Peel & Co. offering licensed Versailles line
By Susan Pyle Dickenson -- Home Accents Today, 11/1/2006
Peel & Company has signed a licensing agreement with The Versailles Foundation to introduce products under the Court of Versailles trademark, a brand the foundation created 25 years ago to benefit the Palace of Versailles. Based in Metairie, La., the rug company will develop a line of Aubusson rugs, tapestries and coordinating pieces of accent furniture based on the magnificently opulent interiors created for Louis XIV by Court designer Charles Le Brun and his 200+ master craftsmen.
Peel's Mickal Adler says the company does not plan to reproduce or copy existing originals, but will marry its design, weaving and technical processes with the standards of luxury and design represented by the Court of Versailles. Hermine Mariaux, agent for and managing director of The Versailles Foundation's licensing program concurred. "This doesn't have to be a slavish reproduction. We live in the 21st century and need to work in the 21st century, in tune with marketplace."
Mariaux said Peel & Co. was chosen as a licensing partner based on its reputation and commitment to design quality and craftsmanship. "We look for good partners and good products," she said. "Over the years, Court of Versailles, the brand, has acquired cult status with consumers of luxury bedding, decorative fabrics, wall coverings and accessories, and we could not be happier to have Peel and Company on board."
Mariaux joined Adler and his partner and chief designer Elay Doyle at August's New York gift show for the announcement. The initial collection will be coordinated around designs for three to five pieces of furniture, three to six pillows and three to four tapestries, keeping within Peel's current price structure of approximately $45 per square foot for Aubusson carpet, and $300 for an Aubusson pillow. Upholstered accent chairs and stools will retail for between $300 and $600.
Adler says the products will not be available until fall 2007, due to the amount of weaving time involved. By comparison, the ornate Aubusson and Savonnerie carpets and upholstery that blanketed the floors and furnishings of Versailles were produced at the rate of only one square yard per year by the 17th century master weavers.
The initial license is for five years but both partners hope to build a long term relationship.
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