4. GALERIE GLÉNAT 22 rue de Picardie Tel: +33 1 42 71 46 86


Julien Brugeas is as enthusiastic about this gallery as its founder, Jacques Glénat, the leading French independent publisher of ‘BD’ (bandes dessinées or comic strips). The exhibitions of original BD works rotate fast, every three weeks on average, offering exposure to a plethora of artists.


France, to which the likes of the Rues de Bretagne, Picardie, Normandie and Poitou bear witness. Situated across the street from the Café Charlot, Le Marché des Enfants Rouges is the city’s oldest market and dates back to 1615. The ‘boys in red’ were the inmates of an orphanage on the nearby Rue des Archives. The girls’ orphanage —Les Enfants Bleus — was situated by the Musée Carnavalet, then the home of the celebrated Madame de Sévigné, who reported that “the good little girls were very well behaved”. After several years of closure and a tough battle to save it, the market


5. MATIÈRES D’ART 2 rue de Franche-Comté Tel: +33 1 42 71 60 89


Sylvaine Jagou has wedded nature’s bounty to man-made art, displaying minerals and gemstones alongside sculptures of recycled machinery, such as an adornment for a warrior inspired by indigenous art or an astounding iron sculpture titled Hommage aux Esclaves. There’s a story behind every piece, just ask Sylvaine…


reopened in 2000, although many of its traditional food stalls were replaced by bustling eateries serving cuisine from all over the world.


Hailing in their midst is Fabien


Breuvart, from Images & Portraits, the market’s photographer and a passionate collector of vintage ‘found’ photos. In 2002, after a professional mid-life crisis, he followed his heart’s desire and renounced his career as a journalist for that of a photographer and vendor of images, and was content to start out with a trestle table. In 2004 he upgraded to his tiny current shop, which also opens onto 35-37 rue Charlot – the short-cut


6. LA BOUTIQUE EXTRAORDINAIRE 67 rue Charlot Tel: +33 1 57 40 68 85


Agnès Butor’s love of natural textiles stems from when she learnt to weave in Middlebury, Vermont, when her father taught French literature there. Her extraordinary garments, which are made from gorgeous natural fi bres she’s hand-picked around the globe, are luxurious, gorgeous, soft and light to the touch.


A former working class area full of small manufacturers, Le Haut Marais is now a hotbed of chic activity


adds to the traffi c but he still manages to make space for portrait sessions. In contrast with the spruced up Rue Charlot, the Rue de Bretagne has retained its air of a market street and offers a colourful, mouthwatering feast. The Algerian Chez Omar has been open for decades and this couscous lover’s mecca even played host to Woody Allen back in the 1990s. Although some say it’s tired, judging by the crowds, it is still going strong. At Les Comptoirs de Carthage, meanwhile, at no. 27 on the quieter Rue de Picardie, the couscous is Tunisian. Kate Caldwell, a Liverpudlian with perfect French and


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IMAGE AT RIGHT: © RODRIGO SEPÚLVEDA SCHULZ


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