What are/is "belles choses"?

Belles choses are lovely things. In French, of course, because French is lovely.

belles choses, the blog, showcases things that I think are lovely. Things one buys.

Things are not sunsets, rainbows, and unicorns.

Often these belles choses will be predictably lovely; often they will be more conceptually lovely; often they will be expensive. Though I loathe the belief that price equals value (æsthetic or otherwise), it would be more than a little disingenuous not to say that quite a lot of lovely things cost quite a lot of money.

Yes, of course, genuinely lovely things can be reasonably priced; we can thank IKEA, Habitat, The Conran Shop, Muji, Design Within Reach, Braun, MINI, Rowenta, Rosenthal, H&M and even Target for getting that ball rolling.

But let's be honest. IKEA is nice: Cappellini is lovely. So is Artifort and Alessi, B&B Italia and the Bouroullecs, Commes des garçons and Cor, Droog Design and Diesel, Edra and Evisu, Flos and FCUK, Gehry and Gucci, Hermès and Fritz Hansen, Issey Miyake and Iittala, Japan.... You get the point. So expect a conceptually lovely $16,000 chest of drawers or a fashionably lovely $250 pair of jeans; but don't be surprised to find them along side an affordably lovely $149 queen size bed or a functionally lovely $7 keychain.

I suppose it does need to be said that if I owned, or had the means to own, these belles choses contain herein, I probably wouldn't be blogging about them to an expected audience of 12. In other words, I am not so vulgar as to try to impress strangers by flaunting my possessions to mask my profound insecurity. I am merely sharing with others the belles choses that enrich my life that may also enrich yours.

If all this seems, well, just a little superficial to you, I would suggest hitting the back button on your browser. The appreciation of lovely things raises the standard for everything in life. What you do and say; how you act and react; how you interpret; how you understand.

Think that was a stretch? Try this simple exercise:

Apply the criteria for a truly lovely chaise longue to your ex-boy/girlfriend:

• Was s/he lovely to look at? In the long haul? Did you discover new and delightful things about her/him every day you were together?
• Did s/he make your life better by being in it?
• Did s/he challenge your preconceived notions about beauty, tolerance, or your job in order for you to better understand yourself and others?
• Did s/he do what you hoped s/he'd do?
• Was s/he comfortable? Or were you so infatuated with her/his idiosyncracies that a little adjustment every once in a while was worth it?
  

Every one of these questions is as applicable to Jeffrey Bernett's Landscape, the chaise longue by B&B Italia as it is to the fool that broke your heart. Think about it.

The lovely things included will contain what I hope will be informative and illustrative commentary describing why they are belles choses and where to find them.

An invitation to all to comment and contribute is, naturally, happily extended.