Passage Du Grand-Cerf PERHAPS the LAST BASTION of FRENCH ARTISANAT in the CENTRE of PARIS, and POSITIVELY THRIVING ONCE MORE… Words & Photography: Jeffrey T Iverson
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PARISIAN WALKWAYS people ❙ pleasure ❙ places Passage du Grand-Cerf PERHAPS THE LAST BASTION OF FRENCH ARTISANAT IN THE CENTRE OF PARIS, AND POSITIVELY THRIVING ONCE MORE… Words & photography: Jeffrey T Iverson 1. L’ILLUSTRE BOUTIQUE 2. POUR VOS BEAUX YEUX 3. GUILLEMAIN PARIS 4. MAISON GREFFEUILLE 5. ATELIER LULLI 6. MARILYN FELTZ 1 passage du Grand Cerf 10 passage du Grand Cerf 10 passage du Grand Cerf 120 rue Saint-Denis 18 passage du Bourg l’Abbé 17 passage du Bourg l’Abbé +33 1 77 16 35 82 +33 1 42 36 06 79 +33 01 42 33 91 54 +33 1 42 36 73 61 +33 1 45 08 55 56 +33 1 40 26 39 48 Paris has plenty of haughty art galleries and A glasses shop like no other, PVBY resurrects Holed away for years in the jewellery workshops The first gourmet boutique from the Aveyron The last cabinet-maker in the heart of Paris, Ivan Isn’t high-quality, handmade, affordable designer interior decorating franchises, but Marguerite forgotten overstock to offer authentic, never-worn, of famous fashion houses, Didier Guillemain family that made l’agneau Allaiton the favourite Lulli brings pride and artistry to a disappearing clothing a thing of the past? Marilyn Feltz Villotte’s boutique/gallery dedicated to vintage frames dating back to 1880. Fashionistas finally struck out on his own in 1998. Elegant, lamb of three-star chefs. Laurence Greffeuille profession in a workshop founded by his father proves otherwise, with her 100 per cent Made in contemporary French illustrative art constitutes will melt for original Ray Bans and Dior’s first original, and decidedly avant-garde, Didier’s offers such delights as artisan Roquefort cheese, half a century ago. Lulli’s custom designs, made France prêt-à-porter. Inspired by classic cinema a new, welcome niche. Her short-run prints, creations; historians and cinephiles will swoon collections now sell at Galeries Lafayette and genuine aligot potato purée, gâteau à la broche, from the finest woods, have won him a clientele silhouettes and assembled in central Paris using charming stationery and cards by French artists for the spectacles of Gandhi, Teddy Roosevelt or BHV, but he still warmly welcomes clients at his and their stupendous lamb, to enjoy at home or as of discerning taste, from designer Pierre Cardin to Calais lace, Lyons silk, and Pyrénées mohair, will thrill art-lovers longing for something original. Marilyn Monroe. Grand-Cerf workshop. deliciously prepared sur place over lunch. actress Catherine Deneuve. Marilyn’s collections celebrate French savoir-faire. “COME, LOVERS OF Paris, come parisien was more than just a precursor “It’s true we all kind of have the France, but with the Restoration of shared a common vocation with in 1998, some of the shops still had to Passage Brady all filled with furs, to to the shopping mall, it was a vision French touch here,” laughs Adrien the monarchy in 1814 came an era Grand-Cerf: two proud caryatids there bare concrete floors. “It was pretty Passage du Grand-Cerf dressed in its of the ideal city: beautiful, industrious, Plotegher of the vintage glasses shop of resurgent prosperity and creativity. represent industry and commerce, sauvage,” Guillemain recalls. “It was delicate lace of ironwork, to Passage genteel – and mud-free. But of the 20 Pour Vos Beaux Yeux (10 passage Between 1815 and 1825, the number and up top, in place of a coat of arms, an odd mix of people. There were Sainte-Anne, whose guardian is a cat, or so covered passageways remaining du Grand Cerf). “We are each in of patents sky-rocketed. The Passage figures a hive surrounded by honey button makers, hat makers and fabric to Passage du Havre, where one strolls in Paris, few have kept the spirit of their our small way representing forms of du Grand-Cerf was designed for this bees. And for decades, they were merchants that had come over from the before paintings of horses and piles of early years like Passage du Grand-Cerf, micro-innovation, that deserve to be new, industrious Paris, not only to buzzing indeed. Unfortunately, as the Sentier (garment district) nearby.” For collar buttons… Come, and under these a circa-1825 arcade on the edge of the discovered.” Indeed, in Passage du showcase wares, but also for actual passages fell out of fashion, they fell Guillemain, who had spent his career crystal canopies, far from the clamour fashionable Montorgueil neighbourhood. Grand-Cerf, a Paris one might have production and craft. A towering into disrepair. By the 20th century, the working in backroom ateliers for big outside, hear in the passing of time the Little-known, though just minutes thought disappeared long ago lives on. metal structure allowed for three