Design with the Heart™
The belief that beauty, intention, and heritage belong in every corner of a well-lived life — and that how we design our days is as important as how we fill them.
A Philosophy Not a Formula
Design with the Heart is not a method or a set of rules. It is a way of seeing — rooted in French heritage, shaped by nearly forty years of lived and professional experience, and created for women who understand that a beautifully designed life does not happen by accident. It is built slowly, with care, and with the heart..
Five Principles
Beauty is not decoration. It is intention made visible.
Heritage is not nostalgia. It is the wisdom of what endures.
Gathering is not entertaining. It is the design of human connection.
The home is not a backdrop. It is the most personal statement a person makes.
Design is not a skill. It is a way of seeing.
Design Through the Boutique
Every object in the Merze Boutique was chosen through the lens of Design with the Heart — for its heritage, its craftsmanship, and its capacity to bring beauty and intention into everyday life. Belgian linens, French market baskets, antique confit pots, and artisan pieces selected not because they trend but because they endure.
The Design Eye
Four times a year, The Design Eye offers a single image, a quiet observation, and one design principle drawn from the season. Not a tutorial. Not a trend report. A curator's way of seeing — shared with women who believe that how we live matters.
Spring 2026 — Gathered from the Garden
The morning after a heavy rain, the garden rarely looks its best. Stems bent. Blossoms were weighted down. The hydrangeas that had taken all summer to reach their deepest blue suddenly fell. I went out anyway with scissors in hand, French market basket over my arm, and gathered what the storm had left. What I brought inside that morning was more beautiful than anything I had planned.
Read the full essay — Gathered from the Garden →
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From the Journal
Design with the Heart comes to life throughout the Merze Journal in essays on French-inspired living, seasonal design, intentional gathering, and the objects that make a home feel unmistakably personal.