As part of a new homeware range, toile - de - Jouy king four of these confections - taken from Louis XIV engravings of figures dressed in the accoutrements of their trades - are.

DO YOU mind if I take off my shoes? Christopher Moore, whose name has for decades been synonymous with toile de Jouy, greets me in his London flat on an unseasonably sweltering day. Perched at the top of an unprepossessing tenement block in Hammersmith, his small set of rooms comes as a wonderful surprise; a jewel box lined with toiles of every colour, it has already graced the pages of this magazine. But now things are in comparative disarray - around 12 years ago Christopher moved to Delhi, leaving his pan - piping rustics and cupids to frolic on the walls undisturbed except for the odd flying visit. So the Indian - summer heat and the bare feet seem appropriate for our meeting.

We are sitting in what was his bedroom, now his cosily cluttered studio, its walls still papered with the raucously bucolic LOffrande а Г Amour, a toile designed in 1795 at Jouy by Jean - Baptiste Huet. It was the first reproduction Christopher did, in 1990, and still my bestseller, he says. And it was in that same year that Interiors first featured me: they did a little thing on my shop in Ledbury Road, in the days when I sold only antique toiles. Between us, we really got the whole toile fever going. Ever since, first with 18th - and 19th - century originals, then with reproductions from his impressive archive, Christopher has remained the undisputed doyen of the printed French fabric. There was "the linen lady", "the ticking lady", and me, "the toile man". The nickname came in handy when he needed an address for his website: I discovered there was already a Christopher Moore in use, and he seemed to be having great success as a porn star, he chuckles. While that sobriquet still stands, his plan chest, piled high with hand - printed ikats, indiennes and chintzes, reveals the more recent Eastern influence. Creatively you can do so much in India, says Christopher, who has a team of ten or so printing with him in Delhi. Its this facility that will enable him to launch, in the new year, Christopher Moore at Home, a range of fabrics, wallpapers and, for the first time, furnishings - including fully dressed four - posters: Tm going to go OTT with canopies! he warns.

For this new venture Christopher has sought inspiration in finds from antique dealers and auction houses. Tonight, he says excitedly,Ive got a man from France coming with an 18th - century dress box. Its lid, he explains, is covered with an original print portrait of a Provencal beauty, and the rest is lined with a chintz, hand - painted in India. This object will be the starting point for the Provencal collection in his new range. Similarly, it was an old volume of prints that yielded the charming tea towels on these pages. Thirty - six in all, the plates were originally engraved in Paris с 1695 by French artist Nicolas de Larmessin and Dutchman Gerard Valck, and published in a series entitled Les Costumes Grotesques et les Metiers. Reminiscent of the bizarre fruit - and - veg portraits by Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo a century earlier, these whimsical images feature figures composed of the tools and products of their trade or profession. In each illustration a serene, classical face gazes proudly out, apparently unaware of the joke the rest of us are enjoying. Here we have the Parfumeur, his skirts hung with breath - fresheningpastilles de bouchey his chest supporting shelves of pomades de Rome et de Florencey left hand clutching ball - shaped savonettes de Boulogne like an effeminate Hercules holding the apples of the Hesperides. Theres the Paticier, whose limbs are armoured with a batterie de cuisine, while in place of his stomach is a furnace steaming with confections. The Jardinier is a Vertumnus, Roman god of the seasons, with a headdress of pomegranates, with scythes, hoes, rakes and secateurs slung over his shoulder, and a gardeners almanac in place of his chest. In the background is a landscape of grand parterres straight out of Versailles. He has his unkempt, rustic counterpart in the vine - draped Vigneron.

Theres a nice link to the toile, Christopher points out, as these works would have been engraved on copper plates by the same sort of people as engraved the toiles. He has so far printed 12 of the 36 original designs, in indigo, sepia, burgundy and a dark, foresty green. Other habits include the Tailleur and Pescheur ; theres even a Remouleur Gaigne Petit, or itinerant knife - grinder. Whats that you say? No Toile Man?