objets d’art

Posted by Jen
Saturday, January 02, 2010

Tonight, I was answering a friend’s email about Paris. She is taking her 15 year anniversary trip there this summer and I was listing some of my favorite things we did on our trip in September. It made me realize that I totally neglected to get anything up on the blog about that trip. It was such a fabulous trip, it is not to be neglected!

So, I will reminisce.

I told her that she must go to this Market. We spent most of one day there and it was not enough time. The husbands came with us and were more than patient (except for the one time that we spent approximately an hour at a shop browsing all the old buttons. They didn’t get it). The Vintage jewelry: a.maz.ing. Loved. Did not buy. Why? I am still shocked that I only made one purchase to bring home while in Paris. One. It was an Antique Accounting Ledger.

Really? Yes. I liked it. My husband is a CPA. He works for a French company. Shouldn’t he have an antique accounting ledger, written in French, with beautiful script that dates back to the 1890’s? I thought he should.

The shop where this ledger was found: Ghislain Antiques. We were fascinated. We got stuck. We couldn’t leave.

Ghislain is the one standing in between Gina and myself. I love his aesthetic. He stocks vintage, industrial antiques; finds from old factories and warehouses. He also designs and creates custom metal furniture, fixtures and display units. His work can be seen in Ralph Lauren in New York and Paris, Nicole Farhi in London, Bread and Butter in Berlin, and John Varvatos boutiques worldwide.

The Science teacher in me was drawn to these Scientific curiosities. Yes, those are metal eyeballs. From dolls.

We stayed until he closed up shop. Our new friend graciously offered to save us a metro ride (the ledger was heavy!) and dropped us off in the St-Germain district while giving us a mini-tour and making dinner suggestions along the way.

We’ll be back!

In thinking about the design of my future home (that I keep referring to and I don’t even know where or when that will be), I know I will be shopping Ghislain Antiques. I (we) can find his things in NYC, as well; at Center 44.


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