This is nimes sofa made by French Heritage with two 20″ x 20″ toss pillows. The fabric on cushions is Park Place leather.
Though French Heritage is only about twenty years old, the roots of the company began years before, as part of a family passion for antiques. When co-founder Jacques Wayser was a child in France, he, his sister Christianne, and his brother Alain, would follow their parents on their weekly visits to the Paris antique market and throughout the French and English countryside.
As a young man, he worked in the family antique business. But after meeting his American-born fashion-model wife, Henessy, they decided to strike out on their own. Their vision was to create a company that specialized in creating heirlooms for the future, using the same techniques once employed by the master craftsman of Europe. These reproductions would be better than ordinary mass-produced furniture. They would capture the look and feel that can only be found in genuine antiques.
The first collection introduced by the new company was Richelieu, in 1984. Richelieu was a breakthrough in the furniture industry. Not only were the pieces elegantly crafted using mortise and tenon joints, dovetailed drawers, and pegs instead of nails. For the first time, the furniture was antiqued and distressed to look like genuine antiques. It was an innovation that changed the way antique reproductions looked forever.
In 1993, the company debuted the popular Maison Provence collection, a grouping of antique French country designs. The next year, they introduced their high-end collection, De Bournais, beautifully handcrafted pieces with beeswax finishes.
The Schooner collection, fashioned from the furniture used on 19th century schooner ships, was created in 1996. On the eve of the millennium in 1999, La Collection de la Liberte’ was introduced to celebrate the 200 years that France and America have enjoyed close ties. These furnishings were reproduced from pieces owned by Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the famous designer of the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of this international friendship.
Nowadays, the company continues to expand with new showrooms, added factory space and the introduction of French Heritage concept stores.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing.