The Tamesis
That night, I returned to Paris and took advantage of the late night hours at the Fondation Cartier, which had just reopened. I have been lucky enough to study and visit Paris many times, so I always prioritize temporary exhibitions and openings. While the institution houses some of the greatest works of contemporary art, I was particularly interested in Jean Nouvel’s architectural transformation of the foundation’s cavernous hall, which was once home to the 19th-century department store Grands Magasins du Louvre.
Day 2: Rive Droite Essentials, Rich Art Deco and Antiques Evening
The next morning I walked to Rue du Mail, one of the busiest streets in the Déco Off, lined with patterned lanterns, and visited my personal must-sees: Sahco and Samuel & Sons. Since leading Scandinavian textile supplier Kvadrat acquired Sahco in 2018, the German fabric company has developed one of the most interesting products on the market, thanks in no small part to creative director Bengt Thornefors. Thornefors, who co-founded beloved Swedish bedding brand Magniberg and has worked extensively in fashion design for companies such as Saint Laurent and Acne Studios, not only produces some of the most unique color combinations, but his fabrics are equally suitable for interiors and apparel. Sahco’s presentations often pay homage to Thornefors’ fashion background, whether showing fabrics on garment bags or cowboy boots.
A few doors down, I stopped at Samuel & Sons, a family-owned gold jewelry company based in New York. Their fringes, braids, borders and fringes are ubiquitous in the projects of the world’s top designers, many of whom collaborate with them on collections. This year they launched the Romaunt collection in collaboration with one of my favorite people, Martin Brudnizki, who draws inspiration from Pre-Raphaelite Romanticism and art.
Not far from Samuel & Sons is the studio of Pierre Frey, the godfather of French textiles, wallpapers and carpets. After walking through the Little Tokyo neighborhood (with my favorite treats like matcha and azuki bean dorayaki from Tomo – thank me later), I visited three of the company’s new collections. As I became more entrenched in the design world, perhaps what struck me most was how massive the new collection was. In the fashion world, there may be anywhere from 20 to 100 looks, and a design brand can easily produce hundreds of designs in multiple colors (especially Pierre Frey). The headline collection for 2026 is “Jardin à la française”, which ranges from more abstract garden path geometries to captivating prints based on Le Nôtre’s original sketches for the gardens of Marly and Versailles (stored in the French National Archives). Meanwhile, Mémoires Colorées was born out of the close friendship between Patrick Frey (now the head of Pierre Frey) and the Belgian artist and paper sculptor Isabelle de Borchgrave. Before her death in 2024, the two conceived a vibrant collection based on her artwork and studio, which was also recreated in one of Pierre Frey’s Left Bank showrooms.
