The Story Behind the Laurier Blanc Logo
People ask me all the time where I came up with the name Laurier Blanc... (and I can’t tell you how many people actually call me Laurier in the gallery or Laura! I secretly love this.)
The Laurier Blanc laurel leaves design for our logo originated from a piece of French antique iron that I found deep within the Paris Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, a market that has been operating since the Middle Ages (which is always a favorite hunting spot for treasures). This was long ago when my husband Paul and I were living in London and were preparing for a move to Manhattan, New York and I wanted to collect a last few items from my favorite European markets before heading stateside again.
On a girls weekend to Paris via the Eurostar train, I headed off to the puces market early one weekend morning (with my usual espresso and giant pain au chocolat) and came across a wonderful antiques dealer that, to this day, I always search for. There was a very tall, well built and handsome Parisian black man who spoke no English and, well, my French was pretty bad back then (I like to think the more I drink the better I speak). His stall in the Marché Vernaison was truly the most intriguing with his expertly curated & showcased collection of antiques, garden items & objets curiosités so beautifully displayed. Somehow we negotiated a fair price on this antique French iron piece for the garden that I simply couldn’t live without (where at the end of the transaction he gifted me a beautiful large tiger cowrie that he saw me eyeing as well! To this day, this sits on my desk at home). I find that French dealers will many times send you home with a small gift as a gesture of thanks when taking the time to talk and negotiate fairly.
The French iron garden art depicted laurel leaves and berries with a delicate ribbon that then came with us to New York and was later installed over the range in our first home we purchased when we moved to Houston. A couple years later, I had a local artist make a drawing of the leaves (which I became enamored with) and we then printed on my personal stationary. As time passed, the year that I turned 40 was the year that I decided to finally launch my vision in creating a destination where one could find a beautifully curated collection of interesting home decor pieces and gifts from markets and suppliers...Essentially a collection of my very favorite things from all over the world, both newly made, vintage, as well as antiques. For the very first time in my life, I realized I could do what I really wanted in this world and crafted a way to make a business out of it.
I knew I wanted to incorporate these laurel leaves design in some way while evoking a hint of the French origin and inspiration for the brand. The logo created by the artist was a white sketch of the laurel leaves with black edges. “Laurier” is French for these laurel leaves and “ blanc" is of course white in French. When starting to work with our dear friends and partners on the brand development, Seth Bruce and Mishelle Echeverria (now Bruce!) of CKO Digital, they suggested the font to add a modern edge to the brand…which of course fits perfectly!
