My maid of honor is an incredibly talented florist. She used to work selling fresh bouquets in one of the beautiful passageways of central Paris but has recently decided to go off on her own and become an independent florist. Here are some photos of her amazing work for our wedding ceremonies in Paris and in Spain. Contact her if you are looking for incredible flowers in Paris.
I really like this crazy nordic fashion video, makes me want to get dressed up and brave the cold while walking backwards! Autumn/ Winter collection by Vanessa Bruno. Film by Stephanie di Giusto starring Kate Bosworth shot around the Slovenian lake Bled.
Berlin based Pictoplasma project of contemporary character design and figurative art is coming to Paris. From December 7 to 31 la Gaîté lyrique presents a comprehensive program with installations, exhibition, artist conferences, performances, screenings and loads of Character! VISIT THE LA GAÎTÉ FOR MORE INFO AND TICKETS
Opening next Monday is the first ever French retrospective devoted to the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose work concentrates on pattern and repetition, particularly a trademark polka-dot motif, and which maintains a considerable influence on contemporary art, from Andy Warhol to Mike Kelley. The French manifestation of this major travelling exhibition puts emphasis on Kusama’s sculpture and her experiments with colour represented by her monochromes. It will map the key points in the artist’s career, illustrating the protean nature (painting, sculpture, performance, environments…) of her work that the artist herself describes as ‘obsessional’. This characteristic is strongly connected to a childhood memory, a hallucination that stands at the root of her recurrent motif of the dot. “My life is a dot lost among thousands of other dots,” she has said. After an introductory section featuring her early, small-format works, notably a number of watercolours never yet seen in Europe, marked by a certain Surrealist influence, the exhibition falls into two major periods: exile in New York, and the return to Japan after 1973. Centre Pompidou, rue Beaubourg, 4th. M° Hôtel de Ville or Rambuteau. www.centrepompidou.fr
Michele Norris of NPR talks to Michael Mackenzie, U.S. markets editor at the Financial Times, about Europe’s deepening debt crisis: how it started, what the global markets can expect and what that all means for the U.S.
MICHELE NORRIS, host: As we just heard, the Eurozone crisis has been unfolding for more than a year. But the story involves so many different countries with different levels of economic health and very different political agendas that it’s easy to lose sight of the problem, where it began and how we’ve come to this point.
To give us a refresher on the fundamentals of the Eurozone crisis, we’ve called on Michael Mackenzie, the U.S. markets editor for the Financial Times. Mr. Mackenzie, welcome to the program.
MICHAEL MACKENZIE: Thank you.
NORRIS: Now, for clarity’s sake, I’d like to think of the crisis as a spider web. And let’s start at the center. I’m assuming that the spider in this web right at the center would be Greece. Explain what would happen to that web if Greece does finally default.
A new indie concept store has just opened in Paris near Montparnasse. As its name suggests, the shop is commited to selling beautiful things made by people with a story to tell. Their international selection of design, decoration, accessories includes hand-made postcards by Paris designer Picrobulle, ceramics by Belgian creator Roos Van de Velde, or the Branca chair by Italian furniture manufacturers Mattiazzi. And from the end of the month the shop transforms into a gallery, exhibiting a new series of works on paper ‘God & Country’ by Paris based artist Matthew Rose for a month from Tue 30 Aug. 20 rue Delambre, 14th. 11am-8pm (closed 2-3pm); 11am-2pm Sun. Closed Mon. www.storieblog.com/
The cover art for Björk’s hotly anticipated new album Biophilia, released 27 Sep, has been shot by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and with art direction by Paris design studio M/M. Quoting Björk herself, her ambitious new multimedia project is “an album, an app, a live show and a new website…” and explores the intersection of music, nature and technology. The first single and app is called Crystalline and has a music video by another French talent Michel Gondry, see below. The live show premiered at the Manchester International Festival in June, and will tour the world for the next 2 years, click for tour dates near you http://bjork.com/
by the way, the maison is currently running a competition via their website to win a private tour of Jeanne Lanvin’s office in Paris. www.lanvin.com/
Summer’s over for the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. As we heard elsewhere in the program, market pressures that have been plaguing the European Union, mainly pressing on Greece and Italy, are now creeping toward France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy.
