Picking Artwork
Sourcing art for my home has always been a challenge for me. While I love furniture, home decor, and scoring a great deal – selecting artwork is an area that I’ve always found to be extremely overwhelming. Between the high price point, the unlimited possibilities, and wanting to find something that’s interesting enough where I would want to look at for years to come, I was never able to finalize a selection. Pair that with the fact that my husband and I have completely different tastes, and you’ll understand why we ended up having bare walls for the majority of the 11 years that we’ve lived together.
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Hermès is Art
One day I came across an article about the history of the Hermès scarf and I realized that it was the perfect alternative to buying artwork. Hermès scarves are the epitome of luxury. Not only are they high-end, and visually stunning, the craftsmanship that goes into making these scarves is far higher than what I could find for a comparable price in the art world. Each season Hermès hires an artist to design a scarf motif, and then the drawing is broken down and each layer of color is engraved on a separate plate for screen printing, which can take up to 750 hours. Meanwhile, weaving the silk can take up to three weeks. Once the plates are ready the craftsmen, who spend three years training, masterfully mix the colors for the various colorways and spread them evenly on what seems like an endless spool of high-quality silk layer by layer. After the printing is complete, each scarf is cut and hand-sewn with a rounded edge. In total each scarf can take upwards of 18 months to create. A true work of art.
My dilemma was solved! I would frame a vintage Hermès scarf as art. It didn’t take long to find a dreamy silk scarf in pastel hues, adorned with flowers. When I saw the Romantique – a 90x90cm silk scarf designed in 1973 by Maurice Tranchant, I knew it was perfection. It had the iconic Hermès duc carriage wheel interwoven with garden roses, various wildflowers, and mandevillas that cascaded throughout the spokes of the wheel within a delicate green border. I told my husband my vision of framing it and he was completely on board, so I treated myself to the scarf as a birthday gift and began searching for affordable ways to frame this beauty!
Framing the Scarf
I scoured the internet for ways to frame the scarf and found a ton of options, but they all had a drawback for me. They were either amazing frames with stunning museum-quality glass that were out of my budget, acrylic floating frames that I felt wouldn’t be timeless, or the DIY versions just seemed beyond my capabilities. It’s crazy to go out and buy power tools as a result of buying a designer scarf, right? Another large concern for me was keeping the scarf in pristine condition – I knew I did not want to select any type of framing service that would damage the scarf in any way – whether that meant tapes, adhesives, or stitching to mount the scarf to the frame. Luckily, I found the solution – a snap front poster frame!
Snapezo had a frame that was the exact size I needed – 36×36 and they offered a variety of up to five colors in three different frame widths ranging between 1.2″ and 1.7″. I opted for the silver finish with 1.25″ profile. My favorite feature of this poster frame is that it can snap open easily so that if I want to wear the scarf, I can pop it out and wear it around town and then place it back in the frame. I couldn’t have been more thrilled that I found such a massively large frame and that it was on sale for under $100 including delivery to my home!
When it arrived the assembly was so simple! I started by carefully steaming my scarf and letting it dry completely. Then I placed the frame on the floor, popped open the four front panels of the frame, removed the clear cover, and placed the scarf inside, smoothing it as I went. Then I carefully recovered the scarf with the clear cover and snapped the frame into place. As the frame is very lightweight, as my final step, I hung two small hooks on the wall and hung it up on display.
The Final Product
It is such a beautiful addition to my Parisian-styled guest room. I love that the previous wear of this vintage scarf has altered its shape ever so slightly, away from a perfect square. You can see the details of the scarf’s edging peeking out within the frame and it brings me great joy reminding me of all of the hard work that went into creating such a stunning piece of art.
Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever framed a large scarf & what type of frame you settled on!
