Thanks to Google Alert this morning, I discovered Zwicky le Chat, the mascot of the Parisian home furnishings shops Fleux’, first on a cushion:
(#1)
The brief item descriuption:
La tête de Zwicky, le chat mascotte de Fleux’, sur un coussin La Cerise sur le Gâteau!
The Cherry on the Cake!
(#2)
The Fleux’ stores (fabric furnishings, kitchenware, furniture, lighting, garden accessories, design accessories, and more) are at 39 and 52 (across the street from one another) Rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie 75004 Paris. They are super cool and often whimsical.
I’m guessing that the store name is a portmanteau of fleur ‘flower’ and flux ‘flux, change’, plus a playful ornamental apostrophe, but I could be wrong. And I haven’t the slightest idea why the mascat (I’m sorry, that was irresistible) is named Zwicky. Does it sound fashionable (alluding, say, to Zwicky thread — recall the moderately famous cat poster by Donald Brun for the thread company — and/or the Swiss designer Stefan Zwicky)? Or, more likely, is it seen as a “cute” and somewhat silly name?
In any case, Zwicky le Chat is the public face of the store for its 10th anniversary, and appears in quite a few items, including those cushions, plus lamps and boxes and, most remarkably, in an origami cat (available in pink, gray, and mint green). Yes, you have to assemble it yourself (instructions included):
(#3)
Zwicky, Le Chat en Rose
