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I am so excited to share with you my most recent design for Lancôme Paris. I was commissioned to conceptualize a piece to announce the launch of Lancôme’s Absolue L’extrait Collection at Bloomingdales, NY.
Absolue L’extrait is an exclusive line of skin care products created with the native cells of the Lancôme Rose, which in 1973 was selected from 20,000 species in France. These native rose cells are extracted and 2 million are captured in every jar, which work to reveal your more radiant, firmer skin.
Because this new product slowly reveals your best you, I designed this announcement to slowly reveal it’s message by creating 6 separate panels of alternating vellum and card, wrapped inside a 14K gold envelofold.
The first vellum overlay is a round graphic pattern reversed out of black revealing the word “Secrets” which is printed on the next panel in white script on a gold background.
The third panel is a smokey vellum overlay peeking the word “Revealed” which is printed on the following white card in gold letters.
The fifth vellum panel is the fuchsia Lancôme Rose overlay, slightly hiding the Invitation on a black card below.
This proved to be an exhilarating multi-level piece to design, with a very quick turn around, one week from concept to delivery at the Lancôme counter at Bloomingdales. The envelofold was wrapped with ribbon and a fuchsia rose for presentation. Read more about L’extrait.
Have you ever wanted to throw a Big Holiday Gala?
If so, take notes from, my friend and client, Renee. Every year she throws an over-the-top festive Gala (with a capital G) in her Bucks County home.
Renee and her family, painstakingly adorn their home with greens, lights and ice sculptures and then invite close to 600 of their closest friends and relatives. Invitees are asked to arrive bearing canned goods in lieu of wine and spirits, that Renee donates to a local food pantry the very next day.
This year Renee asked Kim Bensing Design to “BRAND” her Gala.
Back in September, I submitted three designs. This navy blue package was the favorite and it was developed into a logo and accessory items such as napkins and coasters. And it was also imprinted on Triton water bottles for the gym, which served as favors for guests.
The logo was also the centerpiece of their formal invitation, printed on white linen coverstock which was accompanied by a navy blue envelope.
“This year I worked with Kim on a Holiday Party we have every year. She managed my event from invitations to the goodie bag water bottles, branding each item with our new logo. The design samples she provided were all beautiful and hard to choose from. She helped me think through the decision making process and we chose an elegant and timeless logo for our annual event. This is the first year my stress level was significantly lower because I knew I had someone looking out for every special detail for me. It was a pleasure working with Kim and I am excited to work with her in the future.” –Renee Tucker
Happy Holidays! Contact Kim Bensing Design for your next formal occasion.
Exciting news here at Kim Bensing Design. Lancôme Paris recently asked me to design a luxurious little book to help re-launch their 1967 vintage fragrance, Climat, named for the novel by french author, André Maurois.
The sought after fragrance will be unveiled exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, tomorrow! The perfumes of the original collection were released in elegant, transparent bottles designed in the early 1960’s by one of the founders of the house of Lancôme, George Delhomme. Saks Fifth Avenue has a very close relationship to this fragrance and it’s original debut, explaining the exclusivity.
The elegant sales tool, below, romantically illustrates the essence of the fragrance and also educates the Lancôme Team about it’s history. Page through the book design here. Or scroll down to see each individual page.
Contact Kim Bensing Design to help “unveil” your business or product to the world.
This was the summer of LOVE here at the Heirloom Studio. I just love my
New name / Kim Bensing Design at the Heirloom Studio
New email / kim@kimbensingdesign.com
New web site / kimbensingdesign.com
New pinterest / pinterest.com/kimatheirloom
And new philosophy / Everyone has a story. I will brand & style your event and create custom, memorable and awe-inspiring Invitation Books & Suites that tell yours.
We hope you do too. Please visit my new responsive site, change the email in your contacts and pin me on pinterest soon. Spread the love.
Photo by Jeff Reeder
Imagine your name is Lily and you were born on the FIRST DAY OF SPRING. Yes, now imagine it’s 13 years later and you are about to celebrate your Bat Mitzvah. Here is how the parents of Lily Haimes partnered with Heirloom to design the elements for their daughter’s very special day.
A simple consultation blossomed into a spring-like lily logo which was used throughout the invitation suite in different ways. Gorgeous childhood photos of Lily found their home in her custom Heirloom Storybook Invite. We then, wrapped her entire package in lots of pretty colors. Sea blue, spring green, deep purple and sun-touched gold. Guests unwrapped all 4 layers of envelopes for the invitation prize.
This custom invitation suite features an invite book all about lily’s life, a reception card, a response card, and directional card and an assortment of matching envelopes.
A special highlight was coordinating with California-based calligrapher Molly Thorpe of Purabelle, to add her pen & style to our spectacular 7×7 purple envelopes. A nice way to wrap the package.
And and this little custom stamp from zazzle just seals the deal.
Now, please step into this glorious garden reception.
Guests, please sign-in on our wall of boxwood beauty. Wooden letters with dangling markers. Wall courtesy of EVANTINE design. The letters were later hung in Lily’s bedroom.
The most beautiful adult reception table I have ever seen.
Placecard design by Heirloom, Calligraphy by Linda Carol Arts, Arrangement by Evantine design.
And for the kids…their very own larger-than-life seating chart!
Table decor creates the illusion of a garden party. Branch-like chairs and flowers everywhere! Room courtesy of Evantine.
