French Funerals & Cremations
French Funerals and Cremations has been updating its media messaging for the past few years. It was time to address the interiors and give them a fresh new look! The color scheme of the graphics was black lettering on white with a bright chartreuse diagonal band. Fresh. Clean.
A very well-respected family-owned company and pillar of the Albuquerque community for decades and generations, French always offered a professional, comfortable, quality environment and experience in times of great need. While prior interior design had presented a heavy, traditional, perhaps even a European manor-house or villa feel of a then-popular “Tuscan” trend of brocades and tapestries, with artwork featuring florals, gardens, and urns, this new approach was to refresh and lighten the spaces and overall environment.
Our approach was triggered by Patti saying, “this place – while formal and once lovely – feels dead.” Yes, there was a pun intended. With that, the tired silk trees and plants were removed and replaced with live plants on a regular maintenance schedule to insure they look fresh and at their best.
The thought process to treat this specialized interior design project comes from practical, professional experience paired with the very personal experience dealing with the very challenging business and emotion – of loss. Conversations of death in our culture is a sensitive if not brutal subject – often/usually to be avoided. So, we tackled it with all those thoughts in mind – to make this experience more uplifting.
The new color scheme lightened the creamy yellow painted wood trim throughout with a clean, crisp white. Brocade draperies trimmed with gold braided fringe were removed and replaced with white plantation shutters. The backdrop began to brighten and lighten. Walls were also lightened with putty tones allowing the trim to “pop” and delineate the details.
Artwork was replaced with images of New Mexico and regional themes adding a personal connection to where we are and for whom we are here. Many outdoor scenes invite guests to escape for a minute from their present location or prompt opportunities for fond, familiar, memories of time and place in this area.
Because the original furnishings had been chosen with quality in mind and a good timeless, traditional feel of comfort and warmth, they were retained and when placed against the new backdrop of walls and white trim were set-off nicely and added balance to the new, light, space. It was refreshed and open – yet grounded.
All upholstered pieces were re-upholstered with new fabrics – commercial-grade for ease of maintenance yet handsome weaves and textures to further add comfort to the seating and viewing areas.
New, custom, case-pieces of functional, handsome, knotty alder workstations were designed and built locally by PATRICIAN DESIGN for the administrators who manage much and greet guests upon arrival. Other custom cabinet work included two new kitchens, a consultation desk, and end tables to match existing where additional pieces were needed to complete the furnishing needs.
The public restrooms were remodeled with lighter colors and finishes creating a pleasing environment in which to conduct necessary business and escape for a private moment to regroup, reflect, and resume.
The reception room where gatherings are held for services and celebrations of life also had the furniture retained with new material on the seats to add freshness and lightness. A woven green and white easy to maintain material gives a garden/patio feel – more out-of-doors to further eliminate the feeling of being enclosed and without a connection to the outdoors.
The chapel is a magnificent space. It needed some improved lighting and several options – some structural – are being considered. Meanwhile, we painted it a lighter color and added shutters at the interior windows from the foyer. New fabric was selected for the cushions on the pews and kneelers. The carpeting that was newly added throughout the facility, continued in this space. Non-denominational, this chapel with its handsome oak pews and exposed framework of the vaulted ceiling, is a comfortable, comforting space for family and friends to gather with speaker podiums and all the accoutrements of a desired service.
Massive glass doors for each of the exterior entrances are still pending arrival. They will further contribute to lightening the spaces and connecting indoors to outdoors. The exterior was also addressed. Patti worked with Endean Sign Company to update the large sign on the façade at the main entrance, the monument sign out by the street and myriad other way-finding and identification signs inside and out.
Another level of thoughtful detail was Patti’s idea to name the rooms. Rather than numbers or generic descriptions, she felt that it would be further comforting to have names for the viewing rooms – like Sandia, Manzano, and the chapel was now to be Cielo Azul Chapel. The reception room became the Rio Grande Reception Room. Familiar names add identity and further familiarity. New interior signage was crisp and easy to read.
New light fixtures replaced existing around the entire exterior of the building with a still lantern-like design – but larger and with simpler lines.
She suggested and had a patio built outside the Chapel entrance to allow guests to gather before, during, or after a ceremony. A pair of custom concrete tables and benches complement similar cast concrete benches which were retained around the exterior. The addition of large umbrellas gives a softer feel to the area and protection from the sun for those who choose to avoid the direct exposure while enjoying being outside in nice weather – of which there is so much in New Mexico!
Also, outside Patti ordered large, brilliant chartreuse glazed pots to create a welcoming statement flanking the entrance and punctuating the exterior with year-round live plantings of abundant color and texture – again, more fresh living things to greet guests as they arrive to navigate difficult times.
