Hi, and welcome to Paris, Puces. 🇫🇷
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📚 One of the city’s best bookshops, After 8 Books has just moved from Rue Jarry to a bigger space five minutes away, at 41 rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin – packed for its opening party last week. Both independent bookshop and publisher, it champions printed matter at the intersection of art, culture and theory, with a handpicked selection of artists’ books, exhibition catalogues, essays, journals and zines across six categories emblazoned on its new façade: NON FICTION, FICTION, ARTS, CRAFTS, POETICAL, POLITICAL.
🎨 Following the major survey at the Fondation Louis Vuitton earlier this year, Alexander Calder’s centenary celebrations - marking 100 years since the artist’s pivotal arrival in France in 1926 - continue with Calder: François Premier at Hauser & Wirth focusing on a particularly productive period in 1953–54, when Calder returned to live in France after two decades in the US. “A changed life like that might give me new ideas”, he told a journalist before setting sail. “With new tools and new materials, there could be new art.” Inspired by the landscape and his 17th-century stone house in a small village in the Loire Valley, he embarked on bold new experiments in sculpture, gouache and ink.
🧦 Husbands has a brand-new flagship in a quiet impasse in the Haut-Marais, opposite one of the Perrotin spaces, bringing its full menswear wardrobe under one roof following the closure of both the Rue de Richelieu and Rive Gauche boutiques. From sharp, double breasted suits, to Chelsea boots, flared jeans or the perfect belt, founder Nicolas Gabard’s vision of contemporary menswear takes cues from style icons spanning Iggy Pop and Francis Bacon. Alongside ready-to-wear, the house offers a demi-mesure service with signature cuts and exclusive fabrics, all designed to last. 3 impasse Saint-Claude, 75003
🌾 The first monographic exhibition for the Fondation Cartier since moving to the Palais-Royal a year ago is this major show by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama, reflecting the institution’s longstanding commitment to showcasing contemporary African art. The Harvest Season takes over the entire space, bringing together monumental installations by Mahama and works by nine invited artists and collectives. Known for reworking materials and fragments of industrial heritage to explore Ghana’s colonial and postcolonial histories, Mahama also draws on the cultural utopias of African independence in the 1950s and ’60s to imagine possible futures for the continent.
PUCES PORTRAIT | MAKI HATTORI
After years working as an embroiderer at Montex, the historic Chanel-owned atelier now based at 19M, Japanese-born Maki Hattori has turned her longstanding passion for objects into a new chapter, opening a first stand at the Puces. Her intimate, eclectic mix spans antique and modern objects and furniture, paintings, books and clothing, chosen for their materials, colours and unexpected affinities. Nothing is tied to a particular period; it’s all about personal taste and the pleasure of bringing things together. As she explains: “If I like it, I like it.”
BY MAKI, Marché Paul Bert, allée 5, stand 239, @antiquity_bymaki
🎧 And finally, local hero Lou Doillon is back with I Try My Best, her first original release in seven years following her last album Soliloquy in 2019. Co-produced in California with American songwriter Jonathan Wilson, it’s the first single from a new album slated for next spring.
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!