With the help of legendary French interior designer Jacques Grange,Francis Ford Coppola has transformed a 19th-century palazzo in his family’s Italian hometown into a grand hotel with the romance and sophistication of the Belle Époque

There is something about waking up in Sofia Coppola’s bedroom at the Palazzo Margherita that makes one feel rather like a princess. The walls and high ceilings are painted with golden trompe l’oeil trellising and faux marble, tall doors with long white curtains open onto a terrace and a walled garden below, and the bed is enormous. It is even lovelier once the chambermaids have been through, leaving behind a haze of citrusy Acqua di Parma.

Located in the lively working town of Bernalda, in Southern Italy, the palazzo is the fifth and most luxurious in a collection of hotels owned by Francis Ford Coppola. It represents a homecoming, of sorts, for the multifaceted filmmaker, whose grandfather immigrated to America from there in 1904.

His first order of business was to enlist the expertise of feted Parisian interior designer Jacques Grange. Next, he asked members of his close-knit family if they would like to contribute to the design of their bedrooms. The result is a combination of Belle Époque grand hotel and comforting family home.

The palazzo’s entrance and central courtyard

AFTERNOON IN ITALY | Francis Ford Coppola’s suite at the Palazzo Margherita, which he designed with Jacques Grange, including an elaborately painted Moorish ceiling and Grange’s signature zigzag tiled floor

FEMININE BEAUTY | A corner of the room designed by Sofia Coppola with Grange and inspired by the Villa Favorita near Palermo, Italy

All of the bedrooms have hand-painted paneling on the walls and ceilings.

STRAIGHTENING UP | A chambermaid carries fresh linens to an upstairs bedroom. The chandelier is from Murano, and walls and columns are faux marble

CANDY STRIPES | The low furniture highlights the scale of the rooms.

The Sofia room, with a trompe l’oeil trellis that makes sleeping in the bed feel like lying under an arbor

GARDEN PARTY | A typical lunch: fresh pasta, salads, delicious flash-fried peppers and local wine

The Family Bar at breakfast, with Le Manach fabric-lined walls and café table.

For Coppola the Italian palazzo is about family, eating well and being together. By his own admission, the high point came with Sofia’s wedding this past summer to Thomas Mars, frontman for the French band Phoenix. “It was such a great setting,” Sofia says. “Our friends all gathered in the garden, and we had a small ceremony at the end of a trellis walk with rosé from my father-in-law’s winery, Chateau Thuerry, and prosecco at the bar after.” The food was prepared by Filomena in the kitchen on one side of the courtyard and by Frantoio, the restaurant next door, which still has a door on the other side.

The palazzo is also in striking contrast to the also beautiful, but very modern beach house at his Turtle inn Hotel in Belize. But this interior is so fresh, so fantastically indulgent, I immediately fell in love. Here is to hoping there are a couple of nights at Palazzo Margherita in my future.

(photographed by James Merrell for WSJ)

SHARE THIS BLOG :

While i was watching Midnight in Paris, one of my favorite scenes from the movie took place on a toile-covered bed in Paris’ Le Bristol hotel. Toile de Jouy is the hotel’s signature pattern, with each room decorated in the traditional fabric +  beautiful 18th century-inspired furnishings.

I so loved digging into toile de jouy  {my bedroom it’s all covered} and i learned that marks the 252th anniversary of the founding of Oberkampf factory at Jouy-en-Josas in 1760, – we’ll begin with a little look at a well-known pattern – Toile de Jouy.

I’m actually completely blown away by the way that designers have made this historical 242 year-old pattern  feel completely fresh by pairing it with florals or by using it in an unexpected hue.

above: Les Traveaux de la Manufacture (The Activities of the Factory), 1783–84, designed by Jean-Baptiste Huet – 14 different scenes in this fabric depict the copperplate printing process via the Metropolitan Museum of Art]

[above: 18th century French cotton dress via the Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Cotton Banned in France
Before we can get into the nitty, gritty of the pattern, we really need to start with the fabric. When cotton was first imported from India to France in the 16th and 17th century, the light, colorful, and easily washable fabric was a wild success. It was used for everything from clothing to wall coverings, curtains and bedclothes. It was so much in demand, that the French government became concerned about the financial impact that this competition would have on French manufactures of silk, wool and cloth. So in 1686, all cotton was banned in France – production, importation and use. Even with the threat of arrest, the fashion continued – clandestinely. Finally in 1759, when the ban proved impossible to enforce, it was lifted and French factories sprung up to satisfy the demand for printed cotton.

[above: Oberkampf family by Louis Léopold Boilly, 1803]

Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf
- founder of the printed cotton manufacture in Jouy-en-Josas
German-born Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf moved to Paris at the age of 20 in 1758. Both his father and grand-father had been in the cloth dyeing business and as a child, Christophe-Philippe accompanied his father on dyeing jobs. In Paris, Christophe-Philippe was rose quickly through the ranks. In 1759, after just a single year working in Paris, he formed a partnership with his former employer, who had advance warning that the cotton ban was about to be lifted and recognized the importance of Christophe-Philippe’s expertise – the two men decided to manufacture printed cotton.

[above: The factory at Jouy, 1807, by J.-B. Huet via the Le musée de la Toile de Jouy (the cloth is bleached by the sun in the meadow - the cloth was spread pattern-side down and sprinkled with water six to eight times a day for six days.)]

The factory in Jouy-en-Josas
Attracted by the clean water of the Bièvre river, the pair set up their factory in town of Jouy-en-Josas. In the early days of the business, Christophe-Philippe worked alone with his brother and the only item of furniture the pair possessed was the printing press – which he slept on at night. The demand for printed cotton was feverish and the company grew quickly. By 1805, the factory employed 1,322 workers. In 1770, after satisfying the 10 years residency requirements, Christophe-Philippe became a French citizen. In 1790, he became the first mayor of Jouy-en-Josas.

Les monuments d’Égypte designed by Jean-Baptiste Huet and inspired by eight engravings after drawings by the painter Louis-François Cassas via the Metropolitan Museum of Art]Copperplate Technology = Toile de Jouy!
The early printed cotton was produced using woodblocks. In 1770 Oberkampf began using copperplate printing at Jouy – the technique had been used abroad in England and Ireland for a number of years, but Oberkampf was the first cotton manufacturer to bring copperplate printing technology into France. Because the lines on the engraved copperplates are finer than those on wood blocks, one was able to introduce the effects of light and shade. The copperplates also allowed for a larger repeating pattern. This opened up the possibility for designs – no longer limited to florals or geometric designs – Oberkampf commissioned the best artists to design pastoral scenes with humans figures.  This new style allowed for the fabric to depict major events of the time period such as the first balloon flight (above) or the fascination with Egypt (above)

Midnight in Paris.

Fact to Know

• In total, more than 30, 000 designs were created at the Jouy manufacture, many of them the work of renowned 18th-century artists such as Fragonard and Boucher.
• Rue Oberkampf in the 11th arrondissement of Paris is named for Christophe-Philippe.
• While the phrase toile de jouy literally translates as cloth from jouy, it has come to refer to the single-color print of a pastoral scene (usually) on a white ground

Books to Read

• Toile de Jouy – This is my favorite of the two books listed here. Both had similar information – I just responded more to this organization.
• Printed French Fabrics – Toiles de Jouy
• The Age of Comfort – One of my all-time favorite books – the ins and outs of the fashion of comfort in 18th century France – it has a chapter on the advent of cotton in France.

(simply smitten,design&sponge,book toiles de jouy)

SHARE THIS BLOG :