Rubanesque
(L) Antique Purple Silk Velvet Handmade Cuff from Rubanesque (R) Tim Walker for Vogue
So I am on the cusp of launching my online shop, Rubanesque, and just wanted to post three sneak peaks from my first collection, The Golden Age.
Each one of these unique, one-off (and truly so!) cuffs have been created from antique ribbons dating from the 1900's and these were the very first ribbons gifted to me by my husbands grandmother. We went to visit her on 26th December last year for a family lunch and she unearthed an old stiff card box, contained within were ribbons her husband, Georges Faure, had put aside many years before.
We both knelt down on the carpet in her apartment and poured over the various ribbons. On the top layer there were a lot of upholstery ribbons in a tapestry-style design and just underneath I found a small bag, nestling within were six gold tassels tied together with an ancient handwritten, numbered tag. These were, she explained, typically for use in military costume, I could tell by the way she was handling them that they were precious to her but she told me I could pick my favourite three and keep them (I have these earmarked for necklaces).
At the bottom of the box, wrapped in tissue paper, protected from the elements and it seemed from time itself, were about 20 large heavily gold-thread laden, art deco style ribbons of no more than 10 cm length each....
......my heart skipped a beat.
She told me, she didn't know if I wanted them or if I could do anything with them but if I wanted to, they were mine to take home ....
....and thus began a love affair between yours truly and the dusty archives of the Julien Faure family silk company.
(TL and CL) Tim Walker for Vogue; (BL) Screen Siren from How to be a Retronaut;(R) Antique Moon Silk Ribbon Handmade Cuff from Rubanesque
These ribbons are the only remaining pieces and I only had about 10cm of each ribbon to work with, sometimes less. These were 'enchantillons', originally used by the salesman for showing the haute couture houses in Paris, London etc so that they could order the different colours / styles.
I have a much-loved book of photographer Tim Walkers work and opened it at the weekend to realise that I could find echoes of the designs on the ribbon cuffs in his work so I created these mood boards for my atelier and wanted to share here.
(TL & BL) Antique Green Silk Velvet Art deco Handmade Cuff from Rubanesque (R) Tim Walker for Vogue
The back of the cuffs have been finished with Swarovski crystals which give them an extra luxe finish and sparkle....
....parting with them is going to be seriously tricky!
If you are interested you can also check out my Pinterest board, where I have also been pinning all of my daily inspirations for this collection and upcoming collections.
I am in the process of adding some finishing touches ahead of the official launch on Monday 24th October, for example I just picked up 25 antique embossed paper boxes for wrapping the first cuffs to sell so please check back for updates and here is the address of my online shop www.etsy.com/shop/rubanesque