Gift Wrapping in Provence.......an interview with Vicki Archer

I am thrilled to start off my Gift Wrapping Holiday 2010 series with our most talented author and blogger Vicki Archer of French Essence. I always wondered how the most stylish people wrap their holiday gifts and as we know peeking into Vicki Archer's world is always a pleasure. Her new book French Essence has quickly become "the" book to give and receive this holiday season.

I know you are working with a fabulous new colour scheme this year of silver, white and green. Is it working it's way into your gift wrapping too?

I like to co-ordinate my gift-wrapping with the colours that I choose to decorate our home. I am for the first time trying a silver, white and emerald green scheme….I normally love the brighter reds, violets and oranges…but this year I want to try and create the same silvery ambiance inside the farmhouse as I see outside in the olive groves on frosty mornings.

Are your gifts under the tree wrapped to match the holiday decor or do you wrap to suit the personality of the recipient?

I wrap to suit my home decor, sometimes I might add a little whimsy for an individual personality but generally I match the paper and the ribbons to the colour scheme I have chosen. This year I am tying a decoration on each of my gifts, so this will be the way I personalize them but stay within my colour scheme.

You devote a whole gorgeous chapter to Christmas in your new book French Essence. What is different about your personal festivities in France? What has changed from the traditions you grew up with in Australia?

A French Christmas is a winter Christmas and that is the biggest change for me as an Australian. I love that Christmas in Europe now mirrors the Christmas of my childhood imagination. In Australia growing up we celebrated the holidays in a traditional way with all the trimmings, despite the heat, so as a family we have continued on in that way. Now I incorporate many of the French traditions into our celebrations….mostly these changes revolve around food…as they tend to in France…We now have added fois gras and oysters to our menu along with many of the sweet deserts that the French favour at Christmas time. The other novelty for me is mistletoe…I love to hang this over the door…The Australian in me finds this custom adorable.

Your favorite ribbon? Satin, silk, taffeta, or grosgrain? Narrow or wide widths?

I love taffeta and grosgrain ribbons as they make up so beautifully. But then I love silks and satins too….I just love ribbons and especially vintage ones….Both narrow and wide can work…it depends on the size of the package…but wider is generally my preference. 

Are you a tissue paper or gift wrap paper kind of gal?

I like simple, but striking wrapping so tissue is my first choice. I often use old movie posters or newspaper too…Sometimes the most simple ideas can look the most effective.

Do you have a favorite embellishment this year?

I have found some pretty decorative ‘birds’ and some silver flowers that I will add with the ribbons. I am also thinking that I might weave through some olive leaves at the last moment.

What is your perfect hostess gift this season?

In France I will be giving boxes of Charbonnel & Walker Rose and Violet creams or old-fashioned sweets from Fortnum & Mason. In London I will be taking a mixed selection of chocolates from Joel Durand from, our local chocolatier in St Remy. These gifts make for lots of carrying back and forth but I try and give something that my hostess could not otherwise have.

What do you think gift wrapping presentation says about a person?

Gift wrapping shows that you have taken time….and giving of your time is the most generous and thoughtful present of all. Taking time and making time is a true mark of friendship.

Do you have a signature wrap for your fabulous new book French Essence. 

I am waiting for you to come up with that Sande! 

What is the best part of gift wrapping beautifully?

The expression at the receiving end when you give the gift makes all the creative thought and energy worthwhile. I am still thrilled every time I receive something beautifully wrapped. It heightens the surprise of what is inside and to be given an exquisitely wrapped present is a real treat. We all need to be spoilt from time to time and that is what beautiful gift-wrapping does….it spoils us. 

Vicki Archer

December 2010

 Thank You Vicki! 

Top photo by Vicki Archer/Remaining photos by Carla Coulson

Vicki Archer ~ Part Two

Sitting Room at Mas de Berard

Was the fact that you had this wonderful book in you a surprise or did you always want to write?
The publication of My French Life has been the biggest surprise of all - especially to me. I never imagined that I would or could write a book and especially a book about France. I still cannot believe I had so many words within fighting to get out!

The elegant subdued tones of Vicki Archer's vanity area.

Did the "house" lead you to the book or how did the idea evolve? What circumstances or people made this idea germinate? When did you know you were going to write about your French experience and the house you were renovating?
Finding and buying our property Mas de Berard has led to so many changes and writing My French Life is one of them. I found the house by chance and I rather like to think that my book happened by chance too. In 2005 I travelled to Florence with my daughter Emily to settle her into an Italian course as part of a gap year - at the same time I had arranged to meet up with an Australian friend, photographer Carla Coulson. Carla had been living in Florence for some years and during my stay Carla and I caught up on our girl chat. We had both moved to Europe in 2000 and started new lives - she in Italy, me in France - and over those few days I told her how I had fallen in love with France and how this had changed my life as I had known it. We talked, as old friends do, of the challenges and excitement of leaving home and starting afresh. The more we talked the more we felt there was an idea for a "french" collaboration between us and as a result she approached her publisher in Australia with the idea. The response was very positive: the proposal was accepted and My French Life was published in November 2006. It was true serendipity - extraordinary circumstances and timing brought about My French Life, but then that is how I came to fall in love with France in the first place.

