Happy Friday - Waiting...

image; Le Drap by Bernard Villemot, circa 1950; stephan t for galerie montmartre

....by the phone for news of a certain baby's arrival. Please hurry little guy, this poster's for you. xx

Welcome to Sunny Fitzroy....for the final time...

all images; stephan t for galerie montmartre

The beautiful, magnificent mural in all its glory!

It has been so enjoyable watching this image evolve over the months.

Fitzroy may not be particularly sunny today (good, we need the rain!), but this work of art definitely warms things up a bit.

Congratulations to the Makatron team - you have me looking at Fitzroy in a whole new way.

I really look forward to discovering and documenting your next - postcode 3065 - project.

MM + KK = a gorgeous moment

powerhouse museum images service

photo; Earl Carter via artshub.com.au

image; Self Portrait by Mirka Mora via moragalleries.com.au

Serendipity would be one of my favourite words. When a moment happens in time that feels so right, yet also feels like it naturally fell into place is often rare, which is why I am focussing on a little something that happened over the weekend to my bloggy-friend, Captain KK.

KK was eating out Sunday morning when someone just happened to mention that Mirka Mora (legendary French-born, Melbourne-based artist; who is definitely one of my all-time favourite lovely creatives, I spoke about her here; she is always on my ' imaginary dinner party list' - probably sitting between Mary Magdalene and Obama Barack, opposite Colette and Johnny Depp!) was giving a talk at a nearby pub - actually nearer to me than KK, but that's beside the point (!!) - she grabbed her partner and her little girl and bolted for the door.

See, KK loves MM too. KK loves MM so much that she named her daughter after her!
So little Mirka got to meet big Mirka, not because KK flashed her kid in MM's face, but because the people running the event found it all so gorgeous, they introduced little Mirka to the entire room after big Mirka's talk.

Lo and behold if MM wasn't so thrilled to meet her namesake, that she announced she would be doing a drawing for little Mirka. My heart is beating extra fast just writing that sentence, cause that is sooooo wonderful!! An original Mirka Mora for the original baby Mirka - serendipity!

Well done Captain! You can read KK's account here.

PS. Captain KK - being the generous soul she is - sent me a message, but the event was over by the time I received it....I'm thrilled that her family had such a wonderful opportunity.

Happy Friday - A Fitzroy and Danish Thank-You

The Galmont mailbox has been full of thanks lately and it feels so good.

We received a beautiful certificate and letter from Fitzroy Primary School for the vintage poster we donated to them - you may remember a Happy Friday post about it, here.

And then, Lovely Lina from Denmark, whose home had me enthralled here, sent me a collection of postcards featuring her art-work.

I don't know about you, but I think appreciation - sharing it and receiving it - is so good for the soul.

Thank-you for reading, have a great weekend!

Absolutely Beautiful French Things

image; astor theatre



image; erin slattery for galerie montmartre


image; nanette from rummage via absolutely beautiful things

image; nannette at rummage via absolutely beautiful things

I don't think there would be one person who would not know of Anna at Absolutely Beautiful Things. She is a passionate business owner, Mother and blogger who is sought after by everyone due to her impeccable taste, her unique personal style and her commitment to the blogworld. She was the second blog I read....after Natalie's, then I noticed she featured on every blogroll going - and rightly so, it is a daily joy.

Well, recently Anna serendipitously discovered Nanette's blog and is really enjoying her vignettes which she believes 'envoke an Australian style'. I agree, they're beautiful and they do, but this Francophile's eye was immediately drawn to two things; the corner of a French poster peeping out from behind the bottlebrush and the French carafe sitting stylishly beside the vase. Items that Galmont have plenty of.....

And now, on second reading of the actual post, it seems that Nanette is married to "an odd Frenchman" (her words, not mine!) - so voila - mystery solved!!

House and Garden and Wine and Vintage Posters

image; Soufre Gre by Leon Dupin, 1933 (above sideboard)

i'm fairly sure the office chair is a delicious eames, definitely on the galmont wish-list

this cushion is calling me, it says 'bonne nuit les petits', perfect wine-red on linen

This home belongs to Veronica Webster, and her partner, David, who together run the wine consultancy By The Dozen. As Veronica has said to me in the past there is definite synergy between art and wine.....which is why vintage posters feature in her home, along with some beautiful reminders of France.

Check out 'House and Garden' August 2009 to see this beautifully renovated deco apartment, styled beautifully by Megan Morton and photographed by Jason Busch.....and vintage poster from Galerie Montmartre.

Belorange Happiness - Before and After

before

after

I love a before and after shot....and when that image includes a vintage poster - even better!

These pictures were sent in by Galmont friends, Michelle and Craig of Brisbane. They bought this beautiful Belorange poster, had it framed and shipped to their new home in sunny Queensland. I think this is the perfect Qld image, don't you? And perfectly positioned too.

Wishing you a great week, wherever you are!

Happy Friday - Design:Made:Trade

After having my head in book-work for most of the day (blah...), it was time for some creative inspiration, so I walked down to the Royal Exhibition Buildings (only 5 mins away from Galmont) to look around Design:Made:Trade

I just love being around lovely creatives and I wasn't disappointed. I ran into Pene of the adorable Cottage Industry (thanks for my fingerless gloves, P!), as I looked around the Words and Pictures stand - finding myself some lovely little gift tags - and said congrats to the team at Mattt who are opening their new store in Gertrude st, I remember seeing their bags at the StKilda market many moons ago.

But, of course, it wasn't just the people....although the people part is soooo very important (!)....it was the products. I purposely didn't take much money, but, the little I had bought me a unique necklace made from vintage buttons from hello birthday which was calling my name from the moment I saw it. I laughed as I wondered which necklace suited me from the Layla Starr range - 'damaged goods'? 'dark horse'?! The feedaway also gave me a smile, as I know what it is like to attempt to feed a toddler in a public place, wriggling and squirming and ready for the next adventure - maybe one of these flatpack cardboard, portable highchairs is in order? Victoria Mason was very gracious, showing me her little 'morning tea' stack rings complete with a miniature biscuit and teaspoon. In fact, alot of the pieces included real humour, which was the perfect remedy for a slightly jaded book-keeping shopgirl, like my good self!

If you are after a daily dose of the State of Design festival, then you seriously need to check out The Design Files, cause young Lucy is breaking all records as far as attendance goes in order to keep us up-to-date with what's happening and doing a might fine job, I might add.

Enjoy your weekend!

Would the real Galerie Montmartre please stand up!

galerie montmartre, fitzroy 3065 - july '09

galerie montmartre, paris 75002 - july '09

We had a lovely photo sent to us at Galmont recently - our travelling friends, Eddie, Carolyn and their little one were in Paris and stumbled upon the other Galerie Montmartre!


In the meantime, we have finally got around to adding a little more signage to our place, not long now and the outside will be as gorgeous as the inside! Ooo, we have so many things planned...

Creative Women's Circle - Dearne Herrenberg

images; 1. cwc blog; 2,3,4 mainichi design (the word 'mainichi' means everyday in japanese - something new to add to the vocab!)

It was time to fill the inspiration cup this morning, so off to Creative Women's Circle I went - and of course, was not disappointed. Dearne Herrenberg was the speaker, and a very special one at that given that she founded the organisation. Funnily enough, she didn't really speak about that aspect of things, instead she focussed her discussion on her interior design practice and the evolution into designing and creating jewellery. Fabulous, unique jewellery at that.

Of course, as usual, I sit intrigued and enthusiastic and bursting to ask questions or comment (!), but limit myself to one question to allow our speaker to both speak and others to be heard!! I find it fascinating, as a passionate business owner, to hear of the road others find themselves on, how they balance their personal and professional lives, their creative and business skills - not that I see any of them as being mutually exclusive. I always come away questioning my own practices, commitment, strengths and weaknesses and I love it.