Teri Schultz continues our coverage.
TERI SCHULTZ: Sarkozy had warned his government ministers not to venture far on their vacations, in case they needed to beat a quick path back to Paris for meetings. He finally rushed back from his own Riviera holiday yesterday as international speculation that France could follow the U.S. in losing its AAA credit rating caused a huge sell-off of banking stocks across Europe.
The European debt crisis is being blamed for a run on the shares of French banks. The stocks tumbled on the Paris stock exchange Wednesday, amid fears the country’s AAA credit rating was under threat. Government officials and the banks said the fears were based on speculators spreading rumors.
I’ll be getting married at the end of the month!!! We are having a ceremony in Paris and a Celebration in the Costa Brava. All this wedding organization means I’ve been spending much more time looking at lacy whites, romantic photos, dramatic gowns and vibrant flowers. Thought I’d share some wedding inspiration!
Few cities in the world are more identified with their subway systems than Paris. One of the busiest metro systems in the world, it carries more than 4 million riders a day on some 16 lines to 300 stations. The Chatelet stop in Place St. Opportune, in the heart of Paris was one of the very first stops built for the very first line in 1900. It’s also the world’s largest metro station, with five metro lines and three commuter lines running through it. One of the original archways keeps the art nouveau metropolitan style that’s the hallmark of the Paris Metro.
Standing inside the station, author Mark Ovenden says the style was the creation of “an amazingly young architect” named Hector Guimard. “He had the idea of building things out of this wonderfully laced wrought iron that looks like it’s kind of grown there, almost organically — the way that trees grow or that plants grow. It’s a very organic-looking form and quite advanced for its time.”
Ovenden is co-author of the book Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations and Design of the Metro. He believes the contrast between the Metro’s ornate entrances and the formality of the surrounding boulevard gave the city some sense of nature. That might be one reason that Parisians grew fond of their Metro so quickly, he says. “They were also so totally unique.”
In the late 1800s, Paris was well behind London and New York in building a metro system. Visitors to the 1889 Grand Exhibition that featured the Eiffel Tower had to ride a horse and buggy to get there — an embarrassment that spurred the completion of the Line 1 in time for the World’s Fair in 1900. Built in 20 months, this first line of the Metro connected all the major Paris attractions.
For this one-off live show, French DJ and sound artist Chloé goes beyond the domains usually explored by the world of electro. Demonstrating her passion for the Dada and Surrealist movements, Chloé has developed a plural electro-acoustic flow “Chasser Croiser / The Surreal and it’s Echo”, where archived documents and the voices of the most important Surrealists of the 1920s resound and come together to create electricity. The musical piece is accompanied by an artist’s book, published by DisVoir, featuring photographs, manuscript excerpts and other ephemera, which serves as the echo to the live show. Grande Salle, Centre Pompidou, rue Beaubourg, 4th. www.centrepompidou.fr/
Here is a list from Cote Maison of the best design and home goods shops in Paris and their participation in the sales.
Pourquoi on aime : un des meilleurs sites de décoration en ligne. Que l’on soit branché déco pop, design ou brocante, il y en a pour tous les goûts. Coup de coeur pour la rubrique petits prix pour se faire de jolis cadeaux déco sans se ruiner.
En général, niveau remise ça donne quoi ? Jusqu’à – 50% sur une large gamme de produits allant de l’accessoire déco au mobilier.
Site internet : www.decoclico.fr
Pourquoi on aime : le mobilier de créateur, les lignes ultra contemporaines, et le design deviennent accessible, enfin presque !
En général, niveau remise ça donne quoi ? Ici, pas de remise faramineuse mais déjà de quoi se faire bien plaisir avec jusqu’à 50 % sur une sélection de produits. Mais Conran sait être généreux avec les gens peu raisonnables qui craquent sur les produits non soldés et leur offre – 15%.
Site internet : www.conranshop.fr