The vibrant, youthful tones of her daughter Emily's vanity area.

You are almost finished your second book, do you stick to a strict writing schedule or when the mood (or words) hit?

I stick to a very strict timing schedule but I am much less rigid when it comes to ideas. I start with an overview and theme for the book and then I define these ideas by chapter. I never know exactly what detail I will write in each chapter until I sit down and start tapping away. I have a process that works for me: I like to think for some time about the beginning of each chapter - I will mull over thoughts and memories for as long as it takes until I find my first sentence. Once I have found that I am usually off and running. If the thoughts don't come, because sometimes they don't, then I concentrate on something else and hope I will be more creative the next day. The key to writing is to know that the words are always there and that they will eventually come.

Timing is different - once I start writing I don't stop and I can only concentrate on my work. Like all jobs there are deadlines, contracts and expectations so to be a writer requires self-discipline. Fortunately I love the writing process and find it very rewarding so I am happy to be locked away with my computer.

An image from French Essence ~ new book release in November 2009

Can you tell me about your new book subject? Release date?

My new book is about living life with ambience. I believe the French are true masters when it comes to ambience and I think that it is this "ambience" than has made me so enamoured with life in France. This book is about beauty and nature, interiors and landscapes in my Provencal world. French Essence (named after my blog) will be published in early November this year.

We can hardly wait!

All photo images courtesy of Vicki Archer - My French Life

The Fabulous Vicki Archer- Part One

Mas de Berard in Provence where the story began......................


The evocative photo image cover of A French Life
~ photography by Carla Coulson

When I first started blogging a few months back, I would see this evocative book image often. A high-profile circle of high-style bloggers love this book (released in 2007) and just adore the stylish author Vicki Archer. She did what most women dream about from time to time....took the leap, moving from Australia to France, and landed in a whole new life. Now, I don't miss too many books myself, at the trade shows or by way of my neighborhood bookstore, but for sure I never saw this one....if I had I would have bought it in 5 seconds flat. I love a great follow-your-passion story with gorgeous photography and this I could tell had both. So how did I miss this fabulous book? Author Vicki Archer thinks "the book was printed in Australia, then made it's way to the US by way of blogger support, but for some reason it never had a strong presence in Canada". Hmmmm..........who is this lady? And how can I get my hands on her book with that fabulous cover? .

The blog of Vicki Archer is called French Essence where she posts regular and welcome doses of her rural french life. Last week she sent us a series of blooming flower photos and their floral history. Both these photos are from her popular blog. It may sound like I'm getting ahead of myself here, but really I'm not....

While A French Life was waiting on my order list, I received a lovely comment on my new blog one day, then another, another, and soon there wasn't too many early blog days when my empty comment page didn't have a supportive little comment from, you guessed it....Vicki Archer. I am sure she was politely responding to a comment I had left, but from what I can tell she has this great little habit of commenting and supporting many blogs....a most gracious habit to share. I'm going to get to her stunning, yummy book in a minute, but you should know Vicki Archer has the most fabulous blog called FRENCH ESSENCE that gets many comments per post, so the fact that the France-based author and blogger takes the time to comment at all tells you .........this is one of those fabulously chic ladies everyone wants to know.

The Terrace at Mas de Berard

I did a little background research on ordering this book in Canada and received a response from her publisher Penquin that the Canadian rights to this book were never bought, which means Canadians can't walk into a bookstore and see or buy this book. If Canadian you have to be patient, but you can order it through Amazon.com {click here} just make sure you order a few, one for yourself and one to give away. It is quite simply a spectacular book to give or receive. If you do either, you will be in for a few delightful surprises. One the book is larger than you would expect (coffee table size) from it's website photo and it has this wonderfully unique padded cover under the jacket that my friend says "gives you such a comforting feel when reading it" , she was right, it does. There aren't too many books that I have read (and we are talking hundreds here) that so elegantly transported me to another world, the world every women wants to live and love in..... rural Provence, where she restored Mas de Berard a seventeenth-century property, and then on to Le Weekend in Paris where she regularly meets up with gal pals for shopping and macaroons. Her feminine and enticing style of writing and story of how this lifestyle came to pass will have you swooning, then you'll spend the rest of your day or week figuring out if there is anyway on earth you can just pack your bags, cash in your ailing retirement fund, move to France and do the same. Right next door........she sounds like she would be the most down-to-earth and stylish of neighbors.

Lavender in July

Vicki Archer graciously sent over some of the images from A French Life, more of which you will see tomorrow. In Part Two of this post, I will share some of her interior photos of a more feminine nature and her thoughtful answers to some questions I had after finishing this lavish book. In Part Three , I'll send you over to meet Vicki's gal-pal and Paris-based photographer Carla Coulson .

Fruit Blossoms in Spring

Hope to see you tomorrow for Vicki Archer ~ Part Two

All photograph's courtesy of Vicki Archer ~ A French Life and French Essence