Year in a French Manor

The founders of Antoinette Poisson take readers inside their historic townhouse on the Atlantic coast to discover a style and art of entertaining rooted in French tradition and elegance.

Maison Lescop--the historic residence of an eighteenth-century French importer for the Indian trading company in Port-Louis, Brittany--seemed predestined to become the new home and restoration project for the creative duo behind Antoinette Poisson, a Parisian design team dedicated to reviving the savoir faire of domino paper for home decoration and furnishings. The art historians became enchanted by the poetic beauty of this artisanal craft--derived from an Indian block print technique--when they uncovered original hand-painted eighteenth-century domino wallpaper while restoring a mansion in central France.

Enchanted by the repeat-pattern domino prints, which range from florals and fauna to geometric and ikat, they have appointed their new home with the charming decorative touches that are their signature--handmade lampshades, wallpaper lined armoires, paper-m ch marriage boxes, assorted table settings, and luxurious textiles.

Celebrating the rhythm of life in France, they bring readers on adventures--shopping at the local market, antiquing, mushroom hunting, sheep's cheese making, paper making, and textile dying--and share classic seasonal French meals inspired by antique cookbooks, served-up on hand-dyed indigo tablecloths or on nautical striped throws for a seaside picnic. They also include creative insight from their style icon friends, like American decoupage artist John Derian and French musician Clara Luciani.