Saturday, May 1, 2010

Organizing in French: Le Vide Poche

vide poche or valet tray

Google Translate tells me that vide-poche means empty-pocket, and vide poche means oddments - and Aquascutum Gifts tells me it's a valet tray. At any rate, it is indeed a fine "home" for the contents of your pockets - the change, keys, etc. - or things things like cuff links and other small jewelry. It looks like this might snap together - like the travel valet tray sold by Brookstone.


vide poche, leather

If you don't want black, Lucrin has vide poches in a range of colors - both square and rectangular versions.


vide poche, leather

And you can also get a colorful vide poche from Linley - in red, green, blue, violet, orange, black, camel and more. Again, both square and rectangular versions are available, but not in all colors.


vide poche

Of course, a vide poche doesn't have to come in leather. Here a vide poche from Pierre Deux in linen/cotton. (There's a rose-colored version, too.) Update on Feb. 19, 2014: Pierre Deux has gone out of business.


vide poche, porcelain, Aries

And then there are the porcelain versions. I'm quite taken with the astrological vide poches designed by Michel Hosszù; this one is Aries.


vide poche, porcelain, with elephant

This vide poche comes from Jacqueline Cambata Designs; there's a smaller version, too. Patrick's is one place to buy these online; they're quite a bit more expensive than the other ones listed here.


vide poche, decoupage

John Derian Company has an assortment of decoupage vide poches.


vide poche for children

And finally, here's a vide poche for children.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love my portable catch-all. I tend to lose and forget things, so for me, it's indispensible when I travel. It packs flat and is ready to hold all my little things like lip balm, hotel keys, and change. And its bright color ensures I don't forget to pack it home.

Jeri Dansky said...

Anonymous, thanks for sharing your experience! I had never really thought about packing something like this until I wrote this post; it's nice to hear that it works so well for you.