Dad's Day

Father's Day is Sunday, June 15th which is just around the corner!  Mignonne is the place to find all the dads in your life that special something.  We have great body products for men, including L'Ome shaving line and masculine scents of soap and lotions.  We also carry interesting books that the fellows too will enjoy, whether their interest is in all things environmental/green, travel, cocktails or chef's delights.  

Many of our beautiful works of art would also make a handsome treat for dad.  Be sure to check out Gary Comoglio's (one of Mignonne's featured artists) paintings and prints when you come by.  

If you can't decide upon just the right thing, Mignonne offers gift certificates so he can come on in and select his own gift.

Now Open Sunday!

We are delighted to begin opening Sundays, 12 noon until 7:00 p.m., starting this Sunday, June 4th.

With summer upon us, and new neighbors moving into Old Oakland every week, we have decided to expand our hours to accommodate customers for the entire week-end.

We look forward to assisting you in finding just the right décor item or unique gift from our large variety of new and vintage wares. 

Our new hours are Tuesday through Friday 11:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12 noon to 7:00 p.m.  See you soon!

Check out Mignonne's New Window Design!

At Mignonne, our windows have always been a great neighborhood attraction.  Recently, we decided to extend our commitment to local artists to include creating opportunities for young aspiring artists to demonstrate their creativity and gain experience in décor merchandising.  We have introduced a rotating, 3-month internship for design and art students in our local community.

Our first participant, Mallory Vogel, is a visual communications major at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in San Francisco.  

Mallory has a passion for design and décor and just completed her first window for us in her internship series, shown in the slide show above.

Mallory applied a paint technique to the window to achieve a frame effect reminiscent of a Parisian diorama.

If you know of a local artist or student in the area that would be interestested in our program, have them contact us.

Mignonne Welcomes New Artists.

Oakland artist Nicole Hanshaw seeks to show us beauty in the details.  She creates multi-textured collages using items found in everyday life and faraway travels ... from snakeskin and sheets of old music to snippets of ribbon.  She draws on Russian and French heritage to merge Old World romanticism with a modern sense of fancy.  Birds, poetry and music are prominent in her work, symbolizing the freedom and emotional resonance that art can deliver.

Born and raised on the East Coast, Hanshaw has lived in the Bay Area since 1989.   She's worked in product development for The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston creating gifts based on the museum collection, and for the Nature Company and Imaginarium, where she developed toys and science gifts for children. She lives in Oakland with her husband and two children.

We're delighted to offer several pieces from her series "Flights of Fancy" now through the end of June.  Don't miss it!

By changing colors and constantly challenging his completed works, Gary Comoglio is able to create a body of prints that captures the interplay of light to evoke different moods and emotions in the viewer.

He employs European, American, and Japanese techniques to produce the final printed image. Using linoleum as the base material, Gary hand prints all his own prints, the majority of which are one-of-a-kind.

"I am dedicated to creating unique images drawn from my surroundings, and mastering precise technical skills in carving and hand printing. My art is inspired by images from my daily life: I focus on simple beauty, brilliant colors, and strong composition."

Gary's prints and oils can be viewed at Mignonne until the end of May.

New Vintage Décor Items are Here!

Johnelle just arrived home with a number of new items for Mignonne. She is returning from a trip assisting her mom and partner, Kimberlee, prepare for her move abroad to Brantôme, France. Later in the summer, once Kim is established, we'll be bringing in new items directly from France to add a unique flavor to the shop.

Pictures are coming, items include a very collectible selection of vintage roosters and chickens, done in porcelain. Also, over a dozen teacups and saucers of English bone china (Royal Albert, Staffordshire) and one or two from occupied Japan.

One or 2 new vintage furniture pieces ... a mid-century french provincial style ladies' desk with embossed leather touches.

Coming soon are several vintage painted furniture pieces ~ keep checking back for updates!

Read more about Kim's French adventure at her blog, "Non. Je ne regrette rien".

Soap milling explained.

Mignonne features several lines of high quality soaps. Many of our customers ask us just what the different terms mean ... such as "triple milled", "hard milled", "French milled".

Soap milling is the process of shredding apart prepared soap and then putting it back together using high pressure and rollers. When this process is done 3 times, you get "triple milled" soap. By milling, the fragrance, color and ingredients are more evenly distributed throughout the bar. It also improves the texture of the soap, resulting in a harder bar and longer lasting soap.

French milled soap refers to a process using heat and cold. The rollers used to mill the soap are controlled with hot and cold water and help make the soap bars milder and longer lasting.

These processes, combined with high quality ingredients, are used to create the lines of soap Mignonne offers.

You can find the following French bar soaps in our store:

~ L'epi de Provence, with 100% shea butter, is our most popular soap. We rotate fragrances with the seasons.

~ Doux, handcrafted in small batches using shea butter, olive and palm oils with natural Provencal fragrances.

~ Savon de Marseille, one of the oldest traditional soaps from France, having been made for over 1,000 years. Since 1688, French law has required that only soaps produced using ancient methods can bear the name "Savon de Marseille". These soaps take two weeks to make. We feature square blocks of fragrant soap with crushed local flowers (lavender blossoms, rose, verbena) and natural oils incorporated into the soap.