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PARIS
DESIGN
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London, Milan, Amsterdam - For a long time, design florished in these cities. Apart from a few creators who had difficulties even having their furniture made in France - ask Philippe Starck - Paris was a design no man's land. Things have changed with the Young Turks who popped on the French scene just 20 years ago. François Mitterrand created a sensation when he asked a number of them - Starck, Wilmotte, Putman - to redo the presidential palace. The architecture review Intramuros remarked recently that there was a new vitality in design and an acceleration in the number of design and fashion stores (with the now famous "concept stores", they tend to be one and the same), "restaurants, cultural spaces, galleries, gardens designed and conceived by architectes, designers, landscape architects." Here are some of the best stores and addresses dedicated to design. They are really art galleries. You can just visit them to admire wonderful objects, just as you would go to an art gallery. They also give you a different flavor of the city. |
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Ecart
International
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Neotu
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| Founded by French design queen Andrée Putman in 1978, Ecart was the first to rediscover and manufacture furniture and objects from the greatest designers of the 20th century (Eileen Gray, Jean-Michel Frank, Robert Mallet-Stevens). It also produces furniture from contemporary designers. 111, rue Saint Antoine. 75004. Mo Bastille. 01 42 78 79 11 | If you had to get rid of all the design stores and keep one, this would be the one. Neotu was the pioneer. Its founder, Pierre Staudenmeyer, has consistently found the super stars of tomorrow. It often has wonderful shows. In June 2001, the one dedicated to French potery of the 1950's was superb. 25, rue du Renard. 75004. Mo Hôtel de Ville. 01 42 78 96 97 |
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Colette
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Comme
des Garçons parfums
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| The first of the French version of the "concept store", Colette is a store, an art gallery, a restaurant/tea salon, a retailer. Everything is beautiful, rare and expensive in a beautiful environment. The "Bar à eau" (water bar), downstairs, is one of the most elegant spaces in Paris. Should be on anyone's list of sites to visit. 213, rue Saint Honoré. 75001. Mo Tuileries. 01 55 35 33 90 colette | Every time Rei Kawakubo opens a new space, in Manhattan (Rem Koolhass) or in Paris, it causes a stir. The Japanese designer's new perfume boutique, with the glasswork done by Futur System, changes the rules for the perfume store. 23, place du Marché Saint-Honoré. 75001. Mo Pyramides, Opéra. 01 47 03 15 03. |
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Laguiole
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Mandarina Duck
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| If you cannot go to the village in Auvergne and visit the totally wonderful Philippe Starck designed factory(with its 18 meter high blade), you can visit the knife company's Paris store, off the Halles. The traditional knife which is also a symbol of great and simple design, has been transformed by its new owners. The store has knives designed by Starck as well as Sonia Rykiel. 1, place Sainte-Opportune. 75001. Mo Chatelet (exit place Ste-Opportune). 01 40 28 09 42 | The Italian luggage brand has always been careful on the design of its stores. But the new Paris boutique is the first one with a totally different design. It has been conceived by the avant-garde Dutch design firm of Droog design. Its fitting rooms, for instance, have fiber glass grass. Very spectacular and interestinSaint-Honoré. 75001. Mo Tuileries. |
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Toraya
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Calligrane
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This Japanese pastry shop can been looked at as a simple pastry shop or as a design temple. Toraya's mission is "to transmit tradition to posterity; to create traditional patisserie of the future." Toraya has been making pastry since 710, official pastry maker of the Imperial family. The Paris store has been designed by one of the low key stars of French design, Sylvain Dubuisson. Toraya is an illumination of the senses - the eye and the taste. 10, rue Saint-Florentin. 75001. Mo Concorde. 01 42 60 13 00 Toraya |
The three shops next to each other, are the refined temples of calligraphy and stationary. You'll find Japanese paper, but also Brazilian, Chinese, Thai or Indian paper. 4, 6 and 6bis, rue du Pont Louis Philippe. 75004. Mo Pont-Marie. 01 48 04 31 89
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L'Eclaireur
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Tortu
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| Armand Hadida was one of the very first ones to mix fashion and design, to sell in his boutique Galliano or Dries van Notten clothes and objects by Garouste + Bonetti or Ron Arad. The new Left Bank boutique in a 17th century "hotel particulier" blends old wood parquet and concrete. 3ter, rue des Rosiers. 75004. Mo Saint-Paul. 01 48 87 10 22 24, rue de L'Echaudé. 75006. Mo Mabillon. | Tortu is to flowers what Mozart is to music. Christian Tortu has transformed the traditional florist. His material is flowers but he is an artist. He sells flower arrangements as well as objects or sopas with oats and olive oil. His bouquet blend fruit, flowers, vegetables. Another place to look up just to be enchanted. 6, carrefour de l'Odéon. 75006. Mo Odeon. 01 43 26 02 56 |
