DREAM WEAVERS
For three generations, the Frey family has created innovative fabrics and wallpapers. Today, it is also custodian of several esteemed French fabric houses.
THE PARIS WINTER WEATHER may be dreary, but inside the Pierre Frey Tissus Inspirés (Inspired Fabrics) exhibition, the atmosphere is anything but dull. Displayed on the first floor of the Musée des Arts décoratifs during Maison & Objet, 80 years’ worth of fabric and wallpaper designs from the prestigious fabric house dazzles the eye with a wild array of colour and pattern. Lush jungle flora collides with graphic ellipses; naïve 1950s prints — from schools of fish to baskets of overflowing fruit — team with wild animal prints; and quirkily illustrated motifs of tea cups, feathers and vintage-style winter skiers look right at home alongside a luxurious jacquard of Aboriginal artist Gracie Morton Ngale’s Bush Plum Dreaming. “We’re very eclectic,” says Pierre Frey Junior, grandson of the original founder. “It’s what makes us different.” Still family-owned, the Paris-based company has been run by Pierre’s father, Patrick, as creative director for more than 40 years. He and his brothers — Vincent, now chief executive, and Matthieu, responsible for sales in the Far East — are intricately involved. Pierre Frey’s captivating diversity each season owes much to Patrick’s mantra: ‘creativity is daring, and daring is creativity’. “It’s how our grandfather started the identity of the brand and it’s how our father has carried on its spirit,” says Pierre. “From the beginning, we’ve always worked with the best materials. New Zealand wool, Indian cotton, French linen and Thai silk are all shipped to our factories in the north of Paris where our collections are made.” Each fabric or wallpaper is created using old and new techniques: handand ink-jet screen printing; plain, damask, brocatelle and jacquard weaving; hand-strung and automated looms; and, for some limited-edition pieces, the use of artisanal hand embroidery. Tradition makes way for innovation, too, and the company has acquired various prestigious textile firms to add to the Pierre Frey stable, including Braquenié, Lauer, Fadini-Borghi and Boussac, for which Pierre himself created his first high-tech collection, shown at Maison & Objet. Le Manach, one of the last French fabric houses to produce silks and velvets on a 19th-century hand loom, was added in 2013. ››
‹‹ The breadth of Pierre Frey’s collections also owes much to the house’s collaborations with leading artists, from Jean Chatanay in the 1930s through to ’50s American pop artist Ken Scott and, most recently, Paris-based graffiti artist Toxic (Torrick Ablack). “It brings something a little different that makes us unique and in the moment,” says Pierre. “We will keep trying new things, never afraid to break new ground.”
It brings something a little different that makes us unique... We will keep trying new things... to break new ground”