Thanks to Dearne for sharing her story with us and thanks to Tess McCabe for organising another great event.

Happy Friday - Delightful Rainbows

all images; stephan t for galerie montmartre

"Oh these posters make me happy!! It's a colour wheel of delight!!"

This was a comment made on Angela's blog when Boobook saw Galmont for the first time - I absolutely love this quote, it makes me smile everytime I read it. So in honour of Boobook's words and the fact that Petit-Garcon announced this week that he is going to have a 'rainbow party' for his birthday - which is soooo far away I'm not exactly sure why he is thinking about it - here is a delightful rainbow of vintage posters to see us into the weekend.

50 posts!

images of galerie montmartre retail space ; lovely lucy feagins of the design files...can you spot femme et l'homme de montmartre in photo 2?

This is our 50th blog post today!

To those of you who have been in the blogging world for some time, that isn't even the tip of the iceberg, but for this new-bee who has so much to do-bee (ugh, sorry!) 50 posts is a milestone worth celebrating. So I thought it best to show you where it all began...

Natalie Walton is the deputy editor of Real Living magazine, we had contact regarding an article in her magazine, she then mentioned she had a blog and asked if I'd be interviewed for it. I had no idea what a blog was, to be honest, so that night I jumped online to check out Daily Imprint and then after reading every article I noticed Natalie's blog-roll and started jumping onto the links and, as my blog buddy, captain kk says, I descended down 'the rabbit hole' for hours upon hours. I was enthralled, I was thrilled, I was inspired, where had I been all this time?! How did I not know this world existed?!! So, I felt very honoured to be interviewed, you can read it here.

After that I lurked online for a very long time, eventually making contact with Lucy Feagins at The Design Files after reading her blog and thinking Galmont would be a good fit - and we were, and we are, and now we're good mates. You can read Lucy's post on Galmont here.

So, after some deliberation - mainly, will-I-have-the-time-to-devote-to-this-venture kind of deliberating - I thought it was time that I threw my blogging hat into the ring and gave voice to some of what was going on in my head.

I'm so glad I did. This blogging life has been nothing short of fun and I can see myself getting more deeply involved as my confidence builds. I still write as if no-one is reading and always feel a thrill to see a little comment.

To those of you who have read all 50 posts, thank-you so much! To those of you who have popped by for a first-time visit....50 posts isn't too much to catch up on!!

I hope that you continue on the trippy little ride that 'Femme de Montmartre' has been for me so far! x

Swedish Vintage Poster

image; Living Etc June 2009 - photographer & stylist unknown (sorry!)

Living Etc never fails to inspire me, I just love the style of every home they feature. But I feel like I hit the jackpot in June's issue to turn to pg. 91 and see this absolute gem of a vintage poster - an original advertisement for a Swedish newspaper - on the apartment wall of interior designers, Staffan, a Swede and Monique, a Brit, and their toddler. The scale and colours and cutesy image work so beautifully on that wall.

Gorgeous, quirky fun.

Happy Friday - Tricosteril

image; stephan t for galerie montmartre

We sold this little beauty today. I love him so, but was pleased to see my cute friend go to a great home - a beautiful, rare, fun vintage poster by the great master, Raymond Savignac.

Have a fabulous weekend, folks!

Emmanuel's Gift

image; melanie & emmanuel's birthday bliss, taken by stephan t for galerie montmartre

Something lovely happened at Galmont over the weekend.

Very thoughtful and romantic gentleman (!), Emmanuel, organised a surprise birthday gift for his wife. Under his instruction we put the Bally Blonde by Villemot on the wall with a simple little message, 'Happy Birthday, Melanie - lots of love, Emmanuel'. He then brought Melanie into the retail space...

Unfortunately the only person to witness the tears of joy was L'Homme but he had the good sense to take a photo for us all to share in the gift-giving happiness.

Happy Birthday, Melanie, hope it was a really special day for you!