full state of the Grand-Cerf’s glass roof fashion houses, the Grand-Cerf offered beating heart of the city you love.” from the Pompidou Centre, Passage du In 1825, the “Roulage du Grand Cerf” levels – space enough for boutiques, was so perilous the passageway had the chance for independence. “Here I Those words, by the novelist Maurice Grand-Cerf, with its smaller, adjoining company building on Rue Saint Denis, workshops and residences. to be closed. Then, in 1985, a buyer could present my own creations directly Bedel in his 1947 Les passages arcade, Passage du Bourg l’Abbé, At Khara Tuki, Fanny former terminus for the stage coaches Just across Rue Saint Denis from came forward and undertook the major Marilyn Feltz designs and to public, in the centre of Paris.” parisiens, still resonate today, such a is lined with workshop-boutiques of Roux de Badhilac creates of the Messageries Royales, or royal the Passage du Grand-Cerf begins the renovation needed to usher the historic sells unique clothes made And soon Guillemain had company. quintessentially Parisian invention the jewellery makers, designers, couturiers jewellery inspired by far mail service, was demolished to make Passage du Bourg l’Abbé, inaugurated arcade into a new era. from only the finest French “Since the rents were low, the passage away places and times materials covered passageway is. A 19th-century and carpenters. It’s a veritable oasis of way for a new kind of covered arcade. in 1828. The pair of sculptures guarding When jewellery craftsman Didier drew many young designers who adaptation of the Arab souk, le passage craftsmanship à la française. The Napoleonic wars had bankrupted BLANC IMAGES: © BELLOROPHON, PATRICK its entrance confirm that Bourg l’Abbé Guillemain set up his workshop here normally couldn’t have afforded ➻ 42 Subscribe at www.francetoday.com Subscribe at www.francetoday.com 43 PARISIAN WALKWAYS PARISIAN WALKWAYS “The Passage du Grand-Cerf is once again the ‘quartier artisanal’ it was intended to be” passageway is Feltz’s neighbour Ivan even the Napoleon III-era wood lathe Lulli. Atelier Lulli (18 passage du isn’t just there for show. One of Lulli’s Bourg l’Abbé) was founded in 1965 by creations leaning against the back wall Ivan’s Italian immigrant father, a gifted catches the eye: a breathtaking tree of artisan who worked metal and wood. life Lulli sculpted to fit between the oak Growing up in his father’s workshop, planks of a parquet floor, with leaves in Ivan proved to have an exquisite mahogany, branches in wengé, and a talent for cabinet-making. Over the trunk in zebrano. Lulli created an even last 38 years he has developed a larger version, several metres in length, Adjoining Passage du Grand-Cerf is the smaller Passage du Bourg L’Abbé dedicated clientele including actors for the floor of a wealthy client on Rue and fashion designers. “His work is Saint Honoré. their own boutique – even today, it’s still designs by French artists. “From the simply magnificent,” says Guillemain For Lulli, it’s not just nostalgia that very accessible compared to expensive organic beauty shop (De Marseilles of Lulli. “With his know-how, his draws people to his workshop. “People commercial streets.” Guillemain’s et d’ailleurs, also 1 passage du Grand mastery, his artistry, his principled, feel a need to return to what’s important neighbours include Eric Semain and Cerf) to the jewellery shops creating rather cantankerous ways, for me he today, they want authenticity in their Lydie Chabot, founders of Eric et Lydie everything themselves, there is a lot represents the French artisan.” lives. Balzac once said, ‘The café (7 passage du Grand-Cerf), a highly of Made in France here,” says Villotte. Not that Lulli has much competition. counter is the people’s parliament.’ And successful vintage-style jewellery brand, “And I think we all share a desire to “Unfortunately, I’m the last woodworker workshops, like cafés, are places that made famous in part thanks to the preserve traditions and savoir-faire that in the centre of Paris, so people are bring people together.” patronage of French couture magnate have become rare today.” often shocked when they stumble upon What future for these passages, Christian Lacroix. Another designer to Across Rue Saint Denis, Made in this place,” says Lulli. “The workshop is these bastions of industry and artistry, get noticed by the fashion world for her France is rapidly becoming the calling a magical place, we all had a father or these colourful corridors of life? It’s nice jewellery designs is Cécile Boccara card of Passage du Bourg l’Abbé. The grandfather who was a craftsman, and to imagine that the Passage du Bourg (8 passage du Grand-Cerf), who has start-up Les Petits Frenchies opened there’s always an ambience or aroma l’Abbé’s lovely old barometer, a jewel collaborated with the likes of Valentino.