Hi, I’m Kate 👋🏽
I write, edit, and sometimes launch start-ups – all fuelled by a fascination with Paris and the places where self-expression collides with culture, history and community. For over twenty years, I’ve been roaming the city, discovering and championing the people and places that give it its unique flavour – mapping liberté, égalité, fraternité in its many modern guises, led by restless curiosity and the thrill of the find.
“Long live the strange, new, true, and beautiful!” is the anthem that runs through my life here in Paris – my books, this Substack, Instagram and my days spent biking between Saint-Ouen, Saint-Germain, across the Seine, and back again.
Crash Course in Paris
My Paris origin story might begin in Crash magazine’s Passage du Chantier office, transcribing an endless interview-fleuve in French between singer-songwriter Christophe and Crash editors Frank Perrin and Armelle Leturq. A year spent there was a exhilarating initiation into the Paris art and fashion scenes.
From there came projects at Flammarion, editing illustrated books under Sophy Thomson; interviews with Philippe Parreno for Tate magazine (scoop: I’m the first android that makes art); covering Paris Fashion Week for Oyster magazine; and late nights with the wild British journos at Time Out on Rue des Martyrs. I still miss that crew.
DIY Publishing
When my Time Out era ended, I launched Gogo Paris (2005), my own English-language cultural fanzine, backed by Morry Schwartz, with great design by Labomatic and a memorable launch party at the Palais de Tokyo. The great James Murphy was our first cover star, and I went on to interview other legends like John Waters, Jane Birkin, Leïla Menchari, and even Kermit the Frog ! - plus publish Linlee Allen’s stellar horoscopes.
Leading up to the Gogo launch, at the release party for Colette’s The Chill of Colette compilation at the newly opened Musée Baccarat, a tarot reader told me success was a long way off, even invisible on the horizon…
Along the way, Gogo Paris evolved into Gogo City Guides, digitally driven guides to both London and Paris. Alongside the seasonal print editions, I launched iPhone apps in 2011, continuing to ride the wave of the DIY digital revolution -- with Wordpress, Twitter and Instagram part of the mix. Colette called us their favourite guide, and Le Monde, arty, quirky & sharp.
In parallel, I helmed sixteen issues of New London (Eurostar) magazine as Editor in Chief (2008–2013) with Technikart, commuting regularly to London, or embarking on a surreal 2011 work trip to Shanghai for Elite Model Look with Clodagh Kinsella.
Makers & Magic
An intimate 2014 concert with Patti Smith and John Cale at the Fondation Cartier remains vivid. Years later, Patti lent us a Polaroid of the Eiffel Tower from her Land 250 show to open and bless the first Makers Paris book. The same year, my “name in lights” by John Baldessari shone from the Monnaie de Paris rooftop ; that tarot reader was wrong!
For Le Bon Marché, I helped channel the city’s creative pulse for their storewide PARIS!; exhibition in 2016. With the FIAC art fair, the Art Basel precursor, we collaborated on annual city guides that turned Paris into a playground for the art crowd.
In 2019, I signed my first book deal with Prestel: Makers Paris, a collaboration with photographer Carrie Solomon, published in 2020. Gogo naturally morphed into Makers - Mkrs., then during lockdown, I bit off more than I could chew launching, with help from Vallejo Gantner, the Mkrs. Paris Shop – an experiment in chaos, creativity and courage. A follow-up edition of Makers Paris followed in 2022 with Ofr. Éditions.
Poetry over Business
What a thrill in 2024, to launch my latest book, The Paris Flea Market (Prestel), at Shakespeare and Company, where beautiful Sylvia Whitman connected its spirit with her legendary bookshop’s own bohemian ethos – words that remains close to my heart.
Today, the Paris flea market is a rabbit hole down which I continue to fall. I’m having fun sharing my insider knowledge through introductory tours designed exclusively for Airbnb Originals, but also on bespoke buying tours for decorators, designers and other professionals.
A Journey of Endless Connections
And here we are on Substack with Paris, Puces. – perhaps a late adopter, but embracing the magic nonetheless. Expect the best of : LIFE IN PARIS 🇫🇷 each week, plus expert intel and tips from the world’s most epic FLEA MARKET✨ Art, Fashion, Design !
Find out more here.
Grateful to have you along for the ride ✨
👉🏾And coming soon : a collab with my friends Alex and Michaela, The Ofr. Paris Cookbook brings together a melting-pot of Parisian creatives and foodies for a giant feast, slated for release by Christmas, or maybe later !
📚My books
My books, Makers Paris (Prestel, 2020) and Makers Paris 2 (Ofr. Éditions, 2022) grew out of more than a decade running the slow-travel pioneer Gogo City Guides (2005-2015). Both these books celebrate the Paris of artists and of ideas, the Paris of lovers and of families, the Paris of freedom.
The Paris we love is an open place, where there’s room for discussion, for projects, for dreams, and especially room for the heart!
These are the engines of a city.
Makers Paris #2
The follow-up to Makers Paris (2020, Prestel), Makers Paris 2 is a new homage to Paris and the community of people who bring the city to life, in a bilingual edition published by Ofr. Editions here in Paris, and with an illustrated preface by Lou Doillon
My latest, The Paris Flea Market (Prestel, 2024), is another stop on this journey of endless connections and a deep dive into the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen Paris flea market, the most epic junk, design, collectibles and antiques market in the world, located just over the other side of the ring road to the north of Paris. The New York Times describes it as “a celebration of the culture, history and oddball treasures of the market”.
The Paris Flea Market
Described by the New York Times as “a celebration of the culture, history and oddball treasures of the market”. Read the full profile here.
Kate van den Boogert ✌🏽
