April 23, 2007
Beautiful things
My mother's local bottle-shop, previously a dreary place full of bad cleanskins and a very average range of bland big-brand name wines, was sold last year. The new owner has not only re-stocked with much more interesting wines but more recently started renovating. I haven't set foot in there for six months until last Saturday.
While browsing for something with which to reward my mother for taking Jacob off our hands for the day it struck me that I was sorrounded by some of the grooviest wallpaper I'd seen in a long time. Not only seriously funky but the quality of the design practically leapt from the walls and smacked you in the eye. Looking at the wallpaper it was really difficult to tell if it was very very new, or very very old. It also seemed a bit over the top for a bottle shop. Even a very funky bottle-shop.
The owner explained that during the renovations they had removed the old cladding on the walls and uncovered the wallpaper, much of it in near-mint condition. He had started scraping it off but luckily soon realised that it was actually by none other than Florence herself! Now he is planning to steam it off and sell sections to those interested. I left my name and phone number.
The wallpaper was a hard act to follow and I didn't expect quite the same from my $19.00 wine but it wasn't a terrible let-down either. I went for The Black Chook Shiraz Viognier 2005 in honour of Willemijn, our very own black chook, and while lacking the finesse of Florence's designs it proved good value being considerably cheaper. Re-issues of her wallpaper are almost $400.00 per roll!
Posted by Faith