To Paris With Love with artist Jules François

Sydney artist Jules François has been a devoted Francophile for as long as she can remember and now her life’s passion has given birth to a beautiful book.

One of Jules FranÇois’ earliest memories is of arriving in Sydney as the eldest of six children of a migrant family and living with her maternal grandparents. While most of the family was Scottish, her grandfather was from Brittany and he introduced a French sensibility to the mix. “As well as me and my siblings there were nine adults in this household and they were all obessed with food and music,” she recalls. “While they all influenced my upbringing, unquestionably the most important figure in my childhood was my uncle, Harry.”

IMG_8447 copy IMG_0029 copy

It was Uncle Harry who took Jules to ballet when she started classes at the age of four. The studio was located on top of a pâtisserie and as a post-class treat he would always buy her a palmier biscuit. It was Uncle Harry also, who took the then five or six-year-old to the Art Gallery of NSW and introduced her to the French masters. “I remember standing in front of Luminais’ Sons of Clovis and deciding on the spot that I needed to find out the precise colours he had used so I could recreate that magic,” Jules recalls. “I don’t know what I would have become without his influence, but I have no doubt that he made a significant contribution to my evolution as a ballet- and food-loving, Francophile artist.”

IMG_0035 copy IMG_0037 copy

By the age of 10 Jules had also decided she was going to live in France. In a sense she did, as for 22 years she was married to French chef François (Franck) François. Their life in Sydney was punctuated by annual northern winter visits to France, starting in Paris and touring the countryside catching up with family and friends over countless aperitifs and fine meals.

IMG_8460 copy IMG_8454 copy

“When I met François he was the chef of a celebrated Sydney restaurant, Au Chabrol,” she recalls. “But he really became a Sydney legend when we opened La Gerbe d’Or, a pâtisserie and boulangerie, in 1982. That bakery gave me such a wealth of people who came from all over Sydney to buy his bread and pastries.”
François ran La Gerbe d’Or for 31 years, during which time it became a landmark for the queues of French expats and lovers of fine food outside the tiny Paddington store. In a neat twist of fate, Jules recalls a group of Sydney Dance Company dancers lived in the flat about the bakery and would always drop by for pain au chocolat and coffee first thing in the mornings.

Although the marriage ended, Jules says she owes François enormous gratitude for sharing his lifestyle and encouraging the mentalité Française that is such an important part of her life today. Jules studied fine arts, but she says she really found herself as an artist when she attended classes given by the renowned abstract artist Charlie Sheard. These days she gives classes herself in the studio above the Red Door Gallery, which is part of her home in the inner-Sydney suburb of Summer Hill.

IMG_8472 copy IMG_8476 copy

The complete story was originally published in Australian Country issue 20.5. Click here to subscribe to our magazine.

Click here for more creative corner stories.

Words Kirsty McKenzie
Photography Ken Brass

More Like This

The Great Ocean Road’s Greatest Stays

The Great Ocean Road’s Greatest Stays

The Great Ocean Road is famous for the 12 Apostles and iconic rugged coastline, but there’s a whole lot more to […]

The Blooming Legacy of Treloar Roses

The Blooming Legacy of Treloar Roses in Portland Victoria

Just outside Portland Victoria, at the edge of the great ocean road, sits approx. 50 hectares of paddocks that are quilted […]

A Rising Phoenix: Rae and Guy spent 15 years developing their garden in the NSW Mid-West

The spectre of the bushfires of summer 2019 looms large over the garden at Keewaydin, the home of Rae and Guy […]

What Goes Around: Susan Duncan has learnt that the secret to life is as simple as surrounding yourself with good people

If the accepted wisdom about adversity revealing a person’s true colours is correct, Susan Duncan’s bushfire plan delivers the full rainbow. […]

A drive through the seaside town of Victor Harbor

A Sunday Drive: A drive through the seaside town of Victor Harbour, SA

This house has been waiting for me,” Tania Norman says as she recalls a conversation she recently had with a tradesperson. […]

On the bright side: Find a work-life balance in Victoria's high country

On the bright side: Find a work-life balance in Victoria’s high country

Find a work-life balance in Victoria’s high country: when Matt and Britt White decided to return to Australia after years living […]

A bed and breakfast with warm tones and wooden features, Hospitality Haven: Creating a home away from home for visitors to India

Hospitality Haven: Creating a home away from home for visitors to India

Creating a home away from home for visitors to India, as Caroline Gabriel recalls returning to India at the end of […]

Light and airy contemporary living space in Victoria's picturesque Hepburn Springs.

A New Stage: Aussie actor transformed a cabin in Victoria

Aussie actor transformed a cabin in Victoria Hepburn Springs, Hannah Fredericksen is not normally one to sit still. She chases her […]

Follow Us on Instagram