A Year in the French Style

The founders of Antoinette Poisson take readers inside their historic townhouse on the Atlantic coast to discover a style and art of entertaining rooted in French tradition and elegance. Maison Lescop—the historic residence of an eighteenth-century French importer for the Indian trading company in Port-Louis, Brittany—seemed predestined to become the new home and restoration project for the creative duo behind Antoinette Poisson, a Parisian design team dedicated to reviving the savoir faire of domino paper for home decoration and furnishings. The art historians became enchanted 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, sheep’s cheese making, paper 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 and French musician Clara Luciani.