Puces Portrait: Valérie Bouvier & Antoine Nouvet
At the forefront of the revival of 1980s design at the Puces, Remix Gallery is helping to bring a once-overlooked decade back into focus.
This interview is excerpted from my book The Paris Flea Market (Prestel, 2024), described the New York Times as “a celebration of the culture, history and oddball treasures of the market”.
A duo in life and work, Valérie Bouvier and Antoine Nouvet have been at the helm of Remix Gallery at the Marché Paul-Bert since 2015, among the first dealers at the Puces to champion 1980s design and contribute to its wider reappraisal. Their stand reflects a shared sensibility shaped by that decade’s visual culture – bold, inventive and irreverent – alongside a deep knowledge of its key figures, in France and beyond, from Philippe Starck and Andrée Putman to Alessandro Mendini. Regularly reconfigured, their display evolves with each visit, guided as much by instinct as by research, and rooted in a practice of chiner they describe, above all, as a game. Their story mirrors a broader shift at the Puces, where twentieth-century design has come to the fore, in line with evolving tastes, gradually overtaking period furniture and decorative arts, once the lifeblood of the market. Their activity extends beyond the Puces, with Remix regularly curating themed exhibitions in central Paris and participating in major design fairs such as the PAD.
