Hanging in there...

With the advent of new media and the mushrooming of phone apps, pen and paper have become almost obsolete. We witness a world gradually disappearing before our eyes by being swallowed by hi tech gadgets that seem so cool, yet they are so hollow. Although I am totally head over heels (in love) with my Blackberry which has become my remote computer, old habits die hard. I love the feel of wearing my watch even though my Blackberry can tell me the time.  I still have a moleskine and a diary although my Memo Pad & Calendar can easily replace them.  I keep on buying paperbacks in spite of the invasive expansion of ebooks.

I am not a gadget-phobe by any means, but how can I consent to the end of beauty so easily? I love the smell of newly printed books as well as the old yellowish paperbacks resting on the shelves of second-hand book shops waiting for a booklover owner.

source: pintrest.com/http://www.behance.net/Gallery/my-moleskine/133252

 But at the end of the day, there is hope. And hopefully, in an ideal world, we will be able to accept and accomodate with both touch screen devices and old-school memorabilia. I would like to hope, if nothing else, that the likes of filofax won't disappear in the mists of the future. Next time we jot down a date, a note or a number, the elegant gesture will be seen as an effortless step towards normality.

 I came across an interesting article on the return of filofax which I will paste below. It was written by Harry Wallop for The Telegraph co.uk.

The Filofax is back

The Filofax, one of the ultimate symbols of yuppie aspiration, is back, according to retailers who reported sales of the personal organiser have taken off after finding favour with women.

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7299814/The-Filofax-is-back.html

It is the latest relic of the 1980s to enjoy a resurgence, following big hair, shoulder pads and a disagreement over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

Selfridges said sales of Filofax personal organisers had increased by 25 per cent during January and February compared with the same period last year. Other organisers, including those made by upmarket stationery company Smythson were selling equally well, it said.

The retailer put the revival down women shunning iPhones and other electronic organisers, in favour of solid, easy-to-use stationery, which were more personal and distinctive.

A spokesman for Selfridges said: "Women now consider it as a fashion accessory. Blackberries and iPhones are quite masculine products, when you take them out of your bag and put them on the table.

"Taking out a Filofax is quite a fashion statement."

Filofax, a British company, enjoyed enormous success during the 1980s, when the products were considered a crucial accessory for any up and coming merchant banker, along with braces, a brick-sized mobile phone and an invitation Annabel's nightclub.

However, according to the company it sold about half a million of its products last year, far in excess of the 150,000 it sold during its peak year in the 1980s, when the most upmarket versions cost in excess of £100.

The modern Filofax organiser, which starts at about £25, still uses a ring binder allowing customers to collect a diary, address book, maps, restaurant guides, note paper, business card holders and other stationery in one folder, usually leather-bound.

A spokesman for the company said: "We've seen a real swing to the female market. In the 1980s about a quarter of our sales were to females, it is now about 65 per cent. It used to be for City boys; many of our customers now use it to juggle their home and work life."

  

                                                           

In spite of the price, vintage diaries hang in there on the market offering an alternative to techology. We can't discard the past so easily. The stories, the drama and the lessons to be learned from the past shape our collective phyche & build up our character.

The Life and Death of Mademoiselle Havisham. Part two.

I recently found out this gem of an article in The Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk) . It's so beautiful that it must be shared with all lovers of vintage stories. 

Parisian flat containing €2.1 million painting lay untouched for 70 years

For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside.

                        by Henry Samuel in Paris 

                                                              

Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.

But when she died recently aged 91, experts were tasked with drawing up an inventory of her possessions and homed in on the flat near the Trinité church in Paris between the Pigalle red light district and Opera.

Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris' 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.

"There was a smell of old dust," said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery. Walking under high wooden ceilings, past an old wood stove and stone sink in the kitchen, he spotted a stuffed ostrich and a Mickey Mouse toy dating from before the war, as well as an exquisite dressing table.

But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.

The painting was by Boldini and the subject a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist's former muse and whose granddaughter it was who had left the flat uninhabited for more than half a century.

The muse was Marthe de Florian, an actress with a long list of ardent admirers, whose fervent love letters she kept wrapped neatly in ribbon and were still on the premises. Among the admirers was the 72nd prime minister of France, George Clemenceau, but also Boldini.

The expert had a hunch the painting was by Boldini, but could find no record of the painting. "No reference book dedicated to Boldini mentioned the tableau, which was never exhibited," said Marc Ottavi, the art specialist he consulted about the work.

When Mr Choppin-Janvry found a visiting card with a scribbled love note from Boldini, he knew he had struck gold. "We had the link and I was sure at that moment that it was indeed a very fine Boldini".

He finally found a reference to the work in a book by the artist's widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.

The starting price for the painting was €300,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.

"It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion," said Mr Ottavi.