The dance floor embellished with a transfer of lily’s custom logo by Heirloom.
Imagine that…your very own soda station. Wow!
The perfect selfie station! A custom backdrop for happy teenage “photo ops”.
I hope you enjoyed your garden walk though this celebration of Lily. Contact Heirloom for inspiration with your next illuminating event! See our latest video by clicking here Heirloom’s Video.
Thank you for reading my blog. Kim Bensing
The countdown is on for Valentines day, my second favorite holiday of the year. So in honour of St. Valentine, I am sharing inspirations, tales, ideas, and images of My True Loves. Soak them in & celebrate these weeks of waiting, sentimentally.
To begin, it’s certainly not cheating if I am in love with a font, or twenty. Here’s one I desire. It’s called Desire, and it’s designed by lettering artist Charles Borges de Oliveira. With hundreds of ligatures and alternates, the sky’s the limit.Yippee.
“Always choose the right font.” People notice even though they don’t realize it. Heirloom’s –The Art of Marriage– Wedding Suite created for Stephanie and Clayton Kissel and their wedding at Fonthill Castle, told their true love story, with text.
This font is Absinthe. It’s just perfect.
Three months ago I found this gorgeous kitchen in a back volume of House Beautiful. It was all the inspiration I needed to begin a complete “upcyle renovation” of our 200-year-old farmhouse kitchen. Budget was limited, but the more immediate objective, was to create a kitchen that did “not look like a kitchen”. As you will see, we achieved this by eliminating upper cabinets, including a mirror in our design, and by upcycling antiques to create the warm HEIRLOOM environment we were looking for.
We moved in to this lovely home 6 years ago and learned to tolerate the once -french country rustic- kitchen we inherited. But once this photo came into my life, I knew a few things had to change.
To begin, I will show you a few “befores” so you can get some idea of the scope of the project.
Yep, you get the idea. Dated teal undercabinets, yellow rag-washed walls, open upper cabinets, and very very very antique stainless appliances.
The first thing we decided to do was to replace the at least 40-year-old Thermadore double oven and vintage maytag cooktop. To do this we needed to fill a very large space of 48″ and eliminate a bank of undercabinets, which our genius contractor, Rich Peppiat (267-471-8564), salvaged later. We chose a GE Monogram Professional Range and hood to replace both appliances. We covered the badly damaged wall with white beadboard because it was simple and farmhouse lovely.
Secondly, we wanted to open up the doorway to our dining room, while being sure not to MODERNIZE this lovely historic home. For that we chose a series of transom windows, with antique latches and closures, and 2 french doors. Rich, built, installed and designed the framework – but first he had to tackle the very difficult tear down with surprises around every corner and between every lath. Rich moved all necessary electrical outlets, heating vents and plumbing fixtures without the help of other sub contractors. This was a huge time and hassle savings.
The third major part of the renovation included “salvaging or upcycling” all the undercabinets around the room, but changing their configuration to better accommodate our needs. We relocated the position of our sink to center on our bank of 3 beautiful windows overlooking the barn, and elevated to a stainless farm sink and cool faucet, with a soapstone countertop from Bucks County Soapstone.
There are so many unique little details to be observed which made this renovation interesting. For instance, Rich tracked down a custom supplier of antique pumpkin pine floorboards so he could delicately replace some damaged or missing along the line of the dining room wall.
And one day we found an outer window on an inner wall. I stayed up all night trying to figure out how we could expose it because it lead into the pantry next to the kitchen. Sadly I had to abandon the thought, as there was nowhere else to position the refrigerator. It was a low moment for me, but I bounced right back.
Still keeping in mind that I wanted this kitchen to barely resemble a kitchen, I called Doylestown Glass and had them order a sizable “antiqued mirror” to fit a vintage wood frame I already had. We placed this above the butler sink as an unexpected turn. I also really wanted some sort of an island, but I really didn’t want to buy one like everyone else, so while expertly thrifting with my sister-in-law, I stumbled upon a gorgeous antique buffet. The next day when I called it was clearancing for only $200. There was my island. I brought it home, polyurethaned the top 3x, and now it’s “3-kid ready” for action!
Now please enjoy the after photos. If you would like help refurbishing furniture or are stuck and need ideas for your own home, please do not hesitate to contact Kim at Heirloom. www.heirloom-occasions.com, or 215-859-2202.
New doorway with transoms for air circulation. New wall color is Benjamin Moore’s Smoky Embers.
$200 island work surface purchased at Care and Share in Souderton.
Antique cabinet salvaged from dining room, houses all of our glassware.
View of sink, bank of windows.
Soapstone countertop. Antique shutters I found in Rehoboth beach last summer dress up our middle window. No curtains necessary. Cone basket from Frenchtown, decorative spheres from Pier One.
Stainless farm sink now centered on the windows. This is the soapstone after it’s been freshly oiled.
Framed piece of vintage 50’s wallpaper we found behind everything. Teal blue frame for memories!
Antique mirror from Doylestown Glass and frame which was salvaged from the side of the road a few years ago. Bank of undercabinets painted with White Dove, Benjamin Moore.
Transoms hinged with antique pulls.
Ceramic vase from Doylestown. Paper hydrangeas from Poor Richards. Vintage tray from Mike’s grandmother.
Graduations are a time to have fun with announcements and personalize them extensively. Above, a journalist’s announcement to his family and friends. Keep it interesting, make it special.