Present Joys Featured Guest: Maude Paquette-Boulva of Studio Paquette
This week we welcome Maude Paquette-Boulva, designer and art director, to share her own present joys with us.
Maude Paquette-Boulva is a Montreal-based designer, art director and owner of Studio Paquette. Through our various studio chats and collaborations, we have grown to admire her impeccable taste as well as the ease with which she approaches both work and life. It has been an absolute delight getting to know Maude and we hope you enjoy her thoughtful reflections as much as we did.
Slow Summer Days
Being self-employed, I like to go with whatever flow gets defined by current projects. I enjoy their unpredictability and how they unknowingly manage to stretch or compress time to accommodate each other, or sometimes my own need for space. These past few weeks have welcomed the latter and given me time to enjoy Montreal’s warmer days. I’ve been going to the market a lot where local produce and florals have made their way to their permanent summer stalls. Current favorites are Homefield Farm’s purple tulips and Miette’s sourdough bread (paired with fresh heirloom tomatoes).
Softedge
I love discovering new brands and this past month’s standout is the Australian ceramics company Softedge. My appreciation for them goes beyond their products (which I incidentally don’t own) and stems from the pleasure my brain gets from perusing their photography. I love everything from the shapes, textures, and colors to the overall art direction and curated environments. I highly recommend following on Instagram for a weekly intake of brightly colored eye-candy.
Piet Oudolf
I recently found out about Piet Oudolf, the landscape architect behind the gardens of New York’s Highline or Copenhagen’s Noma (to name the only two I’d seen in person). I ordered the book ‘Piet Oudolf At Work’ and have been fascinated by the artist’s profound sense of observation to achieve such natural-looking environments. Regardless of the season, the gardens evolve in harmony with each plant’s life cycle, creating an ever-changing painting of perennials.
Bixi
While many cities enjoy year-round bike weather, mine does not. Montreal removes its Bixi stations (think Citibike / Lime / Bird / [insert latest startup]) in November and reinstalls them in the spring to allow snow clearing of the streets. Although I could get one of my own, I love using public bicycles for the freedom they offer. Nested between the Saint-Lawrence River and Lachine Canal, the south side of Montreal has amazing bike paths and is the ideal spot for waterfront picnics (tips for tourists and locals alike). I keep thinking I’ll get over how much joy Bixis bring me but we’re now two months in and I’m still constantly talking about them. (I’ll stop, I swear.)
Tomato Red
Lastly, I’ve been somewhat fixated on the color red and wanted to share my favorite applications as of late. [1] The Poster Club’s red wood frame. [2] The Frama x Dry Studio collaboration cutting board. [3] Apohli’s Typo collection. [4] John Zabawa’s ‘Tomatoes for J.G.’.
A few more joys from Joyce and Michelle...
Plates of Pastries The epic dessert platters of Mexico City’s Contramar has me inspired for my next bake sale.
This quote "Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we're living, which is so excellent once one gets one's mine and desires out of its way and lets it act of its own accord." –John Cage
Trudon Excited to pop into Trudon's newest LA store.
Book Haul Greedily indulged in a new stack of reads on a recent trip to Vroman’s including: Yellowface, Art on My Mind, and Korea: A New History of South & North.
Beaded Landscapes Making my traveler’s heart melt and 90’s beaded nostalgia explode with these landscapes.
Toast Racks The most British housewarming gift you can get besides a kettle. Pure joy!
Hard Soft Edges Perfectly imperfect ceramics.
Live Slow, Die Cozy Not particularly looking forward to driving again, but maybe this will help.