Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A holiday message from Tony and Freddy. Best wishes to all of our friends for a happy and healthy 2011!

F.P. Victoria + Son Trade Tips 4

Hello! We have taken far too long to put this next batch of videos together, but we are happy to finally have one for you to see.

This video is the first of a three part series we are devoting to upholstery. All too often these days, we find chairs that have had some foam thrown on a frame, with some fabric haphazardly stapled over it, accepted as standard practice. Upholstery is truly an art and can, without a doubt, make or break a chair. We have divided the series into "Upholstery Styles and Appearance," "Upholstery Trim," and "Upholstery Construction." Three short video clips certainly aren't enough to cover a broad topic like upholstery, but we hope it will help remind us all of what to look for in high-quality upholstery and how upholstery can enhance the unique character of a piece.

We hope you enjoy the first video on Upholstery Styles and Appearance.

Preview shots of Todd Romano's Los Angeles showroom

First, it has been far too long since we posted anything, even for a poster as infrequent as us. Sorry for that. On the plus side we have been busy and are planning more Trade Tips videos.

One thing keeping us busy was a trip to visit Todd Romano's new showroom in Los Angeles, which is carrying a few of our pieces. Todd has done a magnificent job with his new space, which includes 2 buildings and an outdoor courtyard and walkway! He has finished the walls of each of the rooms in a different color high-gloss lacquer style finish and even built out a wall for a faux fireplace which he covered in antiqued mirror (on which, I am proud to say, hangs our Faceted Serge Roche style mirror). Todd has brought the same attention to detail and refinement to his new showroom as he does to his inventory selections and decorating jobs.

Todd is in the process of re-doing his website, which will include the new showroom. But until it is ready, here are some snap-shots I took. Enjoy!

Todd Alexander Romano

930 North La Cienega Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90069

(310) 855-1280

Trade Tips: 18th Century French Chairs

Here is our third Trade Tips video clip! Tony Victoria covers the defining characteristics of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI chairs as well as the transitional periods. He offers some great details to look for to help you identify the different styles. We hope you find it useful and enjoyable!

Note: you may need to to turn up your volume since we had to film a bit farther away this time to fit everything in the shot. Sorry!

Trade Tips: Chair Frame Construction

We just finished our second Trade Tips video clip. This segment covers some of the basics of traditional chair construction and some key dimensions to keep in mind regarding chair design and comfortability. We hope you find it useful! Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Trade Tips: Gilding Techniques

Tony and I are trying something new - video blog clips! We shot our first "Trade Tips" clip yesterday. It is a quick overview covering tricks Tony has taught me to identity mercury gilding versus electrolytic bath gilding of brass mounts. The topics will vary, this one being a bit more advanced, but will also include some furniture and decorative arts basics for both antiques and new designs we are working on.

We know we need to work on the our production quality (!) and my "screen-presence" needs to be improved to say the least, but we hope you enjoy this and find it useful!

Hope you are enjoying the last bits of summer.

Learning from the design process

The development of this table has been a bit of an odyssey and a learning experience for me. Believe it or not, we starting working on this table in 2008!


There were some structural problems that we had to fix: primarily the "wobbliness" of the frame. Without cross supports or the right gauge material, this basic "Mallett" style of table is always a bit shaky. We solved this this by using heavier gauge brass both for the legs and the shelf-supports and the difference is remarkable.


That first, wobbly, prototype had wooden shelves too - that was the original look I had in my mind; something rustic yet contemporary, industrial but refined. But as we were improving the frame, a finisher friend of mine saw and fell in love with the idea of the table and offered to lacquer the shelves in a new technique that she was working on. I consider this friend to be an extremely talented and innovative finisher, so naturally we went ahead and lacquered the shelves instead of using a natural wood finish. This was the result:





And here is a close up of the lacquer:

I really love this lacquer. The pattern is hand applied using a metallic dust that sort of bleeds out into the white lacquer, creating a soft halo-effect or shadowing around the lines. And more importantly, I like how it makes the table look. It gives it a more modern feel. However, I must admit some degree of satisfaction now that we have the table as originally thought of with the wooden shelves. Perhaps that is just because it fits the expectations I had in my mind. But it taught me a lot about the design process. There is a hard balance to maintain between your own inspiration and external inspiration. Truly, whenever I go to my friends studio, I get inspired. And I am thrilled by this lacquer technique and using it. But, somehow I am just a bit more fulfilled by seeing the table as I originally envisioned. It may be a tired axiom, but you really must stick with your vision for a project. Of course outside inspiration is vital, but I believe you must somehow take that inspiration and adapt it to your vision instead adapting your vision to the inspiration.