PARISIAN WALKWAYS ❘ RUE DE LA VILLETTE RUE DE LA VILLETTE
This Parisian thoroughfare is being gentrified, but the change is towards craftsmanship rather than commercialism. Jeffrey T Iverson enters the ‘gateway to Bobo-Village’…
FRANÇOIS ETTORI, LUTHIER 80 rue de la Villette
Tel. +33 (0)1 40 33 47 64
François Ettori is a brilliant luthier who has restored, built and sold exceptional violins and stringed instruments for two decades. But what makes him truly unique is his talent for archetrie (bow-making), for which Paris used to be famous. Today only 50 or so archetiers remain in France, so complex and arduous this art is. And Ettori’s bows – which are crafted from rare woods, silver, leather and mother- of-pearl – are works of art indeed.
O
ATELIER DANIEL PERRET 48 rue de la Villette
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 01 24 14
Daniel Perret is an artisan tapissier (upholsterer), a passionate collector of exquisite fabrics and a master of couture and home decorating. He meticulously restores chairs from the Louis XIII era to the present day, but he also creates curtains, sofa covers and lovely decorative pillows (which he sells at bargain prices!) from fabrics by such designers as Ralph Lauren, Pierre Frey and Christian Lacroix.
ver the last couple decades in Paris, the hilltop neighbourhoods of Le Haut-Belleville have become increasingly attractive to young professionals and new families in search of authentic, village-like
atmospheres and affordable rents. One of the most popular areas, situated in the 19th arrondissement, forms a kind of triangle between rue de Belleville, métro Jourdain and the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, a quartier compared by French journalists to New York’s Chelsea district for its galleries and contemporary art centre (Le Plateau, 22 rue des Alouettes), its designer clothing boutiques, chic restaurants and fine food shops – in other words, everything you’d expect in a traditionally working class neighbourhood in the throes of gentrification. Indeed, French daily Le Figaro has been quick to dub the picturesque commercial street running through the middle of this area, rue de la Villette, as the ‘gateway to Bobo-Village’. But to visit rue de la Villette today, one discovers a street not so much devoted to consumerism as to craft; a street that’s evolving for sure, but to the delight of its
52 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Apr/May 2020
CHEVAL D’OR 21 rue de la Villette
Tel. +33 (0)9 54 12 21 77
French weekly magazine L’Express called Cheval d’Or the capital’s “most eagerly awaited address” of 2019. Why? Because Japanese chef Taku Sekine, of the gastro bistrot Dersou, and restaurateur Florent Ciccoli drew inspiration from Hong Kong’s modern pan-Asian cuisine and the French fancy for small tasting plates (yuzu and soy sauce sea bass carpaccio, divine bao pork buns…) to offer a restaurant unlike any other in Paris.
residents; an exciting, profoundly Parisian street, with a band of dynamic business owners determined to keep it that way.
Daniel Perret has found his métier in upholstery. He says his work is “as diverse as the population that frequents rue de la Villette”.
In 2017, Paris City Hall decided to create a new label to promote Parisian artisan manufacturing – Fabriqué à Paris (Made in Paris). For the launch ceremony, they chose a street that represented the rich diversity of artisans present in the capital today. Where exactly? Rue de la Villette. “The street, like the neighbourhood, is gentrifying like crazy,” admits Jessica Secheret, president of the rue de la Villette business owners’ association. “But today, what still fundamentally characterises Rue de la Villette is artisanat – craftsmanship.” Secheret herself is the creator of the boutique Les Folies Douces (No. 9), selling beautiful children’s clothing and stuffed animals designed by herself, and, of course, labelled Fabriqué à Paris. “Here you’ll find luthiers, painters, a cabinet-maker, an upholsterer, a cardboard craft school, a pop-up store with an endless stream of young createurs, and the boutiques of multiple Parisian fashion designers,” she says. “It’s truly a street of artists and artisans, with a synergy that’s only growing.”
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