Best Book to Buy While in Paris- International Design Magazine’s 2013 Paris Design Guide

On my most recent trip to Paris I came upon the essential guide for any designer or lover of art to have during their time in Paris. International Design Magazine’s 2013 Paris Design Guide beautifully describes the newest and best designed showrooms, hotels, cafes, shops, galleries, and bookshops that Paris has to offer. With over 300 places you can visit, it’s hard to even scratch the surface. The book is separated into chapters by Paris’ 20 districts making it very user friendly. Each district has its own chapter that begins with a map showing the exact location of the showroom, hotel, etc. The information given about each designed space tells you just enough about the space to make you want to go visit for yourself.

I visited two locations in the 1^st arrondissement with the help of this guide. The first was Le Café Marly which is nestled into the north end of the Louvre museum, with outdoor seating under the arcade of the Louvre. The space boasts not only beautiful design, but a splendid view of the Ming Pei’s Pyramid. The design of this space was inspired by Napoleonic interiors, featuring Empire colours on the walls, ceiling, and furniture detailing.

The second place I had the opportunity to visit in the 1^st arrondissement was Hotel Lumen. Designed by Claudio Colucci, this space has a unique mixture of elegance and quirk. The designer incorporated the baroque look with a modern twist by choosing whimsical furniture and unexpected finishes. As its name suggests, Hotel Lumen incorporates light in a soft while contrasting way that warmly draws guests into the space.

Another amazing place that I was able to see with direction from this book was located in the 5^th arrondissement. La quinacaillerie is a handle and knob boutique located just down the street from Notre-Dame. Featuring the best international suppliers of door and window handles and furniture knobs, it’s hard not to fall in love with them all. The store displays the best and most functional handle designs of the world. The white walls and simple wood floors makes the space feel more like an art gallery than a showroom.

The last place I was able to visit thanks to the help of this book was in Paris’ 7^th arrondissement. Café Campana located in the Museum D’Orsay has a beautifully modern design. The Campana Brezilian brothers have incorporated whimsical modern design into a Parisian architecture shell. Gold pendants made of gold shards, textured turquoise methacrylate panels, and twisted orange metal partitions give many layers to a fun design. The design of Café Campana seems to give a nod to the impressionist artists who greatly influenced Paris and the world.

The design continues even into the menu graphics

I highly recommend the 2013 Paris Design Guide to any designer or lover of the arts. It allows you to feel the pulse of creativity in Paris in a user friendly way. I will never go to Paris without it again! Happy travels.

Food as Design – Paris Maison et Objet Show

On my trip to Paris’ Maison et Objet show this January, I was overcome by the creativity of the French people. Art, design and architecture surround you as you walk the streets of Paris. The Maison et Objet is an international trade show where all the newest design products and ideas are presented to designers around the world. I was lucky enough to have a few days to wander around the trade rooms and displays. One of the most intriguing and memorable displays was this year’s inspirational trends show. The artists took inspiration directly from “ancestral foods” and turning them into unexpected artistic displays. Designers Scholten and Baijings created food such as lettuce, cabbage, and artichokes from only fabric and stitching. The displays looked so real you had to look twice to see that they weren’t the real thing. The time it took to create the delicate stitching on the leaves of the lettuce leaf alone is unimaginable.

Another refreshingly creative display was a wheatgrass wall display. The horizontal bands of bamboo wood inset with wheatgrass are a unique way of incorporating a “green” wall into a space not yet seen in Sacramento.

The root vegetable chandelier display was whimsical. The artist took the black color of the ceiling and continued it partially down the vegetables giving the display an unexpected depth.

The final installation at the show that really inspired me was a honeycomb vase. The vase was formed entirely from honeycomb. Behind the display was a video playing on a loop of honey bees inside a hive. With Sacramento and most of the United States facing a sudden loss in bee population, the display brought to light the importance of bees to our lives.

The Maison et Objet show was just one aspect of my most recent trip to Paris. I have many more stories to tell. Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram to see more.

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