It’s On: A La DoubleJ x Ladurée Tea Party

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Say the words “La Double J” and “Ladurée” aloud and you realize instantly how inevitable the two companies’ collaboration was. The result—which has to be the chicest tea set of all time, not to mention a trove of best gifts ever—was designed in-house by La DoubleJ in a tree of life pattern celebrating the sacred feminine in gorgeous, exuberant curlicues and wild explosions of color, hand-painted onto Italian porcelain. The patterns continue beyond the twelve-piece collection (there are dishes, teacups, saucers, an apron, a goodie jar, and a magnificent teapot) onto matching Ladurée macaron boxes. We of course had to get our hands on all of it. Under the wide branches of the blooming cherry trees in Ladurée’s NYC garden, we got all the details (and outfit inspiration) from Ladurée USA co-president Elisabeth Holder, who worked with La DoubleJ founder J.J. Martin to create the collection.

“I knew J.J.—and loved her clothes and her world,” says Holder. “We knew we wanted to do something together, so last year, just before the pandemic hit, we met in Milan at her showroom. We both had been thinking about goddesses and feminine power, and she had been working on this idea with the tree of life. I have twins, and I’d just given them these little medallions with the tree of life engraved on them—everything just fell into place. We were on the same wavelength.”

Martin’s tree of life print explores themes of motherhood, fertility, and the spiritual concept of the sacred feminine. “Feminine energy is a mysterious, quiet, receptive, feeling-based energy,” says Martin from her base in Milan. “It’s not trendy in our culture, but now more than ever, it’s what we all must cultivate within ourselves—regardless of gender.”

The two began work in the early stages of the pandemic. “It was such a strange year, but this was one thing that went so smoothly,” says Holder. “We’d send things back and forth easily. The process was a joy—meaningful and connected, more than just collaboration.”

Traditionally associated with fecundity and abundance, the tree of life made sense for both brands: Since 1862, Ladurée has piled enticing dessert over gorgeously sugared sweet in its tearooms (the Chinoiserie-plastered space in Saint-Germain was Paris’s first tearoom) and designed ever more elaborate boxes to house macarons in every color of the rainbow. Since 2015, La DoubleJ has celebrated maximalist patterns and colors in a fresh, ever more modern way.

La DoubleJ’s dessert plates are already famous (and a goop obsession), and we want every single one of the new prints: The butterfly symbolizes rebirth; the woven motif, the sacred feminine circle; the rose, the seeds of life; and the heart motif, openheartedness. The moon represents a sleeping mother reaching full resplendence in her monthly cycle. They come in sets of two, or a mixed set of six.

Sets of seven and thirteen macarons come in La DoubleJ–printed confection boxes (you can get them only at Ladurée stores) or piled atop the dessert plates in Ladurée tearooms. Beneath the cherry blossoms in the SoHo garden, the effect is enchanting. “We are so lucky to have this garden—it’s just full of customers (we’re open to 50 percent capacity inside),” says Holder. “People want to celebrate.”