, a design firm best known
for its incredible and luxurious hand-painted wallcoverings.
The company has showrooms spanning
from New York, Europe and China. These hand-painted murals are created today by
artisans who have more than fifteen years of training. The wallcoverings, which
I had the pleasure of viewing were created on different unusual backgrounds
such as silk and metallics. Some of these panels incorporated hand-stitching to
enhance the dimension of the mural. It is fascinating to see the eclectic
images that appear on each mural. I had asked Samantha how long it takes to
create one panel. She had told me that sometimes it takes over a hundred hours
with several artisans working on just one panel. Truly in my opinion de Gournay
murals are timeless, elegant and sophisticated, and if you are lucky enough to
incorporate them in your home you are actually owning a fine piece of art.
My many thanks to de Gournay,
Samantha Heard, Michelle Arsenault and the fine showroom of Webster and Company
for sharing these incredible works, which the Four Walls is honored to show its
clients.
Best,
Always,
Robin
