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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Vignette Design Series #2~Theme

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Have you ever wondered 
how stylists create their beautiful 
vignettes?

Welcome to Element #2
Theme
"the subject of a vignette"
in a

A collection of botanical items
enhance one another in this vignette.
 Each brings a variation of nature to the group 
creating an interconnected complex nuanced setting.  
The birds relate to the bird's nest on the card and
 to the boxwood suggesting places birds nest, 
one a manmade home and one a natural home. 
The three cards depict foliage in various forms 
that echo the boxwood's foliage.

The lamp's flower-filled cup base reiterates the floral theme
 of the botanical print on the wall and the 
botanical print of a hydrangea in the paperweight, 
all of which relate to the boxwood 
in a way different from the birds or cards.

Take a look at a Pottery Barn image.
Source: Pottery Barn Online Catalog
Beach is obviously the theme.
Simplicity of the grouping
relates to the beach theme;
very few items are needed to make
one happy at the beach.
No worries, no fuss, no hurry...
The lanterns with candles say beach in that
they provide light where there is
no electricity.

The bottles in the lanterns are
subtle reminders of messages
in bottles that wash shore.

Look at the group of items below
 that is filled with unrelated items I LOVE.
Yes, I intentionally worked 
at putting things together that are very unrelated.
A vignette without a theme may have 
beautiful objects in it, but without a connection (theme)
there is no harmony in the vignette.
Non-themed collections 
are only individual items, 
each clamoring for attention, 
but not enhancing the others. 

A grouping with a 
theme
 is greater than its parts.

 To borrow a well-known saying
botanic bleu
Examine a vignette that calls to you.
What is the theme?
Is it possible that you are drawn to the vignette
because you love the theme?

Stay tuned...
The roles of Texture and Color
 are coming in future posts.

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