Louis Lemieux is the passionate proprietor of a fabulous new  shop BluePrint CT Home. He has filled it with curated furnishings and objects for the home. by beth aviv

Residents and visitors of the Northwest Corner will have another reason to celebrate on July Fourth weekend. A new design emporium called BluePrint CT Home will open its doors on Saturday, July 1 in the town of Litchfield. Conceived by the ever-so-charming Louis Lemieux, the business is a haven for decorators, collectors, homeowners, and design aficionados.

Richard Ginori, David Odaka, Russell Wright, Sortini, Jere, Simon Hasan, Daisy Cooper, Christiane Perracho, Johanna Howard, Murano, Mark & Fold, Suzani, and Holmegaard… just some of the names of artists and artisans collected by Lemieux. Italy, England, Tel Aviv, Canada, India, Pakistan, Macau, Japan, New York, Denmark, Melbourne, Turkey, France, Uzbekistan, Majorca, Westport… just some of the places where Louis Lemieux finds the wonderful pieces he has to offer in what was once a blacksmith shop in the courtyard behind the post office. Rings to tie the horses’ reins still hang from the brick walls – now painted a warm ivory.

Lemieux proudly takes Murano glass from a shelf and tells how each piece is unique. He holds an Imperial glass – a tumbler covered in a gold Shoji pattern from the 50s or 60s. He points to white and blue-rimmed plates by Richard Ginori – the same plates his parents ate from as they traveled the world in the foreign service. There are green Russell Wright sculptured glasses, and porcelain Japanese tea cups made in Tel Aviv by David Odaka – so light and delicate. There are carved wooden horses, a Buddha, a lion, a leather Chesterfield sofa, a metal butterfly wall sculpture, an iron bull – all finds from either his parents’ travels or his own.

Born in Germany while his parents were stationed in Poland for the US Foreign Service, Lemieux was raised in Africa and Asia. Over the years his parents filled their homes with beautiful things – and Lemieux followed suit, collecting as he traveled and lived abroad. “I have found things with a soul, a history, and a story,” he says. “Things that were not mass produced.”

Indeed, mixed with the old collectibles are items he’s recently discovered that were created by working artisans: painted pottery from Turkey, brass table-settings from Westport, gloriously soft Afghans woven in the US, Mark&Fold stationary, journals from Japan, needlepoint pillow covers from Uzbekistan, a copper pot from Russia. An old, very tall apple ladder leans against a wall; a porch swing hangs on sailor’s rope from the ceiling—both from Maine.

Lemieux’s eclectic tastes were forged by his peripatetic life style – first with his parents as they represented the State Department all over the world, then on his own. After getting business degrees from Thunderbird and Harvard, he worked for Ernst & Young as a consultant. He’s lived in Boston, London, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Brazil, and New York. He’s always gone into back alleys, bazaars, the medinas, and flea markets — and found things to live with and to offer as gifts.

Lemieux wants to tell stories about the pieces he has discovered. His shop, he says, is not a museum. It’s not an antique store. He simply wants to bring quality things from the past and present, pieces designed and made by creative artisans into his store and make them available to others. According to Lemieux, the name of the store, BluePrint CT Home, suggests building a thoughtful plan for your home that reflects who you are.