Mobiles, Monograms & Second Acts – A Week in Paris
Celebrating life in Paris, Paris Makers, and the strange, new, true and beautiful – forever!
🎪 Celebrating the centenary of the artist’s arrival in France, and 50 years since his death, a sweeping retrospective now on view at the Fondation Louis Vuitton brings together nearly 300 works tracing Alexander Calder’s lifelong exploration of movement as a kind of “fourth dimension” of sculpture. The exceptional survey returns to Calder’s deep ties with France, where he arrived in 1926 and quickly became part of the Paris avant-garde in Montparnasse. It was here that he created his now-legendary Cirque Calder – on loan from the Whitney – a miniature circus that feels like the origin point of his entire universe. Don’t miss!
💌 New on the Palais-Royal, a luxury stationery boutique from Paris maker Ramdane Touhami. Papier Royal aims to revive the lost art of printed correspondence, channeling the spirit of 17th-century French scribe Charles Mavelot. Papier Royal offers bespoke monograms, business cards and stationery produced on historic machines – embossing, stamping and letterpress presses – sourced from the historic printing workshops Touhami has acquired over the years in France and beyond. The company’s slogan, Materiam Superat Opus, taken from Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses, translates as “the work surpasses the material” and reflects Touhami’s dedication to craft and the handmade.
🎸 The party continues for the legendary Bus Palladium, which has just reopened as a hybrid 5-star hotel, club and restaurant, with owner Christian Casmèze partnering with the Chapitre Six group. A temple of Parisian rock in the 1960s–80s – Mick Jagger celebrated his birthday there in 1966 – the venue has been completely reimagined by our friends Studio KO, who has layered brutalist form over the ghost of the original club, blurring its rock DNA with contemporary luxury. The restaurant is overseen by chef Valentin Raffali, who signs a short seasonal menu centred on exceptional French produce, running from breakfast through to late-night service at the bar.
🐻 Coinciding with her major survey currently on view at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, 91-year-old British artist Rose Wylie celebrates her first solo show in Paris, Henri, Egypt… Bette, Bear at David Zwirner. The exhibition of new and recent canvases, multi-panel works and works on paper reflects her long fascination with Henri Rousseau – reworking his dreamlike imagery through her own collage-like language of pop culture, memory and art history. At the centre is Homage to Henri, Bette and Bear, where Rousseau’s painting Unpleasant Surprise is reframed in Wylie’s signature mix of wit, distortion and visual storytelling. The cherry on the cake? The original painting is on view at the Musée de l’Orangerie, part of its current Rousseau exhibition.
🎬 And finally, the 2026 Cannes Film Festival programme is now fully set, with final additions completing a line-up that already signals an interesting year under jury president Park Chan-wook. James Gray’s Paper Tiger, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, joins Competition, while Pedro Almodóvar returns with Bitter Christmas and Ira Sachs presents the musical fantasy The Man I Love. Queer slasher film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun and produced by Mubi, will open Un Certain Regard, while the more crowd-pleasing French film La Vénus Électrique from Pierre Salvadori opens the festival, hors compétition. And like each year, Paris stays in step with the Croisette with Le Louxor screening the opening film in sync with Cannes, on 12 May, preceded by a live red carpet broadcast.
Thanks for reading :)
Kate
[ BOOK RELEASE ] The Ofr. Paris Cookbook, a collab between Mkrs. and my friends at 0fr., celebrates the joy, ritual and radical hospitality of the Parisian table. We’ve invited 25 special guests – our friends, collaborators and heroes – to share a recipe, and reflect in a thoughtful Q&A on their relationship to food, cooking and life around the table. The book reveals the city in surprising ways – open, diverse, globally connected, and alive with possibility!
👉🏽 In stock at 0fr., other good bookshops in France, and on French Amazon
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 will eventually be paywalled, but Life in Paris will remain 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!