As René Hue approached the restaurant table to meet a new acquaintance, she held out her business card. It was nestled in feathers contained in a small glass box.
Curating just the right elements and artfully presenting them is what Hue does, even when offering a business card, which in this case featured letterpress printing on a thick card stock with silver hand-painted edges.
The genesis of Hue’s business, MURMURATION LTD began 24 years ago as a couture invitation design studio that embraced the preservation of vintage processes and artisanal techniques such as engraving, letterpress printing, and embossing, featuring them on unusual papers and carefully chosen objects. Her designs and products were chosen for stationery collections offered by Neiman Marcus and other specialty retailers and Hue was soon being approached for her ideas on how to plan events with the same sensibilities.
In its newly inspired incarnation, Hue remains the renowned designer behind the company dedicated to the fine ‘art of play’ where each invitation, accouterment, design-scape or celebration resonates with a client’s personal voice. Each carefully designed vignette tells a story and creates memorable moments of emotional and visual impact. Hue’s redesigned website launched this fall, showcasing her skill and design ethos.
Murmuration is the word that describes the flight of flocks of starlings that choreograph intricate patterns of cohesive flight in unexpected but always interconnected patterns. Hue likewise brings together a fusion of vintage and contemporary elements into a design or event that delights, and often surprises, her clients.
Some of the unique presentation derives from Hue’s deep understanding of numerous vintage and contemporary printing and engraving techniques.
“Our artisan team can print on anything,” she says. “Three-dimensional, votives, candles, soaps. I think of a way to create ensembles, to pull everything together. I am trying to create an art form. I don’t do cookie-cutter weddings. The events I curate, whether large or small, express generosity of spirit and love and hope for the future, with the traditions that are important to the participants.”
As important as the end result, Hue also offers “simplicity and a lack of stress” for clients by supervising contractors and suppliers and helping with choices about every aspect of a celebration.
Hue is successful, she says, when guests leave an event filled with warm memories and impressions of beautiful moments. Even when the event is as small as lunch and an exchange of business cards.
“As an artist, you don’t just present a business card,” Hue says. “It’s a powerful reminder. When the lunch – or the event – is over, those impressions are what your friends and acquaintances remember.”