Monochromes, Modern Rituals & Montmartre – A Week in Paris
Celebrating life in Paris, Paris Makers, and the strange, new, true and beautiful – forever!
🎂 Founded in Belleville in 1936 and still entirely family-owned, French tennis shoe brand Spring Court is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year! Festivities include a capsule of its iconic G2 model (the same model worn by John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their wedding in Gibraltar btw), and to launch the capsule – available in 4 bright monochromes – Spring Court has unveiled this joyful campaign starring retired dancers Jo Ann Endicott, Elisabeth Clarke and Lutz Förster of Tanztheater Wuppertal, longtime collaborators of Pina Bausch. It feels fitting for a brand whose greatest luxury, according to the three Grimmeisen sisters now running the company, remains “independence”.
PS Florence, Laura & Théodora Grimmeisen of Spring Court are featured in Makers Paris 2 (Ofr. Editions).
🍷 Coffee shop by day, wine bar by night, La Cordonnerie is an understated new place set up by seasoned chef duo Jonathan Schweizer (Café Les Deux Gares, Le Goncourt) and Nora Hauber, out in the Gambetta neighbourhood. The simple, flavour-driven menu riffs on smørrebrød from Hauber’s German heritage – pickles with dill butter, obatzda with smoked paprika, rillettes, anchovies with beetroot and horseradish, sauerkraut and crème crue, and taleggio with endive and pear – paired with a curated list of “very natural” wines. Fun.
⚽ Our friends the Paris Makers Macon & Lesquoy have transformed their workshop a few steps from Place des Vosges into an atelier-boutique open to the public. Both shop and creative studio, the space offers a curated selection of rare embroidered pieces, including one-off samples and fashion items customized in-house, alongside the new collab with Paris Saint-Germain, arriving just in time for the Champions League final between PSG and Arsenal at the end of the month! 3 rue Saint-Gilles.
✨ Now on view at the Grand Palais, Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Temple (1906–1915) marks the first major monographic exhibition in France dedicated to the pioneering abstract artist, whose work radically reshapes the chronology of modern art. Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, she developed in parallel a conventional figurative practice and a secret, spiritually driven abstract body of work informed by theosophy and spiritualism. Long predating Kandinsky and Malevich, her bold geometric compositions – first revealed to the public in 1986 – reassert her place at the origins of abstraction.
📸 And finally, our friends Eddie and Virginie of Fotoautomat – who save and operate some of the last black-and-white analogue photo booths in the world – have unveiled a first digital + colour booth, marking a new chapter for their project. Open at 4 rue Androuet, just around the corner from their original Montmartre location – opp. the cult grocery in Amélie Poulain – the luxe new booth introduces warm-toned, high-end prints on thick fine-art paper, housed in a custom-built solid oak storefront. And of course, our favourite booth, their first, remains proudly in place at the Palais de Tokyo. Open daily 8am-11pm.
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 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!