Hi, and welcome to Paris, Puces. 🇫🇷
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✨ Two hundred years ago, French engineer and inventor Nicéphore Niépce used a camera obscura to capture the view from a window at his family property in Burgundy and, after several days of exposure, succeeded in fixing an image of the world onto a tin plate. His Point de vue du Gras, made around 1826–27, is the oldest surviving photograph – a modest image that changed the way we see. The Bicentenaire de la Photographie is celebrating the revolution Niépce’s pioneering image inaugurated, with museums, galleries and cultural institutions across France joining a year-long programme through Sep 2027. Watch out for exhibitions and events at the Bourse de Commerce, Jeu de Paume, MEP, Le Bal, BnF, Paris Photo etc.…
🌿 Paris creative powerhouse @ElsaMuse opens Apoticari, an elegant botanical counter and tisane house at 39 rue des Gravilliers. The Paris outpost of her new Born-in-Auvergne green beauty brand gives herbal infusions the setting they deserve, with carefully sourced plants selected according to terroir and season, alongside herbal blends, signature drinks and Apoticari’s natural skincare collection.
😢 Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran’s final Uniqlo U collection, for Fall/Winter 2026, launches globally on Friday. The tenth anniversary collection brings another iteration of their elegant take on “Future LifeWear Essentials”, with the signature cuts and subtle palette that have defined their decade at the brand. If the collab is ending, Uniqlo U is set to continue minus its founding artistic directors.
🪑 Paris makers Moustache mark Paris Design Week with the opening of a new showroom, the launch of Bloc, a one-piece armchair designed with Dutch designer Aldo Bakker, and an exhibition inaugurating Moustache Collectible, a new curatorial project putting pieces from the Moustache collection into dialogue with works spanning design history, from Enzo Mari, Shiro Kuramata and Ettore Sottsass to Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Formafantasma and Wieki Somers. On view 10–15 Sep at 10 boulevard de Magenta.
👑 And finally, the Galerie d’Apollon – the infamous site of last year’s jaw-dropping jewellery heist – reopens at the Louvre. The precious objects and jewels that survived the theft have now been removed for good, leaving the room to shine on its own painted and sculpted decoration for the first time in more than a century. Built more than 350 years ago and embellished over two centuries by the likes of Le Brun and Delacroix, the royal gallery famously served as the model for Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors.
Thanks for reading!
Kate
Welcome to Paris, Puces. on Substack. 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 !
On Mondays: Life in Paris postcards - a curated mix of sights, bites and delights, celebrating Paris Makers, and the strange, new, true, and beautiful, forever!
On Fridays: Flea market intel - in-depth guides, behind-the-scenes stories and practical tips (this content is now paywalled, but Life in Paris remains free).
👉🏽 After years exploring the Puces de Saint-Ouen and researching for my book ‘The Paris Flea Market’, I now share that insider knowledge through bespoke buying and research tours – for collectors, decorators, architects, or anyone who wants to explore the markets with a deeper eye. Hit me up!