From the top to the bottom, from the left to the right, Thuy, Giao, Kate, Lam, Gaby, Hoa, Nhan, Duyen, Bon, Phien, Binh, Isa, Tuyen, Chien, Nga and Van.
All the staff of Velvet Underground wish you a
….. It was his last day of kindergarden in a little primary school called St Merri who’s play ground was the famous fountain at the George Pompidou Centre in very heart of Paris. We were to embark on our new life in Vietnam. Busy packing making plans and feeling somewhat unsure of our new life ahead.Thomas came home from school and held up a well loved brown velveteen rabbit with red striped pants and a paisly shirt.
”My teacher give it to me mummy” he proudly proclaimed in his best two year old’s english.
“Are you sure darling?” I said, ” it looks like a bunny that is very loved and may be there is a little boy or girl in your class who will not be able to sleep tonight if it is not in their bed?”
“no mummy” he said, ” my teacher really give it to me”The next day I held him by the hand as i gave the bunny back to the teacher.
” I am sorry my son brought this home by mistake yesterday. Which little girl or boy does it belong to?”
“It was mine!” she said, It used to comfort me when I was a child and I wanted Thomas to have it when he moved to Vietnam to remind him of me and our little school.”I went home humbled that day, and a little ashamed of myself. Teachers are very special people and little boys don’t necessarily lie.
We have reproduced this bunny in all our favourite soft velvet colours because we know how special his soft ears feel next to little boys cheeks in a warm cosy beds.
We are in search of this teacher, it was in 1995 or 1996. That’s why we traduce this anecdote in French.
A ces instituteurs si particuliers partout dans le monde…
…..C’etait son dernier jour de classe a la maternelle de l’ecole Saint Merri, a cette epoque, la cour de recreation etait la celebre fontaine du Centre George Pompidou , situee au coeur de Paris. Nous allions nous embarquer pour une nouvelle vie au Vietnam. Occupes a preparer les cartons et faire des projets, ressentant un certain doute concernant notre vie a venir…
Thomas revint de l’ecole serrant un Lapinou marron, en velours habille d’un pantalon raye rouge et d’une blouse imprimee.“Mon institutrice me l’a donne Maman” proclama-t-il fierement du haut de ses 2 ans dans un anglais parfait.
“Tu es sur Cheri? lui demandais-je.”Ca ressemble a un Doudou qui a recu beaucoup d’amour et peut etre il y a un petit garcon ou une petite fille de ta classe qui n’arrivera pas a s’endormir ce soir s’il ne l’a pas dans son lit?”
“Non Maman” me repondit-il. ” Ma maitresse me l’a vraiment donne.”
Le lendemain, je lui prit la main pendant que je rendais le Lapinou a l’institrice.“je suis desolee, mon fils l’a rapporte a la maison par erreur hier.A quelle petite fille ou petit garcon appartient-il ?”
“C’etait le mien!” me repondit-elle, il avait l’habitude de me reconforter quand j’etais enfant et je voulais que Thomas le prenne avec lui quand il demenagerait au Vietnam pour se rapeler de moi et de son ecole maternelle.”
Je rentrais a la maison pleine d’humilite, et un peu honteuse de moi. Les instituteurs sont vraiement des personnes particulieres, et les petits garcons ne mentent pas toujours…
Nous avons reproduit ce Lapinou dans toutes nos couleurs preferees de velours parce que nous savons combien c’est precieux ce lien magique qui unit les petits Lapinous aux oreilles douces et les petits garcons aux joues roses, la nuit dans leurs lits chauds et doulillets.
Nous sommes a la recherche de cette institutrice.
Alors nous postons un avis de recherche!
We decided to update our photo data base for the new website that Isabelle is working on for us with Julian, the web graphist http://www.duografikmedia.com/. 
We called upon our favourite photographer Na Son Nguyen www.flickr.com/photos/nasonnguyen who has worked with us in the past came along with his assistant and their various sized cameras, tripods and the other paraphanalia that goes into turning product into two dimensional magicical works of art.
It was a very busy day, we transformed the boutique so9 www.boutique.so-9.com into a studio and got busy ironing and fussing and creating sets for the photos. In the mean time the photographers fell in love with our bunnies and we learned that bunny jokes are a cross cultural thing!
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