New Styles Designers Hope We Can't Do Without

French Country Is Making A Comeback

(Highland House)

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By Jura Koncius

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 6, 2008

The French dressing of the American home began 40 years ago when Pierre Deux brought us the Provencal look of toile, wrought-iron chandeliers, faience tableware and cotton print tablecloths. Now, a new licensed collection of Pierre Deux furniture by Highland House is about to come to a wider audience.

The company, started by Pierre Le Vec and Pierre Moulin as an antiques shop in New York's Greenwich Village, became a nationwide chain. The two Pierres sold the company in 1989. In the early 1990s, the new owners filed for Chapter 11. But in 1993, Pierre Deux was purchased by Hedwige and André Cointreau, a couple who owns Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, and the two have built the business back up to 20 U.S. stores, including in Bethesda and Tysons Corner.

"Americans like the uniqueness of it, the chic and the charm, and love the stories behind it," says Hedwige Cointreau, whose homes in Paris and the Loire Valley were combed for antiques reproduced for the 60-piece collection of ladder-back chairs with rush seats and upholstered daybeds.