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Asphalte
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Citadium
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| Near the Institut du Monde Arabe (check the top floor view), Asphalte is not among the star design boutiques but it is one of the most creative ones. Located far from the design boutiques and galleries, Asphalte offers original, affordable and enchanting designs. In a category of its own. 35, rue Jussieu. 75005. Mo Jussieu. 01 43 29 99 59 | The new generation of sporting good stores. Its selection covers every sport and everything from soccer shoes to watches and boards. Citadium has also DJ's and special events on its gorgeous three floors of smooth concrete just behind the Printemps department stores. Mo. Havre-Caumartin, Opera. |
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Courrèges
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Conran
Shop
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| The couturier revolutionized fashion with his futuristic clothes, in the mid-1960's. He has not changed and is now back in fashion. His all white boutique, near the Champs-Elysées made of steel, glass, soft aluminium, remains one of the icons of style. It is interesting to compare the design of the nearby Calvin Klein boutique (45, ave Montaigne. 75008. 01 47 23 62 22) and the esthetics of Courrèges. The Café Blanc, the extension of the boutique, is a nice place for a snack. 40, rue François 1er. 75008. Mo Franklin Roosevelt, Alma-Marceau. 01 53 67 30 00 | Sir Terrence Conran first invented design in every day life, with his Habitat chain, in the 1960's. Now, this bon vivant has branched out into restaurants (try his Alcazar, the very chic and BoBo temple. Wednesday evenings with the lounge music is a must. 62, rue Mazarine. 75006. Mo Odéon. 01 53 10 19 99). The 2 Conran shops offer a vast selections of objects for daily life - from Starck radios to Castiglioni sofas. 30, Blvd des Capucines. 75009. Mo Opéra. 01 53 43 29 00 117, rue du Bac. 75007. Mo Sèvres-Babylone (Note: we prefer this one by far, and the neighborhood is great. Have a sandwich or suchi at the delicious Grande Epicerie of the Bon Marché, across the street). Conran |
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Muji
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Purple
Institut
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| The company, founded in 1980 in Japan, brings beautifully simple design without logos and at reasonable price. Some people cross the Atlantic just to shop at Muji. You'll find notebooks, pens as well as clothes, housewares and great furniture. The colors are beige, translucid, grey. Muji is the incarnation of the Japanese concept of particularity and ethics. 19, rue Auber. 75009. Mo Havre-Caumartin, Auber, Opera. 01 43 12 54 00 27-30, rue Saint-Sulpice. 75006. Mo. Saint Sulpice, Odeon 47, rue des Francs Bourgeois. 75004. | It is one of these new places which would be hard to describe but is very influential despite its size. Places which start trends. First, there was Purple, a magazine published twice a year. Then the Purple Boutique which sells clothes as well as photography or CDs. Worth the detour, as they say in French. 9, rue Pierre Dupont. 75010. Mo Louis Blanc. 01 40 34 14 64 |
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Naila
de Monbrison
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Teisso
Antiquités
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| Naila could be in a category of her own. She is an art gallery, an artist's jewelery store or simply an enchanted corner of this universe. Egyptian born Naila has created almost 20 years ago a store dedicated to jewels created by artists. Everyone of her shows, announced by the elegant and minimalist light brown card, is stunning. It can be Line Vautrin, one of the foremost and most inspired jewelry artist of the century as well as necklaces made with pieces of stars found in the Libyan desert or rings made from polished stones found in rivers, with a silver band inside. 6, rue de Bourgogne. 75007. Mo Invalides. 01 47 05 11 15 | This is one of the best places to find industrial design objects: a 1930's mechanic's table, chest of drawers, 1940's cast iron tables. 81, rue Vieille du Temple. 75004. Mo. Hôtel de Ville. 01 48 04 59 07 |
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Designer's
day
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Avant-scène
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| Since 1999, all the left bank design stores stage a big show called "Itineraire Rive Gauche du Design", christiened 'Designer's Day', in 2001. The show is an opportunity to visit many of the avant-garde galleries which make an effort to show the design in its best light and to revisit some of the classics. To find out the dates and the list of the galleries, go to www.designers-day.com. Info: 01 42 59 73 40 | Elisabeth Delacarte has been introducing many of the new talents in her store near the Luxembourg. She likes pieces which combine humor, poetic sense and technical skills. Often the objects she presents are limited editions. 4, place de l'Odéon. 75006. Mo Odéon. 01 46 33 12 40 |
