Press
Washingtonian magazine: Do-It-Yourself Framing
By: Gretchen Cook
An alternative is the French chain L'Eclat de Verre, which recently opened its first US shop in Georgetown. It specializes in a unique–and pricey–service: customizing mats with gorgeous handmade papers. The average custom job, with frame and mat, is $280. Or you can pay $55 and take one of the store's workshops, where you learn to make a mat yourself.
Fancy Frames: L'ECLAT DE VERRE OFFERS U.S. SHOPPERS A FRENCH TWIST ON CRAFTING
By: Jesse Serwer
The frames are every bit as special as the art they surround, to hear them tell it at L'Eclat de Verre. "We are, firstly, a high-end store selling our creations, which are unique pieces of art," said Emmanuel Teillet, the French picture-frame chain's president.
"The second activity is to sell some really custom framing, which means spending between 45 minutes and one hour with the customer to elaborate a full product. And the third is to offer classes where we teach the basic tools and elements of making a nice custom frame as welle as cartonnage, a a technique using cardboard papers to make decorative items for the home."
At this store, the Mat's the thing
By: Joellen Murphy
At the new Georgetown framing store L'Eclat de Verre, the experience is more about the area between the picture and the frame than it is about the artwork you are framing or the frame itself. Here, the mat takes center stage. The shop offers more than 500 styles of handmade paper that, when affixed to a backing, create a customized mat, according to Caitlin Allen, manager of the French chain's first U.S. store, in Cady's Alley (3336 M St. NW, 202-333-6840). I took in a 9-by-12-inch pastel to get the French framing treatment. At the store, a framing consultant helped me select two papers (one patterned and one solid) that complemented the colors in the painting. Then we chose a dark wood frame. The estimate for framing my art came to more than $400. As less pricey alternatives, the store offers workshops in make-your-own framing and cartonnage, a technique for making paper products such as photo albums, file folders and boxes. Workshop prices range from $55 to $70, not including the cost of the paper. You can also buy framing supplies and paper for wrapping (or for your new cartonnage hobby). Papers include silk, linen and even fake leather and cost $2.50 to $43 a sheet.
Ad Agency: We've been frame!
By combining French 18th century techniques with moderne style, l'Eclat de Verre preserves your memories as a museum preserves its treasures. They turn everything from prints and photos to postcards and articles of clothing into beautiful works of art. By layering a selection of over 500 exlusive, handmade papers and incorporating stylistic elements such as painting, the simplest item becomes a masterpiece.
Manila Mail: L'Eclat de verre opens in Georgetown with workshops dedicated to framing and crafts using 18th century techniques
On December 17th 2007, Georgetowns Cady Alley welcomed L'Eclat de Verre to 3336 M Street NW. A French framing boutique specializing in 18th Century framing techniques passes down from scholar to apprentice over the past 200 years.
Its literal translations means A Shard of Glass. With more than 500 papers from around the globe stocked at its Georgetown shop, LEclat de Verres in-house technicians can frame everything from wedding invitations and photographs, to wedding dresses and sports equipment. This store prides itself in catering to every clients request. The craft of L'Eclat de Verre includes using unique matting materials that range from leather to printed paper. The possibilities are endless due to the papers color, texture, and patterns.
Capitol File Magazine : Georgetown's new L'Eclat de Verre offers a French frame of mind. By Catherine Funkhouser.
Design destination Cady's Alley just upped its international quotient with the opening of L'Eclat de Verre, a shop that offers specialty art and framing a la francais. Bring in a print, a postcard, a photo-even a plasma TV and L'Eclat de Verre will transform it into enviable art. The approach: Emphasize the art work's colors, textures, and patterns using handmade papers instead of traditional mats, and add visual interest with stylistic extras, such as hand painted lines.
The French techniques are centuries old, but the look is unmistakably today. "We offer the perfect harmony between tradition and modernity," says Emmanuel Teillet, L'Eclat de Verre's president. Others clearly agree: The Versailles-based chain has 40 shops in France and plans other Washington-area openings.
The Georgetown shop mixes the old with the new in its interior, too. The original walls of the circa-1905 former grain-storage warehouse are married with glass and metal for an upscale, urban vibe. Leave your artwork in the hands of L'Eclat de Verre's master framer, Emmanuel Pouderoux, or attend one of its hands-on "framing academy" workshops and create your own masterpiece. The shop's gallery of framed art with attitude, all for sale, is sure to inspire.
Home and Design SourceBook 2009: Skivertex matting
By: Melody Murray
Revitalize works of art with Skivertex matting from L'Eclat de verre. Available in bright colors, this waterproof paper can also be used for cartonnage creations-French works of paper and cardboard. $15 per 36-30 inch sheet.
News From France: From versailles to Washington : Georgetown receives Its own Eclat.
They turn everything from prints and photos to postcards and articles of clothing into beautiful works of art.
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