Le Pain

Another for the collection! This one comes with the names in french and english. It was part of my little spread talking about Nouvelles Images you can see here

We can see:

*Cornetti 

*"Tabatière" 

*Pain auvergnat (Auvergne loaf)

*Pain blanc au pavot (Poppy seed loaf)

*Pain de seigle noir (Black rye)

*Pain 7 céréales (7 grain loaf)

*Ficelle viennoise (Vienna stick)

*Baguette épi ("Ear of corn" baguette)

*Bagel américain au pavot (Poppy seed bagel)

*Bagel nature (Plain bagel)

*Bagel américain aux oignons (Onion bagel)

*Mauricette

*Pain polka (Sandwich loaf)

*Multicroque (Crusty loaf)

*Petits pains (Rolls)

*Au pavot (Poppy seeds)

*Aux noix (Walnut)

*Aux céréales (Whole grain) 

*Petit pain de campagne (Small farmhouse)

*Couronne 

*Pain complet au pavot (Whole wheat loaf, poppy seeds) 

*Pain de campagne rond (Round farmhouse)

*Baguette de campagne 

*Baguette

*Boule paysanne (Farmhouse)

*Pain de seigle (Rye bread)

*Pain azyme (Unleavened bread)

*Brioche nattée (Braided brioche)

*Pain de campagne ("Campagne")

Merci Ulla!

Bonjour de Paris

This mouse Eiffel tower is super cute! 

I just can't help thinking of the Disney movie "Ratatouille" :P so for the occasion let's use my favorite song from the movie that happens to have a total french vibe: "Le festin"

Merci Ulla!

Lyon

Lyon is the third largest city in France and centre of the second largest metropolitan area in the country. It is the capital of the Rhone-Alpes region and the Rhône département. It is known as a gastronomic and historical city with a vibrant cultural scene. It is also the birthplace of cinema.

Founded by the Romans, with many preserved historical areas, Lyon is the archetype of the heritage city, as recognised by UNESCO. Lyon is a vibrant metropolis which makes the most out of its unique architectural, cultural and gastronomic heritage, its dynamic demographics and economy and its strategic location between Northern and Southern Europe. It is more and more open to the world, with an increasing number of students and international events. 

The Festival of Lights (Fête des Lumières) is by far the most important event of the year. It lasts four days around the 8th of December. It was initially a traditional religious celebration: on December 8th, 1852, the people of Lyon spontaneously illuminated their windows with candles to celebrate the inauguration of the golden statue of the Virgin Mary (the Virgin had been the saint patron of Lyon since she allegedly saved the city from the plague in 1643). The same ritual was then repeated every year. The celebration has turned into an international event, with light shows by professional artists from all over the world. Those range from tiny installations in remote neighbourhoods to massive sound-and-light shows, the largest one traditionally taking place on Place des Terreaux, this festival attracts around 4 million visitors every year.

*Source

Merci Jean-Michel!

Les Disques

Les Disques by Fernand Léger 

Machinery dominates this abstract cityscape by Ferdinand Léger. Giant, gyrating disks and shafts bisect the scene vertically. To the left, figures wearing helmets represent laborers, who seem to merge with the machinery.

This 1913 painting shows Léger reacting to early Cubism. George Braque and Pablo Picasso employed fragmentation to depict three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional painting. Léger expanded upon the idea of fragmentation to create compositions divided by dynamic forces and static counter-forces, and Léger uses vibrant color unlike the earth-toned early Cubist paintings.

Léger idealized the relationship between man and machine. The anonymous figures in Les Disques stand for mechanical workers, engineers, and designers thriving in a modern world of machines. Léger gave these workers the name Homo faber, or Man the Maker. Homo faber became a protagonist in the mechanistic universe of Léger’s imagination. He saw mankind’s dramatic struggle to master machinery as an affirmation of the human will.

*Source

Merci Sarah!

Atelier Nouvelles Images

This postcards are some of the most popular cards among postcard lovers, they depict different types of one particular thing (mostly food) on a very nice way that is very appealing to the eye.

A bit of history 

Nouvelles Images is a french publisher of greeting cards, stickers, postcards, calendars, prints, posters, canvases, etc. that has for slogan "Image your emotions", they get in touch with artists who provide images full of emotion and print them as different products. 

The idea for their Atelier Nouvelles images series came in 1997 when Jacques Lavaux, Dominique Seckler, Jean-Baptiste Blanc and Clotilde Burri-Blanc used to get together every wednesday for a meeting intended to discuss new ideas and projects; the meeting would continue at "Le Passage", a restaurant in Paris. 

This restaurant had books available for the clients to read, one of them being "The book of ingredients" by Adrian Bailey. Jaques was really into the book even tough the illustrations were considered "austere" by the group. 

So that's when the idea came to the table, a series of prints & postcards that depicted various ingredients   nicely photographed and in an exquisite presentation with detail in the composition. 

Even tough Jean-Baptiste wasn't really convinced at first because of the heavy photography investment this series required and the uncertainty of who would be interested in this prints, he finally gave in and 

the first items published were "Les Pâtes" (pasta) and "Les Fines Herbes" (mixed herbs); the photos were taken by photographer Gilles Le Scanff (whose work is mostly inspired in gardens and nature) under the artistic direction of Jacques, at the same time Nouvelles Images published two similar style photos (Tomatoes and Aubergines) taken by Roger Phillips.

Today fifteen years later, millions of postcards, greeting cards, calendars and prints have been sold all around the world and this series have grown now depicting bread, cheese, chairs, candy, tea pots, fruits, animals,etc. 

Information and catalogue: http://www.nouvellesimages.com/

So far I've only received four of them but I'm determined to get as many as I can! 

*The one that made me discover NI came from Japan*

Arigato Masayo!

*Pasta from Finland*

Kiitos Sini! 

*Bread from the home of the NI cards, France*

Merci Ulla!

*Goat cheese from The Netherlands*

Dank je Wesley!